Your Hips Feel Uneven? Here’s How to Fix Them with Targeted Exercises
Do your hips feel uneven, like one leg sits higher than the other? This is surprisingly common, especially after injuries such as an ankle sprain, Achilles tear, or ACL surgery. Even when tissues heal, you may not regain the same control and movement you once had — leaving your pelvis tilted and your hips feeling “off.”
The good news? With the right hip mobility and stability drills, you can restore control, improve symmetry, and feel more stable in both everyday movement and sports performance. Below, we’ll walk through key exercises for uneven hips that retrain your hip hike and drop patterns.
Why Hip Hike and Drop Matter
When you load one leg—walking, cutting, or shuffling—the hip naturally shifts. As you step into the stance leg, that hip hikes up. As you push off, it drops back down.
If you’ve had an injury and avoided loading one side, this rhythm can get disrupted. The result? One hip stays elevated, your pelvis tilts, and your back or hips may become irritated. Retraining hip hike and drop is essential for improving balance, stability, and long-term hip health.
1. Lateral Squat Shift
This drill helps you relearn how to shift into one side and feel your hip hike and drop naturally.
How to do it:
Take a wide stance.
Shift your weight into one leg, letting your arch soften, ankle bend, shin rotate slightly inward, and hip hike.
Push back out and allow the hip to drop.
Focus on sensing the difference between the hip rising and dropping.
Why it works: Builds awareness and strengthens the muscles responsible for hip control and stability—key for both daily life and athletic movement.
2. Single-Leg Hip Hike & Drop
Once you master the lateral shift, isolate the movement for deeper control.
Setup: Stand on a step or raised surface with one leg hanging off the side.
How to do it:
Keep your standing leg straight.
Hike the free hip as high as possible.
Lower it slowly until you reach the end of your range, allowing a slight knee bend.
Reverse back into the hike.
Reps: 10–15 per side. Feel a stretch in your glutes as the hip drops and a strong contraction as it hikes.
Tip: These hip hike and drop exercises train both coordination and hip strength naturally, without forcing the joint.
3. Reverse Step-Down to Overhead Reach
Make your hip hike/drop dynamic and functional.
Setup: Stand on a step.
Reach one arm forward while letting the stance-side hip hike.
Reverse into a march: let the hip drop while the opposite arm reaches overhead.
Gradually hike higher and drop lower with each rep.
Why it matters: Reinforces hip stability exercises in a functional, sport-relevant pattern.
4. Lateral Wall March
Challenge hip control side-to-side.
How to do it:
Stand next to a wall with one heel planted.
Reach the opposite leg across as if tucking it into your back pocket.
Rise into a calf raise and march while allowing the hip to drop.
Reverse slowly, aiming for a slightly greater range with each rep.
Expect: Strong glute activation at the top while training glute and hip strengthening exercises that support pelvic alignment.
Restore Control, Restore Symmetry
Uneven hips aren’t always a sign that something is “wrong.” Often, it’s simply a matter of retraining your body’s natural sense of position.
If you notice significant side-to-side differences in strength, mobility, or coordination, these drills can help restore balance and control. For athletes who’ve dealt with injuries, these exercises are a great addition to warm-ups or rehab.
Still feeling stuck? …Tailored physical therapy for hip pain will address deeper restrictions, including hip adduction, internal rotation, or pelvic alignment.
At Moment PTP, we help clients across New York City regain proper hip function and move confidently again. If you’re ready for a personalized approach to hip pain treatment in NYC, book a one-on-one session and start improving hip control, mobility, and overall stability today.
