Why Train Hip Mobility During Pregnancy

Hip Mobility is really important during pregnancy, and I am going to tell you why.

But first, lets answer “what is hip mobility?” It’s the ability of the femur to move freely within the hip socket, but it is ALSO the ability of the illiums (big hip bones) to move independent of the sacrum. The movement at the sacroiliac joint (SI joint) is REALLY small but REALLY important.

I also would be going against everything I stand for if I didn’t state right up front that hip mobility training includes breathing exercises!

Now, why is hip mobility so important?

1 - train your hips if for no other reason than during birth, as baby passes through the pelvis and birth canal, you need access to different pelvis / hip positioning. As the baby makes it’s descent through your pelvis, it actually rotates. Your hips need to be able to move in all sorts of ways to help facilitate this! So you want to make sure you have access to those ranges BEFORE birth!

2 - pregnancy increases the hormone relaxin in the system. This translates to an increase in laxity in your system during pregnancy. Part of mobility training is increasing stability through end-range strength work. Training for stability in your hips will help keep your pelvis strong and stable. This is especially important if you’re experiencing pubic symphysis dysfunction (a topic for another day).

3 - during pregnancy, you have a giant baby pressing down on your pelvis and out into your belly. It changes how you hold yourself upright. It can also lead you to be biased towards hip external rotation. So keep moving your hips through internal rotation so you don’t loose those ranges!

If you don’t know what hip internal and external rotation are, I will let the wonderfully brilliant Dr. Sarah Duvall explain it:

I am 100% confident training hip mobility kept me out of pain this pregnancy. It’s the main difference between pregnancy 1 and 2, and with pregnancy 1, I woke multiple times a night with hip pain. With pregnancy 2, I felt great eight until 41+5, through birth, and into postpartum!

If you think hip mobility during pregnancy is something you’d like to work on, then I am your gal. If you join the FEF membership, I have a pregnancy program that covers week 4-42, with easy workout options for the first trimester when you might not be feeling your best. You can find more information here:

Or e-mail me at ellen@functionalempowerefitness.com.