Mastering Hip Disassociation: Unlocking Your Hips Could Be the Key to Resolving Your Low Back Pain

Hello! I'm Lynsey, a physiotherapist passionate about helping people reduce pain, move well and feel stronger. Through this blog, I'll be sharing expert insights, practical tips and movement strategies to empower you with a deeper understanding of your body. I'm excited to share my knowledge so let's get moving!

It continues to surprise me that improving hip disassociation (moving your legs independently to your pelvis) can have such a profound positive effect on an individual's pain levels, whole-body performance, and function. I have dramatically reduced if not fully resolved pain clients are experiencing in their lower back and hip through teaching hip disassociation. Additionally, I have noticed an increasing trend in clients who present to me with neck or shoulder pain are also benefitting significantly by improving hip disassociation.

As a Physiotherapist and Pilates instructor, my expertise enables me to guide clients through the nuances of perfecting this specific movement pattern. This includes manual therapy in addition to Physiotherapy and Pilates exercises to recruit and coordinate the correct muscle groups required to achieve hip disassociation. Often overlooked is learning how and when to relax these muscle groups. Many find this aspect more challenging to master, but for me, is the most rewarding element to teach! 

Our Deteriorating Gait Patterns!

As a physiotherapist it is my job to observe and assess how people move. I have discovered that even off duty I can’t help but notice how people walk. Venturing frequently along Manly seafront, I am surprised and increasingly concerned with the gait patterns of fellow walkers that I observe. Gait biomechanics (the way we walk) have deteriorated significantly! I see pelvises rotating, excessively dropping or even gliding sideways. Even more worrying is when I witness this in someone running. I recently observed the sideways glide of someone’s pelvis causing their lumbar spine to be pulled side to side along with the shifting pelvis. I found it incredibly hard to walk past this person and not offer them some advice to prevent their future low back pain.

Why Are Gait Patterns Deteriorating?

There are several reasons why gait patterns could be deteriorating. Firstly the most obvious culprit are those with sedentary lifestyles especially if in addition you sit for a living. Sitting frequently and for long periods will cause hip flexors to tighten (muscles at the front of the thigh) which in turn prevent the glutes (buttocks) firing properly. This muscle imbalance reduces hip stability and therefore affects the way in which we walk. Secondly, pain occurring from osteoarthritis (wear and tear) of our hip and knee joints will cause compensatory gait patterns as sufferers alter their gait to reduce the pain experienced. Thirdly poor core strength especially after abdominal surgery and childbirth can also affect gait patterns. The final reason I will give light to may be a little controversial but I feel cannot be overlooked as it is a common issue in those I treat. I am seeing increasing numbers of female clients of various ages who are completing strength training (think weighted squats and lunges in gyms or PT sessions) who instead of activating their glutes are overloading their quads and over recruiting abdominals which is causing the same muscle imbalances as those that sit all day at work.

What Is Hip Disassociation?

The issue I am observing in the way people are walking, is the lack of hip disassociation. Hip disassociation is having the ability to move your legs independently of your pelvis, spine, and torso. It is your femur (thigh bone) moving completely separately to your pelvis. It is an essential movement required for performing activities like squatting, lunging, running, but also even in the simplest of functions such as walking.

Why Is Hip Disassociation So Important?

Hip disassociation allows your body to move with greater efficiency, balance, and control. By disassociating hip movement from the spine, you can maintain better spinal alignment and reduce strain placed on your lower back. When the hips are mobile and can move independently, they can absorb and distribute forces more effectively, again reducing the load and strain on the back. Appropriate hip disassociation can therefore resolve and even prevent low back pain.

What Happens When Hip Disassociation Is Reduced?

When the hip doesn’t move throughout its full required range of motion and more importantly, separately to other parts of the body, the body will look to other joints and muscles nearby to take over and help with the required movement. It is well documented and known among movement therapists that the lumbar spine is frequently the target for such compensatory movements. Moving your lower lumbar spine to compensate for a lack of range of motion in the hip joint will overload the joints and muscles of the lower back, which would no doubt, eventually result in lower back pain.

Improving Hip Disassociation With Physiotherapy and Pilates - The Easy Part!

It is no surprise, given what I observe on Manly seafront, that the majority of my clients also struggle with hip disassociation. As mentioned above I observe this in clients experiencing not only hip or lower back pain, but also upper back, knee, even neck and shoulder pain. Efficient hip joint movement requires muscle co-ordination front (quads and adductors) and back (hamstrings and glutes) as well as above (abdominals) and below (pelvic floor). Sounds complicated? This is actually the easy part for me to teach and for clients to master! Clients can benefit from my combined Physiotherapy and Pilates approach in all sessions. If indicated manual therapy may include release of glutes, hamstrings (back of thigh), and quadriceps (front of thigh). Reducing muscle tension produces freedom to enable new movement patterns to be learned with appropriate muscle activation and strengthening within Pilates. 

A key focus of all my Pilates sessions ensures hip disassociation is achieved in lying, sitting, standing, and quadruped (on hands and knees). The repetition and challenge of hip disassociation in various positions within a controlled Pilates environment ensures this movement gradually transfers automatically into everyday activities outside of Pilates sessions.

Pilates Footwork - The best exercise to introduce Hip Disassociation

Quadruped - easiest way to teach gluteal relaxation (relaxing your butt!)

And The Hard Part!

A skill that is equally as important for achieving hip disassociation, but is often not emphasised or taught properly, is actually learning to RELAX and LET GO of your glutes AND abdominals. The ability to relax and let go is a skill the majority of clients find harder to master than activating any particular muscle group. It is certainly, and often, surprisingly challenging on your brain! We lead such busy and often stressful lives these days creating tension subconsciously in our bodies, which is very hard to let go of consciously. My Pilates sessions often include guided breath work to assist with this. I may even pop you on an Oov (to be discussed in a later blog!)

Why I Love Teaching Hip Disassociation

My expertise as a Physiotherapist and Pilates instructor enables me to guide clients through the nuances of learning to relax and let go to achieve hip disassociation. To relieve or prevent pain through relaxation is a part of Physiotherapy and Pilates I love teaching as it is the complete opposite of what a lot of clients expect to be the solution to their issues. Clients generally think the harder they activate a particular muscle group the better it is for their rehabilitation when in fact quite often the opposite is true.

Want to know more? Wondering if this is key to resolving your low back pain? Please do not hesitate to contact me and book a 60-minute initial assessment consultation.

Feel free to call/text/WhatsApp me with questions on:

0494 039 736

I would love to hear from you and teach you how to unlock your hips!