Hip & Groin Rehab Program by Performance Place

Lasting Relief for Hip and Groin Pain: A 12-Week Rehab Program You Can Do at Home

For pain at the front of the hip crease, deep in the groin, down the quad, on the side, or wrapping into the butt. A 12-week, at-home rehab structure with video demonstrations for the exercises, built to make relief last, not a quick fix.

Who this is for

• An ache in your hip and groin region, or a pinch at the crease when you sit, squat, or climb stairs.
• Sitting makes it worse.
• Resting helps, but never for long.
• Stretching doesn't work; relief fades as fast as it comes.
• Walking, running, or lifting aggravates it.
• You've been told it's hip impingement or an angry hip flexor and you want a conservative option first.
• You've been told the joint is degenerated and a replacement is the only answer, and you'd like to test a conservative option first.
• Your diagnosis reads sports hernia or athletic pubalgia, or the pain also shows up as a piriformis, SI joint, hamstring, or IT band complaint that never quite resolves.

Not for injuries confirmed on imaging (a fracture, a high-grade spondylolisthesis, or a dislocation or sprain from recent trauma), or for anyone with red-flag symptoms. If you already have a hip replacement, the hip-extension first aid is skipped.

The problem

Hip and groin pain has a cruel pattern: adjustments, soft-tissue work, stretches, and massage give brief relief, then the pinch comes back. If you keep repeating things that only work temporarily, you're most likely not addressing the root cause. And without access to quality healthcare professionals nearby, it's easy to feel stuck between "live with it" and something drastic.

This program takes a different route. The movement-based corrections have nothing to do with stretching, bed rest, or cracking backs. Most people who don't get better from the care they get are missing one thing: the right first aid. So the first job here is to cool the pain down. In week 1 you test a short menu of first-aid movements, in the order they're most likely to work, against a movement that bothers you. A 30% or better change in a couple of minutes tells you you've found yours; you then dose it through the day for five to ten days while removing the things that poke the bear. Once the pain is under control, the rest of the program builds the support, endurance, and strength around the hip that give you a buffer against it coming back. The first two weeks are deliberately easy. From week 3 it gets progressively more challenging, on purpose.

What's inside

A 12-week online course with weekly classroom lessons and 61 videos: 47 exercise, first-aid, and movement-flow demonstrations plus 14 classroom lessons, with written circuits, reps, and cues for every week. Four phases:

• Cool Down (weeks 1 to 2). Find the one first aid your body responds to: a press-up (extension), a side-lying opener (lateral flexion), or a breathing squat (flexion), plus a local hip-extension first aid for deep groin pinching. Exact daily doses, breathing drills, and a daily walking target.
• Support and patterning (weeks 3 to 8). Short circuits, 5 days a week and later 3, that stiffen the trunk (side and hard-style planks, birddogs, glute accordions), re-teach the hips to hinge, squat, and lunge with a dowel, and build core endurance rather than core strength. Your first kettlebell deadlifts and farmer's carries start here.
• Strength (weeks 9 to 12). Five basic human movements, push, pull, carry, squat, and hinge, done to a challenging eight reps: goblet squats, kettlebell deadlifts, split squats, suitcase and farmer's carries, bear rows, presses, halos. The piece that builds a buffer against future aches and pains.
• Return to your activities (weeks 9 to 12, layered in). Two 5-to-10-minute movement flows open and close each session: continuous, slightly silly whole-body motion to get your heart rate up and your body used to moving again.

It is common to see a dramatic improvement within the first week when you land on the first aid your body needed; the remaining weeks are about making it last. A daily hour of walking, broken into chunks, runs through the whole program. At week 4 there's a one-time discounted video session offer if you want eyes on your form (not included in the price), and a closing lesson on red flags and your options after week 12.

How it works

1. Buy the program and get instant access to the online course.
2. Watch the 12-minute Start Here video (twice, if you need to), then use week 1 to test the first aids in order and dose the one that works through your day.
3. From week 2, do a session of short circuits, roughly 25 to 45 minutes in weeks 2 to 8 and longer once the movement flows are added: 5 days a week through week 5, then 3 days a week from week 6. Walk an hour a day, in pieces.
4. Progress week by week: each phase prepares your body for the next, rebuilding in order.
5. Finish with loaded carries, lifts, and movement flows you can keep for years, and keep your first aid on the shelf as a 5-to-10-day band-aid for any future flare-up.

Why Performance Place

This program comes from Performance Place Sports Care, the Orange County, CA clinic of Dr. Sebastian Gonzales, DC, a sports chiropractor and movement expert who helps active people find relief and return to their activities. It is built from what works with our own patients, using the same non-invasive methods, the same guy-wire core stability model (Stuart McGill), and the same five-movement strength model (Dan John) we coach in clinic, for people who want to take control of their body and health from home.

FAQ

Is this right for my hip?

It's built for hip and groin pain at the front crease, the side, down the quad, or wrapping toward the lower back and butt, including people told they have hip impingement, an angry hip flexor, a degenerated joint, or a sports hernia. Our Hip and Groin webinar on the 3 categories of diagnosis will tell you if you're a candidate.

How is this different from stretching videos on YouTube?

There's deliberately not a ton of stretching here. It's a sequenced 12-week structure of movement corrections with detailed cues, and the week 1 first-aid selection process is the part scattered videos cannot give you. Reviewers say the exercises are unlike anything they'd found online.

How soon might I feel a difference?

When you land on the right first aid, a dramatic improvement within the first week is common; the on-camera test is a 30% or better improvement in a movement that bothers you. A first aid is then dosed for five to ten days (the hip-extension first aid for 14), and the target in that window is a 50 to 75% reduction, not 100%. The rest of the 12 weeks is what makes it last. This is not a quick fix.

What if I pick the wrong first aid?

Week 1 walks you through the selection process and how to adapt when what worked one week changes the next. The videos tell you exactly what a wrong pick looks like: no change, or a sensation that moves further down the leg. You stop that one and go to the next on the list. If none work, that's the point at which a session with us makes sense; there's a one-time discounted video session offered at week 4 (not included in the purchase).

Do I need equipment?

Weeks 1 and 2 need a floor, a wall, a doorway, a chair, and a towel or pillow. From week 3 you'll want a kettlebell or dumbbell (deadlifts run 25 to 50 lb by week 9; suitcase carries 10 to 25 lb, farmer's carries as heavy as you can hold well), a dowel or broomstick, and from week 8 a cloth glute resistance band. A sandbag is optional.

Is it hard?

The first two weeks are simple on purpose. From week 3 the circuits get progressively tougher, weeks 6 and 8 will likely make you sore, and by week 9 you're lifting to a challenging eight reps. Nothing should be painful; challenging is the target.

Who should not do this?

Anyone with an injury confirmed on imaging (a fracture, a high-grade spondylolisthesis, a dislocation or sprain from recent trauma) and anyone with red-flag symptoms should see a clinician first. If a first aid sends a sensation further down your leg, that first aid is wrong for you and you move to the next one. If you already have a hip replacement, skip the hip-extension first aid. This program is not a substitute for a diagnosis.