From the best exercise moves to how many steps you really need to aim for a day, experts weigh in on how to maintain hip health throughout your life
W
hen Elvis the pelvis gyrated and thrust his way across national television screens, audiences were delighted and censors were scandalised. But physiotherapists were probably standing up in their seats cheering at the display of such healthy and limber hip movements.
Hips are a key weight-bearing joint, yet we rarely give them the amount of love and attention they deserve.
“You might not realise how important it is or how much it does until it’s painful or restricted in some way, and you’re no longer able to use it in the same way that you could before,” says physiotherapist Dr Michael O’Brien from La Trobe University in Melbourne. A hip fracture, particularly in elderly people, can precede a serious decline in health, which makes maintaining hip health vital for healthy old age.
