Hip pain/stretching suggestions?

I've noticed as I get, ahem, older, that my right hip is starting to hurt. I actually think it has more to do with when I am not as active as I should be. The pain is on the right top of thigh/hip area. Just feels sore. I seem to recall from a long ago yoga class that since most folks sit all day, the hips don't get enough motion. Any suggestions on how to stretch this area out? When I am more active the pain seems to go away, but I've definitely been working some long days, just sitting ALLLLLL day, not getting enough movement in.

Pigeon pose is a great hip stretch. You might also want to set a timer so you will get up and move every 25 minutes.

Just an FYI that hip pain is sometimes a symptom of other issues. I experienced horrible hip pain two years ago that landed me in PT. It was largely caused by weak glutes. I would have never figured that out without the help of a sports medicine doctor. While I'm all for stretching, the word "pain" suggests to me that something more serious is going on than mere stiffness. Especially if it's been sore for a while, consider seeing a doctor. I put off seeing one myself for far too long and regretted that I'd hadn't been more aggressive. Even if it's nothing overly serious, it couldn't hurt to get a professional opinion as to what will best remedy your discomfort.

I sometimes get pain in the front of my hip, usually on the left, which responds to stretching my hip flexor.

When I'm doing lots of cycling, I get pain on the side of my right hip, especially when I'm lying on my side. The best thing for it is foam rolling the heck out of my quads, front and side (which I guess is the IT band), though regularly stretching the quads, hip flexors, hamstrings, IT band, etc. is also important for managing it.

You don't say where in the hip it hurts. Could be weakness in some of the hip muscles as Indy suggested ... could be a bulging disc ... if it doesn't resolve with strengthening and foam rolling +1 on seeing a doctor/PT.

I don't think it is a bulging disc sort of pain. Pain might be a strong word...sore is probably more accurate. Actually NYBikers description is pretty close...sometimes it is uncomfortable if i sleep on that hip. I'm going to work on some stretching to see if that helps. Thanks for input everyone....

I had no idea it might be a disc when my obturator seized up a couple of years ago. It just felt like a muscle spasm and I thought it was muscular in origin. Just saying it's a possibility.

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Originally Posted by Penny4

I don't think it is a bulging disc sort of pain. Pain might be a strong word...sore is probably more accurate. Actually NYBikers description is pretty close...sometimes it is uncomfortable if i sleep on that hip. I'm going to work on some stretching to see if that helps. Thanks for input everyone....

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If you can find a gentle yoga class, I bet it would help a lot. And getting out of your chair regularly will also help.

Quite often disk problems present themselves in ways that aren't really painful or an obvious back problem. It may very well be this isn't your problem but it is good to keep it in mind and check it out if other methods don't address it.

Yoga and Pilates are both good, as others have mentioned. Is your work environment such that you can get up from the desk every hour or two and do some simple stretches or something? Personally I have found that air squats really help me out when this happens.

Kinda sounds like bursitis, I have it really bad in my right hip, a mild case on the left. I'm starting 8 weeks of PT next week.

I have had a lot of hip stiffness in the past 3-4 years. Going to the McKenzie PT helped a lot a couple of years ago, but I am not so good about doing the stretches. I sit too much at work, too (hey, tell me your problems, while I do my up dogs...). Today, I had a rare Friday with no clients, so I went to a yoga/stretch class at noon. I've been to this class about 5 times, and it's really like a level 1 yoga class. Today, there was a different teacher and it was different, with some long stretches in the first half. I feel much better now, as far as the hips go.
Now I just need to fix the groin area. Probably time to call Walter, my favorite PT.

I'm going to work on stretching, see if that helps. I can definitely get up and walk around at work, i just tend to get so wrapped up in things and forget. I may try to set a timer as mentioned, to help me remember. I think I will also try to go back to my gentle yoga class too. That was helpful to me in many ways...

To me it sounds like weak hip flexors. I get the same from too much sitting. There are exercises you can do to help. Lie on your back, bring your knee up and push against it gently with your hands, resisting the push. Count to ten and release, do 10 reps and switch sides. This helped me.
You can also stand and push your leg against a wall to get the same effect.

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Originally Posted by indysteel

Just an FYI that hip pain is sometimes a symptom of other issues. I experienced horrible hip pain two years ago that landed me in PT. It was largely caused by weak glutes. I would have never figured that out without the help of a sports medicine doctor. While I'm all for stretching, the word "pain" suggests to me that something more serious is going on than mere stiffness. Especially if it's been sore for a while, consider seeing a doctor. I put off seeing one myself for far too long and regretted that I'd hadn't been more aggressive. Even if it's nothing overly serious, it couldn't hurt to get a professional opinion as to what will best remedy your discomfort.

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What she said.

I've had hip pain on and off, and now very bad hip pain consistently for 6 months. I would have thought stretching would help, but I finally gave in and went to my orthopedic doc. It actually turns out that given what my condition is at this hip, stretching in the way I would typically want to would be damaging to the condition I have going on. (A cyst in the bone caused by impingement of the pelvic bone on the head of the femur - certain movements cause grinding of bone on bone and are wearing down the cartilage and bone. Wouldn't have diagnosed that without an X ray (which said yikes you have a tumor in your hip bone!) and a MRI (which said ok, not a "bad" tumor but we gotta do something here to avoid having to have surgery and anything resembling stretching/range of motion exercises for this hip is off limits).

So +1 for getting it checked out to be safe.

Another vote for an evaluation. When my SI joint went wonky I had pain in my right hip, knee and foot. After getting it aligned all hip pain on the right side went away. Interesting thing is the misalignment was on the left side and there is arthritis in that SI joint, but medical persons kept treating the right side. Now if I get pain it is consistently on the left and I've found some trigger points in the hip that calm the pain down when I work on them. Due to the misalignment my right hip muscles were weaker. I'm finally regaining the strength on that side and can tell the difference especially when hiking and skiing.

The 1st PT didn't find the SI joint problem. He was doing a lot of manipulation and had me doing a lot of stretching and strengthening exercises which were making things worse. He finally gave up and told me to go do Pilates. Later, a different PT solved the mystery.