6 Essential Movements to Keep Your Hips Healthy

Healthy hips are essential for almost everything we do—walking, bending, reaching, climbing stairs, and maintaining balance. The hips are designed to move through six different ranges of motion to stay healthy and resilient. However, in our daily lives, we often rely on just one or two of these movements. Over time, this limited use can lead to stiffness, weakness, and reduced mobility.

To keep the hips strong, healthy, and flexible as we age, it’s important to regularly move them through their full range of motion. The hip joint is a ball-and-socket joint, which means it is designed for movement in multiple directions. When we explore all of these movements, we support joint health, improve stability, and maintain freedom of movement.

Six essential hip movements your body needs:

1. Hip Flexion

Hip flexion occurs when the thigh moves toward the torso. This movement is part of many daily activities, including walking, climbing stairs, and bringing your knee toward your chest.

One of the most common—and often overlooked—forms of hip flexion in our daily lives is sitting. Whether at a desk, in the car, or relaxing at home, many of us spend hours each day with the hips in a flexed position. While this position is not inherently harmful, spending prolonged periods here without balancing it with other movements can create challenges over time.

When practiced intentionally, hip flexion plays an important role in maintaining mobility in the front of the hips. It supports essential movements like sitting down and standing up, helps with coordination and balance, and keeps the hip joint moving smoothly.

However, too much time in hip flexion—especially in static positions like sitting—can lead to tightness in the hip flexor muscles and weakness in the muscles that support hip extension. This imbalance may contribute to discomfort in the hips or lower back, reduced range of motion, and changes in posture.

The goal is not to avoid hip flexion, but to balance it with other movements. By regularly moving the hips through extension, rotation, abduction, and adduction, we support a more resilient and adaptable joint that can continue to move with ease throughout daily life.

2. Hip Extension

Hip extension is the opposite of flexion—it occurs when the thigh moves behind the body. This movement is a key part of a healthy walking gait, where we move through the foot, push off the ground, and naturally open the front of the hip as the leg extends behind us.

However, when we spend long periods sitting, the body can begin to lose access to this natural extension. Instead of moving through the foot and finding hip extension, we may start to swing the leg forward primarily from the hip in flexion, shortening our stride and reducing the involvement of the muscles that support extension. Over time, this can contribute to tightness in the front of the hips, decreased mobility, and changes in posture and walking patterns.

Hip extension is essential not only for walking, but also for standing tall, supporting the spine, and engaging the glutes, which play a major role in overall strength and stability.

The good news is that even small, intentional movements can help restore this pattern. Taking short breaks throughout the day to move into hip extension can make a meaningful difference.

3 Simple ways to bring hip extension into your day:

• Lying on your stomach (prone position) for a few minutes to gently open the front of the hips

• Stepping into a lunge position, allowing the back leg to extend behind you

• Taking a mindful walk, focusing on pushing through the foot and allowing the hip to open naturally behind you

By regularly incorporating hip extension into your routine, you help reawaken these muscles, improve your walking pattern, and support a more balanced and resilient body.

3. Hip Abduction

Abduction occurs when the leg moves away from the midline of the body. This movement strengthens the outer hips, which play a major role in balance and stability.

In everyday life, hip abduction shows up in simple but important ways—like stepping sideways to get out of a car, reaching your leg out to the side to catch your balance, or standing on one leg while getting dressed. Anytime the leg moves away from the body or stabilizes you during single-leg balance, the outer hips are working.

Many of us experienced a great deal of hip abduction naturally as children and teenagers. Activities like running, playing sports, dancing, climbing, and even just playing freely outdoors required frequent side-to-side movement and dynamic balance. These movements helped build strong, responsive hips without us even thinking about it.

As adults, however, our movement patterns often become more linear and repetitive—walking forward, sitting, and standing. Without regular side-to-side movement or athletic activity, this range of motion can gradually diminish. The outer hip muscles may weaken, and balance and stability can become more challenging over time.

Strong abductors help support the pelvis when walking and standing on one leg, reducing strain on the hips, knees, and lower back.

To maintain this important movement, it’s helpful to intentionally include side-to-side motion in your routine—whether through exercise, sports, or simple daily movements. By revisiting this range of motion, you can support better balance, stability, and overall confidence in how your body moves.

4. Hip Adduction

Hip adduction plays an important role in keeping the pelvis aligned, supporting the hips and knees, and helping both legs work together efficiently. Adduction happens when the leg moves back toward the center of the body. The inner thigh muscles assist with stability, alignment, and control.

In daily life, hip adduction is often happening without us noticing. It’s involved when you bring your legs together to sit, cross one leg over the other, step back toward your center while walking, or stabilize yourself as you shift weight from one foot to the other. These subtle movements rely on the inner thighs to guide and control the legs.

As children and teenagers, we naturally used this movement often through sports, running, jumping, climbing, and playful side-to-side activities. Anytime we changed direction quickly, landed from a jump, or coordinated both legs together, the inner thighs were actively engaged.

In adulthood, however, our movement patterns tend to become more limited and repetitive. As a result, the inner thigh muscles are underused and become weak, affecting coordination, balance, and overall lower-body strength.

To keep the inner thighs strong and responsive, it helps to intentionally bring this movement into your daily routine in small, consistent ways. Even simple habits can help maintain hip adduction and support overall stability.

3 Simple ways to encourage hip adduction throughout your day:

• Gently squeeze a pillow, yoga block, or small ball between your thighs while sitting or lying down to activate the inner thighs

• Practice slow, controlled transitions, such as stepping one foot back to center with awareness or moving carefully between standing and sitting

• Stand with awareness of your midline, lightly engaging the inner thighs to feel both legs working together for balance and support

By regularly inviting the legs back toward center, you help strengthen the inner thighs, improve coordination, and create a greater sense of stability and ease in your movement.

5. Internal Rotation

Internal rotation occurs when the thigh rotates inward toward the center of the body. This movement can be subtle, but it plays an important role in how the hip functions during everyday activities.

You may notice internal rotation when you pivot or turn, change direction while walking, or move from one step to the next as the leg transitions under the body. It’s also present in movements like sitting down, crossing the legs, or rotating through the hips during dynamic activities.

Because we rarely train internal rotation intentionally, it is often one of the first ranges of motion to become limited. At the same time, weakness or lack of control around the hips can sometimes lead to unintentional or excessive internal rotation. This might show up as the knees or toes turning inward when standing, walking, or performing exercises.

When internal rotation happens without strength and control to support it, it can place additional stress on the hip joint, as well as the knees and lower back. Instead of moving smoothly through a balanced range of motion, the joint may rely on less stable patterns, which can contribute to discomfort or inefficient movement over time.

Maintaining healthy internal rotation is not just about having the range—it’s about having strength, control, and awareness within that range.

3 Simple ways to bring internal rotation into your day:

• Seated rotations: Sit with your knees bent and gently let one knee move inward, then return to center with control

• Standing rotations: Stand tall and gently rotate one leg inward from the hip, keeping the movement slow and controlled

• 90/90 hip position: Sit with one leg in front and one to the side, and gently explore rotating the hips inward and outward

Mindful movement that includes internal rotation will lead to more balanced movement in the hips, support joint health, and improve how your body moves through everyday activities.

6. External Rotation

External rotation happens when the thigh rotates outward away from the center of the body. This movement is often more familiar, as it shows up in many yoga and Pilates positions like figure-four stretches, turned-out positions, or when the knees gently open to the sides.

You may also notice external rotation in everyday life when you sit in a chair with your knees open and apart, shift your weight and let the toes turn slightly outward, cross your ankle over your opposite knee, or step out of a car and allow the leg to open to the side. It can feel natural and even comfortable, which is why many of us tend to rely on it more than other ranges of motion.

However, just like internal rotation, external rotation needs both mobility and strength to be healthy. When the muscles around the hips are weak or imbalanced, the body may default to excessive or unintentional external rotation. This can show up as the feet turning outward when standing or walking, or the knees falling open while sitting in a chair.

Over time, relying too heavily on external rotation without balanced strength can place uneven stress on the hip joint, as well as the knees and lower back. Instead of moving with control and support, the joint may begin to depend on passive structures, leading to less efficient movement patterns.

Healthy external rotation allows for openness in the hips, better alignment, and more freedom of movement—but it works best when balanced with internal rotation and supported by strength.

3 Simple ways to strengthen external rotation:

• Clamshells: Lying on your side with knees bent, gently lift the top knee while keeping the hips stable to strengthen the outer hip

• Standing resisted rotation: Use a resistance band around the thighs and gently press the knees outward with control

• Bridge with knee opening: In a bridge position, lightly press the knees outward while lifting the hips to engage the glutes and external rotators

Balancing both internal and external rotation keeps the hip joint moving smoothly and efficiently, helping you move with greater ease, stability, and confidence in your daily life.

Moving Through All Ranges

When we move the hips in all six ranges of motion—flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal rotation, and external rotation—we help maintain a healthy and resilient joint.

Regularly exploring these movements improves mobility, strengthens supporting muscles, and encourages better movement patterns in everyday life.

At PeaceFull Living, we are intentional about helping each person become more mindful in how they move—both in the studio and throughout their daily life. Through our Pilates offerings, we provide thoughtful instruction that supports strength, balance, and healthy, sustainable movement.

Our approach is personalized, with private and semi-private sessions designed to meet you where you are and support your individual goals. Whether you are looking to improve mobility, build strength, or move with greater confidence, we are here to guide you.

We also offer a complimentary consultation to help you choose the path that feels right for your body and your lifestyle.

With curiosity, patience, and mindful practice, you can continue to move well—and move with confidence for years to come.

About The Author

Roberta Hughes is a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher, facial reflexology specialist, and a meditation and yoga instructor. She is the founder of PeaceFull Living—a wellness space devoted to helping people slow down, tune in, and become intentional about self care. With a personalized approach, Roberta empowers her clients to prioritize their well-being through mindful movement and healing practices that include Pilates, facial reflexology, and yoga.

Roberta is passionate about helping individuals build sustainable wellness habits, whether through in-person sessions or by creating a nurturing home practice using the PeaceFull Essentials video library. This on-demand resource is designed to fit into even the busiest of lifestyles, offering accessible tools to support physical health, emotional balance, and inner calm.

Roberta offers complimentary consultations to help new students clarify their goals and select the best path forward. If you're ready to reconnect with yourself and create space for wellness in your life, visit the PeaceFull Living website to get started.