5 Walking Tips to Avoid Hip Pain

Regular exercise walking is an excellent way to reduce hip pain because it improves flexibility and range of motion in the hip joint, increases blood flow to the area, stimulates nerve endings that communicate with the brain, and strengthens the muscles around the hip.

However, walking can increase pain due to the fatigue of repetitive movements and impact forces on your hip joints.

Here are 5 unique tips to help you enjoy the benefits of exercise walking and reduce the chances of hip joint pain.

1. Kickstart your routine with a short walk and dynamic stretching

This sequence actively engages your warmed-up muscles and hip joints.

• First, walk for 10 minutes to warm up your hip muscles and get your hip joints moving.
• Next, perform 2 to 3 types of dynamic hip stretches.

Specific dynamic exercises for the hip joints include the lateral lunge stretch, leg swing stretch, and gate stretch.

Dynamic hip stretches protect the hips while walking by:

• Improving flexibility in the hip joint and muscles
• Increasing blood flow to the pelvis, hip, and legs
• Reducing the risk of injury due to tight or short muscles

After stretching for about 5 minutes, continue with your walk.

2. Keep your strides short

A stride is the length of your step.

Focus on taking short steps by landing on your heel first, followed by a natural roll through the foot to push off with your toes. This step pattern distributes pressure evenly across your hip joints.

Taking steps that are too long or too short affects your balance and gait. Specifically, long strides place excessive strain on the hip flexor muscles in the front of the hip and increase the impact of the forces transmitted through the hip joint.

3. Start with low cadence – and build your way up

Cadence refers to the number of steps you take per minute of walking. Slow walks have low cadence, and fast or brisk walks have a higher cadence.

For reference, a walking cadence of 100 to 130 steps per minute is considered brisk walking and offers moderate-intensity exercise.¹Tudor-Locke C, Mora-Gonzalez J, Ducharme SW, et al. Walking cadence (steps/min) and intensity in 61-85-year-old adults: the CADENCE-Adults study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2021;18(1):129. Published 2021 Sep 23. doi:10.1186/s12966-021-01199-4

To help your hip joints adapt to this pace, begin slowly at around 75 steps per minute and gradually increase your cadence over several days.

For some, splitting their daily walk into shorter segments feels more manageable than a single long walk. Consistency with a little bit yields more results than inconsistently doing more.

See 4 Easy Ways to Reduce Hip Pain When Running 

4. Use a supported walking posture

A balanced posture distributes your body weight evenly through both hip joints and reduces strain on the kinetic chain, which connects the core, lumbar spine (low back), pelvis, and legs.

This is what a supported posture looks like:

• Stand tall with your shoulders relaxed and chest lifted
• Slightly tighten your abdominal muscles to engage your core
• Stride forward by landing softly on your heel and rolling through the foot to propel yourself forward.
• As you walk, gently swing your arms back and forth to allow a subtle, natural rotation of the lumbar spine (lower back)

Imagine a string pulling you up from the top of your head, aligning your body in a straight line from head to toe.

Avoid slouching or leaning forward, as this posture distributes body weight unevenly, expends unnecessary energy, and increases stress on the hip joints.

5. Take the pressure off your painful hip joints

If walking causes severe hip pain, try walking in a swimming pool instead.

Water therapy is recommended when a land-based exercise program increases muscle or joint pain.

Advantages of water therapy include:

• The buoyancy of water allows for a greater range of motion at the hip joint due to the virtual elimination of gravitational forces.
• Water’s viscosity provides gentle resistance through friction, allowing strengthening and conditioning of the hip joints and muscles.
• Moving in water improves blood circulation, reducing pain and promoting healing.

Read about Water Therapy Exercises on Spine-health.com

While walking, listen to your body and heed any warning signs or concerning symptoms. If you experience the following signs or symptoms, promptly seek medical guidance from a healthcare provider:

• Persistent or worsening hip pain that flares while walking or after walking
• Hip pain that travels into the groin (inner thigh) and/or leg
• Hip pain accompanied by back pain
• Weakness or instability in the hip, lower back, or legs, or a sensation that your legs “give out” while walking

A trained medical professional can assess your individual condition, identify any underlying issues and contributing factors, and recommend appropriate treatment and rehabilitation strategies.