If Your Hips “Pop,” Physical Therapists Say You Might Need Snapping Hip Syndrome Exercises

You might notice it when getting out of a chair: As you stand up, you hear a loud “pop” in your hip. You think, Eeek, that can’t be good. The culprit behind this common—if disconcerting—issue is typically snapping hip syndrome. Wondering what the heck that means? Here’s everything physical therapists want you to know about this condition, and why all you might need to do is add a few snapping hip syndrome exercises to your routine.  

What exactly is snapping hip syndrome? 

That popping or clicking noise you hear in your hips is the sound of a tendon or muscle sliding over one of your bones. This can happen in a couple of different places. Most common is external snapping hip, which is when the iliotibial (IT) band flicks over the greater trochanter (that bone that sticks out on the outside of your hip). But you can also get internal snapping hip if the iliopsoas tendon that attaches to your main hip flexors slides over a bone in the front of the hip joint. 

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about five to 10 percent of us will get snapping hip syndrome at some point. And every once in a while, the clicking can be a bit painful. “You can even see it sometimes,” says physical therapist Karena Wu, DPT, OCS, CSCS, owner of ActiveCare Physical Therapy in New York City and Mumbai. Mostly though, it’s just noisy (and maybe feels a little weird). 

What causes your hip to pop so loudly

Snapping hip syndrome is usually caused by some sort of repetitive stress, says Brittany Popkin, DPT, SCS, a physical therapist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Athletes like runners, soccer players, or ballet dancers will often get it when they’re overusing a particular part of a muscle, then it gets overly tight. On the other hand, snapping hip can also be brought on by a weak muscle that gets short and tight, Wu adds. “It can start flicking over that bone because there's a little bit more tension on the tissue,” she says.  

When you’ve got external snapping hip, Wu says that the gluteus maximus is typically the problem muscle. With internal snapping hip, she says the culprit is normally the hip flexors. 

Snapping hip syndrome exercises can offer relief

Even if you’re not in pain, if you keep snapping your hip over and over, Wu says you can cause damage. “You're going to start wearing down the tendon and the bursa—a fluid-filled sac that sits between a tendon and a bone, meant to reduce friction and stresses there,” she says. 

Fortunately, to stop the snapping you just need to fix the imbalance that’s causing the tightness, Popkin says. That means a few things: No matter whether you’re dealing with internal or external snapping hip syndrome, you’ll want to strengthen your core, glute max, and gluteus medius (on the outside of the hips), and stretch your hip flexors. “Commonly, the front of the hip is very tight and the back and sides are weak,” Wu says. 

In particular, both Popkin and Wu recommend glute bridges (bonus points for the single-legged version), banded side steps or side-lying leg lifts, and a kneeling hip flexor stretch. Popkin also suggests foam rolling the “lateral gutters” of the IT band, or where it meets the hamstrings and quads. 

The key to success is to do these snapping hip syndrome exercises regularly. Popkin recommends adding them into your warmup routine so that it’s easy to stay consistent. Even once the problem subsides, PTs suggest sticking with the exercises so your hip doesn’t start snapping again—particularly if you want to keep doing whatever activity caused the issue in the first place. “Keeping the balance between strength and flexibility is how you keep it at bay,” Wu says. 

Plus, even if you don’t need these exercises anymore to quiet down your hips, they’ll probably still be helpful. “A lot of people would benefit, whether they have the snapping hip or not,” Popkin says. “We need those muscles in order to do our daily lives and daily tasks.”

When you should get some expert help

If you find the snapping is getting worse—either it’s becoming more frequent or is starting to cause pain (particularly if it’s sharp pain)—it’s time to see a medical provider. “There are also some anatomical variations as to why you know this can happen, which would need to be diagnosed by a doctor,” Popkin says, pointing out that there could be something going on inside the joint.  

Or, if you’re just sick of the snapping and want to make sure you’re doing the right things to find relief, expert advice will help get you to the root of the problem ASAP. “See a physical therapist to find out what the exact muscle imbalances are and postural habits that might be contributing to that,” Wu says, listing “manspreading” as a common one that can keep the hip muscles in a shortened position. 

The good news: With a targeted approach and the right snapping hip syndrome exercises, it shouldn’t take long to make your hips happy again.