PT Exercises for Hip Pain From FAI (2024)

Updated on February 18, 2024

Hip Flexor Stretch

Many people with hip FAI experience tightness in a muscle group called the iliopsoas. These muscles, located in the front of your hips,help flex your hip upward.

Tightness here may be one cause of the pinching feeling you get in the front of your hip when sitting or bending. Stretching your hip flexor muscles may be one part of your FAI exercise program.

Follow these steps:

1. Get into a half-kneeling position, placing one knee on the floor. This knee should be the one with the tight hip flexor you want to stretch. Your other foot should be flat on the floor in front of you.
2. Keep your back straight with your chest high. Shift your body forward slowly.
3. Gently tighten your abdominals by drawing your belly button in towards your spine.
4. Tighten your butt muscles.
5. You should feel a gentle stretch in the front of your hip and thigh of the leg with the knee on the floor.
6. Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds.
7. Repeat three to five times.

Stop the stretch if you feel intense pain in your hip or leg. Any mild discomfort while stretching should go away once you return to the starting position of this exercise.

Piriformis Stretch

Your piriformis muscle is located deep in your hip underneath your gluteus muscles. It rotates and stabilizes your hip. It may feel tight if you have hip impingement or FAI.

A physical therapist may recommend that you stretch your piriformis muscle as part of your FAI rehab.

Here's how:

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent.
2. Cross the leg to be stretched over your other knee. Your ankle should rest on your thigh next to your knee.
3. Grab the thigh of your leg supporting your bent leg. Gently pull it towards your chest.
4. You should feel a slight pull in the back of your hip.
5. Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. Then rest.
6. Repeat three to five times.

You may prefer an alternative stretch for your piriformis.

Try this:

1. Lie on your back.
2. Lift your knee up toward the opposite shoulder.
3. Grab your knee and gently pull until you feel a stretch in the back of your hip and buttocks.
4. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds. Release.
5. Repeat three to five times.

Stop if you feel increasing or lasting pain.

Groin Stretch

Hip FAI often triggers tightness in the inner thigh and groin. Your physical therapist may tell you to stretch your groin muscles, or hip adductors, as part of your exercise program.

Follow these steps to do a groin stretch—also called the butterfly stretch:

1. Sit with your back straight and your legs in front of you.
2. Bend your knees and place the soles of your feet together.
3. Gently allow your bent knees to fall toward the ground until you feel a pull in your inner thigh and groin. You can also lean your trunk forward a bit if you want some more stretch.
4. Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. Then release.
5. Repeat three to five times.

Remember to stop if you feel pain.

Hip Strengthening

You might have weakness around the muscles of your hip. If so, hip strengthening may be one of the goals of your exercise program.

Many exercises can build up hip strength. Ask for a demonstration and practice a few of the more common ones.

They include:

• Ball bridges
• Bridges
• Clamshells
• Hip hikes
• Isometric hip raise
• Lateral band walking
• Single leg bridges
• Straight leg raises

You can do these exercises daily. Or your physical therapist may prescribe them less often because exercising every other day may give your hip the "rest time" it needs.

Core Strengthening

You may benefit from doing exercises on your core since your abdominals, hip muscles, and low back muscles all attach to the pelvis.

Your pelvis houses the socket of your hip joint. So gaining control of your core and pelvis may be important to your FAI exercise program.

These exercises could help:

• Bridging
• Pelvic clock
• Pelvic tilt
• ​Prone straight leg raising

Core exercises can be done in 15 to 20 repetitions. Your physical therapist can show you how to do each exercise.

Balance and Proprioception Exercise

Your FAI rehab program may include balance and proprioception training. Proprioception is your body's awareness of its position in space and how it interacts with everything around it.

Improving balance can help you gain control of your pelvic and lower extremity regions. Doing so takes pressure off your hip joint and helps relieve the pain from FAI.

Balance exercises may start out with a simple, single-leg stance: Stand on one foot and hold your balance for 30 seconds.

Make the exercise more challenging by closing your eyes or standing on an unsteady surface, such as a pillow or folded-up towel.

Other balance exercises include:

• Single leg squat
• Single leg standing with a ball toss
• Standing on a balance board or wobble board
• Using a BOSU or BAPS board
  

Functional Training

Your FAI rehab program should be geared to your specific needs. You and your physical therapist can work together to come up with the best exercise and training program for you.

You may need help:

• Learning to jump and land properly
• Performing single-leg hop testing and training
• Continuing to gain balance and muscular control of your hips, pelvis, and lower extremities
  

Summary

Exercises to strengthen and stretch the hip muscles—as well as the core, which helps stabilize the hip—are vital for recovering from an FAI. Balance and functional training can also help relieve pain and restore function.

Your physical therapist can create a personalized exercise plan for you, show you how the exercises are done, watch you do them, and keep a close eye on your progress.

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