Snapping Hip Syndrome Exercises

You may do all of these exercises right away.

• Quadriceps stretch: Stand an arm's length away from the wall with your injured side farthest from the wall. Facing straight ahead, brace yourself by keeping one hand against the wall. With your other hand, grasp the ankle on your injured side and pull your heel toward your buttocks. Don't arch or twist your back. Keep your knees together. Hold this stretch for 15 to 30 seconds.
• Hamstring stretch on wall: Lie on your back with your buttocks close to a doorway. Stretch your uninjured leg straight out in front of you on the floor through the doorway. Raise your injured leg and rest it against the wall next to the door frame. Keep your leg as straight as possible. You should feel a stretch in the back of your thigh. Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
• Gluteal stretch: Lie on your back with both knees bent. Rest the ankle of your injured leg over the knee of your other leg. Grasp the thigh of the leg on the uninjured side and pull toward your chest. You will feel a stretch along the buttocks on the injured side and possibly along the outside of your hip. Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
• Iliotibial band stretch, standing: Cross your uninjured leg in front of the other leg and bend down and reach toward the inside of your back foot. Do not bend your knees. Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds. Return to the starting position. Repeat 3 times.
• Iliotibial band stretch, side-leaning: Stand sideways near a wall with your injured side closest to the wall. Place a hand on the wall for support. Cross the leg farther from the wall over the other leg. Keep the foot closest to the wall flat on the floor. Lean your hips into the wall. Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times
• Prone hip extension: Lie on your stomach with your legs straight out behind you. Draw your belly button in towards your spine and tighten your abdominal muscles. Tighten the buttocks and thigh muscles of the leg on your injured side and lift the leg off the floor about 8 inches. Keep your leg straight. Hold for 5 seconds. Then lower your leg and relax. Do 2 sets of 15.
• Side-lying leg lift: Lie on your uninjured side. Tighten the front thigh muscles on your injured leg and lift that leg 8 to 10 inches away from the other leg. Keep the leg straight and lower it slowly. Do 2 sets of 15.