Femoral acetabular impingement

Femoral acetabular impingement exercises

This guidance has been produced by the Dynamic Health physiotherapy service. It offers simple measures to help you manage your hip problem safely. Often the right advice and exercises are all you need to improve the problem.

This information has been made available to your GP, who may ask you to try the advice and exercises prior to consulting a physiotherapist.

If your hip pain started suddenly after a recent significant injury, for example, a slip, trip or fall, and you are unable to weight-bear, or if you have a hot, swollen hip with a high temperature and fever, please seek urgent medical advice from A&E, minor injuries or NHS 111.

How much exercise should I do?

A senior couple on yoga mats outside in a park in a bent knee standing pose with arms outstretched.

Exercise every other day

Allowing enough rest is important to let soft tissues recover and develop.

cropped image of two people, one black and one while in shorts and t-shirts on an exercise bike pedalling. Close crop on their hands on handle bars and their legs moving.

Choose 3 or 4 exercises

Choose exercises that are challenging but manageable.

Young asian man running on the spot wearing a t-shirt and shorts in their living room on a wooden floor.

Repeat the exercise

Perform 8 repetitions of each exercise, and build up to 3 sets.

Rest

Rest for up to 1 to 2 minutes between each set.

Once an exercise is easy, progress it

Increase the number of repetitions (you could aim to increase it by 2 to 5 repetitions every 2 weeks). Or hold the positions for longer or move to a more challenging exercise.

How much pain is too much pain?

Before exercising

Before exercising, rate your pain at the moment on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain you can imagine.

A maximum pain level

A maximum pain level of 4/10 whilst exercising is fine as long as it eases within 45 minutes of the session and does not interfere with sleep or activities the next day.

If your pain increases

If your pain increases beyond this, simplify the exercise by reducing the range of movement or number of repetitions, or try an easier exercise.

Pelvic floor exercise

Hip extension with bent knee

Bridge

Single leg bridge

Hip flexor stretch

Get into a half kneeling position.

Tighten your buttocks and tilt your pelvis backwards so that your hip fully straightens.

Keep the hip straight and shift your weight to your front leg so that you can feel a stretch in your hip flexors.

Hold for 20 seconds and repeat 3 times.

Repeat this exercise little and often throughout the day.

Bridge with ball

Mini squat with hip external rotation

If you are able to get hold of a resistance band, please try this.

Stand tall with your feet approximately hip-width apart and weight distributed evenly between your feet.

Place the loop of an exercise band around your legs under your knees and ensure the slack is taken off.

Bend your knees and hips as if you were sitting down. At the same time rotate your knees outwards against the resistance. The knees and toes should point in the same direction.

Push back up to the starting position using your front thighs and buttock muscles.

Repeat 8 times and build up to 3 sets.

Need more help?

Consider self referring using the link below:

If you have a new injury or problem, please look at the self help information in our advice pages. We will often complete the same exercises and share information in clinic appointments.

If you still need some more help you can self refer into our service. Please note that the NHS is currently experiencing longer than normal waits, for more information visit our waiting times page.

Refer yourself to physiotherapy