You hear about elderly people falling and breaking their hip or a hip breaking and falling. Either way, the statistics show that when hip joints fail the joint may never function properly again.

It seems to be more common today than ever before mainly because more people are reaching longer life spans. This problem may not be as inevitable as it seems. Joints are held together by ligaments, each end attaching to a different bone. Tendons attach muscle to bone. This forms a strong platform for the muscle to work.

There are three different categories of joints in the human body:

The hip is a ball and socket type which is one type of movable joint. It provides the greatest degree of movement.

Through time, tendons and ligaments stiffen, lengthen and become weaker and muscles lose their firmness. These ligaments and to some degree the tendons can no longer provide the rigid support by assisting in the stabilzation of the joint. Therefore, the joint is allowed a greater degree of movement within the socket. The greater movement causes additional cartilage wear. Cartilage is the protective lining within the joint that allows smooth movement of the ball and socket, like a bearing in a machine. When the cartilage breaks down, the bone begins to wear and the joint becomes looser. Pain, Arthritis, limited joint movement and even joint fractures can occur.

This problem may be preventable. Keep the muscles strong and the tendons and ligaments tight with weight bearing exercises. The Deltoid muscles stabilize the shoulder joint. The Quadriceps and Hamstrings stabilize the knee joint. Basically any muscle that crosses a joint is responsible for joint stabilility. Knee Extensions and Hamstring Curls will strengthen the Quadriceps and Hamstrings respectively. Frontal raises, side raises and seated rows will strengthen the shoulder joint.

You can refer to our anatomy chart here. Also be sure to read the section under Weight Training for a description of how to do the above exercises.