Hip stability–a key to injury prevention and performance

One of our Physical Therapists, Meredith Butulis, recently presented at the Minnesota Dance Medicine Conference on August 17th and 18th in Minneapolis. She presented on hip strengthening program designs. This included not only exercises, but also sets, reps, technique, and timing to get the maximal benefit.

One recurrent theme in many presentations was hip stability. Hip exercises are not only used for hip injuries and strengthening for kicks and leaps, but also in ankle, knee, and back injury prevention and rehabilitation.

3 exercises that you can incorporate into your daily pre-class warm up are:
1. sidelying leg raises for gluteus medius activation
2. bridges for gluteus maximus activation
3. clams for piriformis/turnout muscle activation

These are 3 muscle groups that determine the stability of your standing leg. The stability of your standing leg not only determines the safety of your hip, knee, and ankle, but also how well your moving leg performs.

Stay tuned next week for how to videos.