Keep Moving With a Plan Built for Your Hip
Can losing weight and changing activity help hip pain?
An activity and weight plan can meaningfully reduce hip pain, especially from arthritis. Every step loads the hip with a multiple of your body weight, so losing even 5 to 10 percent of body weight often eases pain. Swapping hard-impact exercise for cycling, swimming or the elliptical keeps you fit while the hip calms down.
Resting a painful hip feels right, but stopping activity usually makes hip pain worse over time. The smarter move is to change how you move. Dr. Stride builds a practical plan around the activities you care about, plus a realistic weight goal when it would help.
Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Stride, MD, board-certified orthopedic surgeonLast reviewed October 2026
At a glance
- Also called
- exercise with hip arthritis, weight loss for hip pain, low-impact exercise for hip, activity modification for hip
- Typical recovery
- Checkpoints
- Category
- Non-Surgical Care
Is this right for you?
Usually a good fit if
- Early to moderate hip arthritis with pain after walking or standing
- Runners and pickleball players with impingement who want to stay in the game
- Adults whose surgeon has asked them to reach a healthier weight before a hip replacement
- Long-commute drivers and desk workers whose hip stiffens after sitting
- Anyone who stopped exercising because of hip pain and wants a safe restart
Another option may be better if
- Hip pain after a fall or a sudden pop, which needs an exam and imaging before any new exercise
- Advanced arthritis with constant rest and night pain, where a plan helps but should not delay a surgical discussion
What happens, step by step
Mapping your week
Dr. Stride asks what you do on a typical day and which activities flare the hip. Small details matter, such as sitting in a low car seat for an hour on I-10 or a deep lunge at the kitchen counter.
Swaps that keep you active
Hard pounding is traded for lower-impact work: a stationary bike, pool walking, the elliptical or tai chi. For impingement, deep hip flexion is limited by raising chair heights and avoiding very low seats and deep squats.
Sport-specific changes
Golfers may shorten the backswing or open the lead foot slightly. Runners may shorten stride, run on softer surfaces or mix in run-walk intervals. Pickleball players may limit play time while strength builds.
A realistic weight goal
When weight is a factor, the target is usually 5 to 10 percent of body weight. Our team coordinates with your primary care physician on nutrition support and, where appropriate, weight-loss medicines.
Typical recovery timeline
Daily habits change first, such as breaking up long drives, using a higher chair and spreading walks into shorter bouts.
Low-impact cardio builds toward 150 minutes a week, with strength work from therapy two or three days a week.
Many people notice easier stairs and less pain after activity. Favorite sports are reintroduced step by step.
Weight loss of 5 to 10 percent, when that is a goal, often makes a noticeable difference in daily pain.
Dr. Stride reviews progress every few months and adjusts the plan, or moves to injections or surgery if the hip keeps declining.
Timelines are typical ranges. Your plan depends on your hip, your health and what was done in surgery.
“I almost never tell a patient to stop moving. I tell them how to move differently so the hip can keep up. The patients who do well over the long run are the ones who find an activity they enjoy and keep showing up for it.”
Dr. Stride, MD
Frequently asked questions
Is walking good for hip arthritis?
Yes, walking is good for most people with hip arthritis when the dose is right. Start with shorter, more frequent walks on flat ground and build gradually. A cane in the hand opposite the sore hip can make longer walks more comfortable.
How much weight loss helps hip pain?
Losing about 5 to 10 percent of body weight often improves hip arthritis pain and function. That is 10 to 20 pounds for someone who weighs 200 pounds. Exercise and weight loss together tend to work better than either one alone.
Do you have to lose weight before a hip replacement?
Many joint replacement surgeons ask patients with a very high BMI to lose weight before elective surgery, because complication risks such as infection and wound problems rise with higher weight. Dr. Stride discusses a safe target with you and works with your physician to get there. Every situation is weighed individually.
What exercises are safe with a hip labral tear or FAI?
Cycling with a raised seat, swimming with a gentle kick, the elliptical and most strength work are usually well tolerated. Deep squats, deep lunges and pulling the knee hard to the chest tend to pinch the joint. Your therapy plan sets the exact limits.
Related treatments
Hip Physical Therapy
Physical therapy helps many types of hip pain, including arthritis, gluteal tendinopathy, hip impingement and many labral tears.
Read more →Non-surgicalHip Pain Medication
For hip arthritis, oral anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, naproxen or prescription meloxicam usually help most, when they are safe for you.
Read more →InjectionsCortisone Hip Injection
A cortisone hip injection places a corticosteroid and numbing medicine directly into the hip joint, guided by ultrasound or X-ray.
Read more →ReplacementTotal Hip Replacement
Total hip replacement replaces the worn ball and socket of an arthritic hip with a metal, ceramic and medical-grade plastic implant.
Read more →Hip pain this can help with
Pain in the Front of the Hip and Groin
Front of hip and groin pain usually comes from inside the hip joint itself.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · Outside of hipPain on the Outside of the Hip
Pain on the outside of the hip is most often greater trochanteric pain syndrome, an irritation of the gluteus medius and minimus tendons and the bursa over the bony point of the hip.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · Back of hipPain in the Back of the Hip and Buttock
Pain in the back of the hip and buttock most often comes from the lower back, such as a pinched nerve or sciatica, or from the sacroiliac joint.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · symptomIs It Your Hip or Your Back?
Hip joint pain is usually felt in the groin or front of the thigh and flares with putting on socks or getting out of a car.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · symptomHip Clicking, Popping and Snapping
Hip clicking or snapping, called snapping hip syndrome or coxa saltans, usually comes from a tendon sliding over bone.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · symptomHip Stiffness and Loss of Motion
A stiff hip is most often caused by hip osteoarthritis, which reduces rotation and makes socks, shoes and getting out of a car harder.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · symptomHip Pain at Night
Hip pain at night is most often caused by greater trochanteric pain syndrome, where lying on the side compresses the gluteal tendons, or by hip osteoarthritis, which can ache at rest as it advances.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · symptomHip Pain When Walking
Hip pain when walking is most often caused by hip osteoarthritis, which brings a groin ache and a limp, or by gluteal tendinopathy, which causes outer hip pain.
Causes & treatment →Questions patients ask about this
Can Pickleball Cause Hip Pain?
Yes, pickleball can cause hip pain, mostly through quick side lunges, sudden stops and pivots.
Hip Pain From Cycling: Bike Fit, Bursitis and the Hip Flexor
Cycling hip pain usually comes from bike fit and repetition.
Hip Pain: Exercises to Avoid (and What to Do Instead)
The exercises to avoid depend on the cause.
SourcesReferences used for this page3
Medically reviewed by Dr. Stride, MD against current guidance from these sources. Last reviewed October 2026. How we write and review content