The power of the hip hinge

Most people bend from their back.

But your body is actually designed to bend from your hips.

The key is to protect your spine by using your hips.

Your hips are:

• Strong

• Stable

• Designed to take load

When we lose the ability to hinge at the hips, the lower back takes over and that’s when problems start.

What goes wrong

Instead of hinging:

• We round through the lower back

• We lift using the spine

• We overload discs and joints

Over time this can lead to:

• Back pain

• Disc irritation

• Reduced movement confidence

What is a hip hinge?

A hip hinge means:

• Bending from the hips, not the back

• Keeping the spine relatively neutral

• Letting the hips move backwards

When to use it

Every day situations:

• Picking something up

• Loading the dishwasher

• Brushing teeth

• Lifting children

The beauty of the hip hinge is that if you can’t bend forward using a neutral spine then that’s t the signal to use another way – eg squat to empty the dishwasher so your back can continue to remain in a neutral position