Why Tight Hips Cause Lower Back Pain (and How to Fix It)

Tight hips force the lower back to compensate for movement the hip can't produce, and that compensation is what creates pain. Squat University describes a patient whose back pain showed up specifically during the bird dog core exercise — an exercise meant to help her back, not hurt it. During testing, he found she couldn't extend her right leg as high as her left, and that exact motion recreated her back pain. The stiff right hip couldn't extend properly during the bird dog, so her lower back had to move to make up the difference, triggering the pain. This is why Squat University calls hip mobility a non-negotiable for anyone over the age of 25 dealing with back issues.

The Faber test assesses hip external rotation and extension, and it's the tool Squat University used to confirm the patient's hip was the real problem. After noticing her limited leg extension during the bird dog, he tested her hip mobility with the Faber test and found her right side had a big restriction. This confirmed the stiff right hip — not the back itself — was the root cause of her pain. Retesting with the Faber test directly after her stretch showed huge improvements, proving the hip mobility fix worked.

To relieve the back pain, Squat University had the patient perform a specific hip-opening stretch that directly targeted her restricted hip. Here's the exact sequence he used:

1. Squeeze the glute to open the hip.
2. Shift the knee over the toe.
3. Continue until you feel a stretch in the groin.
4. Hold the stretch for 5 seconds.

After this stretch, retesting showed the patient could extend her leg higher while lying flat on the ground, and she could do her bird dog exercise completely pain-free. This same hip-opening movement is the one demonstrated at the start of the video.

The side lunge is another exercise Squat University recommends for opening tight hips. It stretches out the inner thighs and the muscles along the hips, making it a useful complement to the targeted hip-opening stretch used in the patient case. Pairing a general mobility move like the side lunge with the targeted glute-squeeze stretch addresses both overall hip tightness and specific restrictions like the one found in the Faber test.