How to Improve Hip Internal Rotation - The Truth About Long-Term Results

Think About The Pelvis First

Anterior Pelvic Tilt = extension of the lumbar spine and an internal rotation bias at the femurs (leg bones).

But why do we compensate into anterior pelvic tilt? Is it sitting all day? Sport demands? Not being active? Genetics?

Click here for more on that.

Probably a bit of everything, but what I see time and time again with my clients is a lack of hip internal rotation.

Imagine that you didn’t have the ability to raise your arm overhead without pain. In order to get your arm above your head, you might side bend your trunk to compensate for a lack of mobility that should be there in the first place.

This is similar to how the pelvis will dump forward into anterior pelvic tilt (APT). One reason, but certainly not the only reason, we compensate into APT is because we are missing internal rotation.

These exact people will present with limited hip internal rotation as well because they are already pushed into internal rotation. You can’t get somewhere you’re trying to go if you’re already there.

Hip internal rotation is necessary for almost everything we do in human movement in an upright manner. Notice here how we are constantly transitioning between external and internal rotation with every step we take.

If we don’t have that internal rotation, we will take the path of least resistance (anterior pelvic tilt) to find it.

Then, we end up getting stuck in compensatory internal rotation. So what can we do?

The Solution

The solution would be to provide genuine hip internal rotation. Would you want to cheat on a test if you already had answers to all the questions? Probably not.

A similar concept applies here – if we have adequate hip internal rotation, not only will our hips feel looser, but we will also not give our body a reason to compensate into APT in the first place, but also help fix APT.

Check the video above for how exactly to do that!