The best exercise for dogs with hip issues
Do you know dogs that have hip dysplasia, laxity, or other hip issues? These issues are more common in larger dogs, like German Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers, Rottweilers, Great Danes, or Saint Bernards, but can show up in other dogs too.
The exercise I’m showing you today will strengthen the muscles that hold the hip joint together to prevent laxity, inflammation, and pain. It can be used to help alleviate pain once laxity and inflammation have started, and it helps strengthen muscles in the front limbs and trunk.
Watch the video below to see the exercise and several ways to perform it correctly with your dog.
Sideways walking
Walking sideways has a number of benefits for dogs. To start, it strengthens the muscles on the inside and outside of the hip on the rear limbs.
Why it’s important to strengthen a dog’s hip muscles
Strengthening these muscles:
helps stabilize the hip (gluteal, biceps femoris, and pectineus muscles).
helps prevent a “splay” injury or fall in the rear limbs (pectineus, gracilis, and adductor muscles).
helps dogs stay standing - older dogs or dogs that are weak in these muscles, may sink in the rear when they stop walking, (biceps femoris, gluteal, gracilis, adductor, semimembranosus muscles).
propels the dog forward, which aids in running speed and jumping ability (biceps femoris, gluteal, and semimembranosus muscles).
helps stabilize the knee, support the medial and lateral collateral ligaments.
Walking sideways also helps strengthen the muscles on the inside and outside of the front limbs, the muscles that attach the forelimb to the body.
Why it’s important to strengthen the muscles on the inside and outside of a dog’s front limbs
Strengthening these muscles:
helps prevent a “splay” injury or fall in the forelimbs (superficial and deep pectoral muscles)
supports the shoulder joints (superficial and deep pectoral muscles)
OTHER BENEFITS OF WALKING SIDEWAYS
Walking sideways strengthens the tendons and ligaments that support side-to-side stability of the limb joints (carpal, tarsal, stifle, elbow, and digital medial and lateral collateral ligaments)
Walking sideways enhances proprioception (i.e., knowing where the body is in space) and balance, which keeps the body upright. This makes our pets less likely to mis-step or mis-jump and injure themselves.
It also strengthens the trunk or core muscles, which are key to overall stability.
TIPS FROM THE VIDEO
If you haven’t already, be sure to watch the video, as I discuss the different techniques for working with a small dog vs a large dog.
Hand position is extremely important, as pulling up on the dog or placing the rear hand on the dog can create miscommunication of what we are asking the dog to do.
Your body positioning is also important. Leaning forward at the waist or leading with only one foot, can increase the chance of discomfort or injury to the person leading the exercise.
Each dog is different, and we want to give you options on how to best perform Sideways Walking to allow you to use this as a foundation exercise for many more challenges.
Sideways walking is an amazing exercise with challenge levels for dogs that can barely walk to dogs that can walk sideways on a ball unassisted.