16 Hip Stretches Your Body Really Needs

“People focus on the hips and say their hips are tight, but we don’t always think about the fact that the lower back connects to our legs at the hip,” Charlee Atkins, CSCS, registered yoga instructor and creator of Le Sweat workout app, tells SELF.

Tight hip flexors make it harder for your pelvis to rotate properly during exercise and everyday movements, which can cause your lower back to overcompensate, “and this can be a setup for lower-back injury,” Teo Mendez, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at NY Orthopedics who focuses on operative and nonoperative management of sports-related injuries, musculoskeletal injuries, and arthritis, tells SELF.

Too much tightness in your hips can also make it harder for your glutes to activate. Since they’re opposing muscle groups, when one is really tight, the other becomes lengthened. This takes away some of its ability to contract. When your glutes are in this compromised position, it can cause other muscles to do more work than they should, making your workouts less efficient and sometimes increasing your risk of injury. That’s a big deal, California-based trainer Holly Perkins, CSCS, tells SELF.

“Strong, powerful glutes create the anchor for your entire pelvis,” she says. When your glutes are lengthened, “that has profound implications for your alignment and movement,” she says. Compromised glutes can throw off your form up and down your entire body. As a result, you can become more quad-dominant, making your hamstrings weaker and possibly affecting your knees too, Perkins says.

Limitations in glute activation and hip mobility can also affect how you absorb impact, Carol Mack, DPT, CSCS, a physical therapist at CLE Sports PT & Performance in Ohio, tells SELF. And that can set the stage for injury.

“For movements like squatting, the hip needs enough mobility to be able to bend for hip flexion, rotation inward, and rotation outward,” she says. When you add plyometric exercises, like squat jumps, to the mix, your hips have to be able to go through that same range of motion, but at an even faster speed, Dr. Mack says. The quicker your hips, knees, and ankles can bend, the better the ability to absorb the impact or force from the ground, she adds. Joint mobility and muscle strength need to work together for that to happen effectively.

What are the benefits of hip stretches?

Hip stretches can help lengthen these muscles, helping to relieve discomfort, decrease tightness, and increase mobility. This can all ultimately get your entire lower body functioning more optimally, since your hips are connected to—and function in tandem with—everything from your lower back and pelvis to your glutes and legs. Since your hips are involved in so many of the movements you make, stretching them is a great way to keep them ready to work for you.

The good news is that there are plenty of good hip-opening stretches out there—some working directly on your hip flexors and others working on your surrounding muscles—that you can do.

Tack on a few of these hip stretching exercises below to the end of your workout (especially if it included lower-body moves or hip exercises), or spend just a few minutes each day just doing a few of them to improve mobility in your hips. Have some extra time? Try these foam rolling exercises for your hips too. Whichever way you plan to slot in hip mobility work, your body will definitely thank you!

Quick note: While these hip mobility and stretching exercises can help relieve discomfort caused by tightness, if you’re experiencing hip pain or more serious aches, connect with your doctor or physical therapist. They can prescribe specific stretches for hip pain—or may have you hold off on certain moves that can make things worse.

Demoing the moves below are Shauna Harrison (Photo 1), a Bay Area–based trainer, yogi, public health academic, advocate, and columnist for SELF; Jo Murdock (Photos 2, 4, 14, 16, and GIFs 7, 10), a registered yoga instructor, dancer, and fitness instructor; Jessica Rihal (Photos 3, 6, 9, 13), a plus-size yoga instructor and a strong advocate of fitness and wellness for all bodies; Charlee Atkins (Photos 5, 8, 11), CSCS, registered yoga instructor, and creator of Le Sweat app; Grace Pulliam (GIF 12), an aerial yoga and Vinyasa yoga teacher in New York City; and Gail Barranda Rivas (Photo 15), a certified group fitness instructor, functional strength coach, Pilates and yoga instructor, and domestic and international fitness presenter.