Improve Foot Mechanics To Fix Hip Internal Rotation
Jan 15, 2025
When aiming to improve hip internal rotation, many people will target the pelvis and hips directly. While this is certainly an effective strategy, it can sometimes fall short of creating long term changes.
That's because actions downstream at the foot influence the muscles and structures of the hip, especially during gait.
If you fail to address how the foot interacts with the ground, you may be missing the cascade of effects that proper foot mechanics trigger up the chain.
For proper hip internal rotation to occur at the hip, we need the top part of the pelvis to close, while the lower part opens, and the sacrum tips forward. This will allow the muscles on the back of the pelvis to relax and the femur to rotate in the socket.
Looking at the foot, pronation needs to occur, or flattening of the arch, to set off a ripple effect up the chain, where the tibia and femur internally rotate, and the actions of hip internal rotation can occur at the pelvis.
We can bias specific positions during exercises to influence these mechanics for better hip internal rotation.
In today's video, I explain this process in detail, and also share 2 exercises that will help improve hip internal rotation from the foot all the way up to the hip.