Blog · Hips

Is walking good for hip arthritis? What the research says

By the Calm Joints physio team · Updated October 1, 2026 · 7 min read

Yes. For most people with hip osteoarthritis, walking is a sensible form of movement, not something you have to give up. Major guidelines treat structured land-based exercise, including walking-type activity, as a core part of care.^[1][2] The average pain change from exercise is small, so walking works best as a paced habit alongside strength work, not as a cure.^[4]

Is walking good for hip arthritis?

Hip osteoarthritis is wear and change in the joint that can bring groin or buttock ache, stiffness after sitting, and a shorter step. People often worry that every step grinds the joint down. That is not how guidelines frame it.

The 2019 Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) guideline names two core treatments for hip osteoarthritis: arthritis education, and a structured land-based exercise program. That program can include strengthening, aerobic work such as walking, balance training, or a mix.^[1]

The 2025 JOSPT hip osteoarthritis clinical practice guideline gives exercise a strong (Grade A) recommendation. Clinicians should prescribe an individualized program to improve motion, strength, function, and pain. Studied doses ranged from 1 to 5 sessions a week, 30 to 120 minutes a session, over 5 to 16 weeks.^[2]

Arthritis Society Canada lists walking, cycling, yoga, and water exercise as good options, and points people toward building up to about 150 minutes a week of moderate activity, in bouts of 10 minutes or more, if that load is tolerated.^[3]

Walking is good when the hip can calm down within a day. It is a poor plan if every outing leaves you limping harder the next morning. Pace beats distance.

Will walking wear the hip out faster?

Guidelines do not tell people with hip osteoarthritis to stop walking. They tell clinicians to coach activity, and to unload the joint when symptoms or body weight make load hard to tolerate. OARSI keeps land-based exercise as core care across comorbidity groups for hip osteoarthritis.^[1]

A 2026 Cochrane review is the honest counterweight. Across trials, exercise probably reduces pain by about 7 points on a 0-to-100 scale compared with no treatment, usual care, or limited education. A change of about 12 points is often treated as the point where people notice a difference in daily life. Function improved by a similar small amount. Compared with a dummy treatment, exercise may have little effect on pain and only a slight effect on function. The review included 18 trials and 1,368 people, mostly women aged 53 to 74, and the authors say more research could change the estimate.^[4]

Read that as a size-of-benefit finding, not a reason to rest. Exercise is still recommended. It is not a promise of a pain-free hip. Some people feel clearly better. On average, the change is modest.

What kind of walking helps most?

Not all walking programs in the research are a casual stroll.

A Danish trial followed 152 people aged 60 and older with hip osteoarthritis who were not waiting for a hip replacement. For four months they did supervised Nordic walking in a park, supervised strength training, or unsupervised home exercise. Nordic walking came out ahead for functional performance at follow-up, and it beat home exercise for vigorous activity and mental health. Chair-stand gains were similar at four months, then favoured Nordic walking over strength training at 12 months.^[5]

Nordic walking uses poles, which shares load and keeps a rhythm. You do not need poles to start. The useful idea is supervised, progressive walking beats "go for a walk and see." The JOSPT guideline also supports gait and balance training, and a cane if the assessment shows a limp or poor balance. A cane in the hand opposite the sore hip can unload the joint on longer outings.^[2]

In a Canadian winter, the same rule applies on ice: shorter loops, proper footwear, and a route you can abandon. A mall, a community centre track, or a cleared sidewalk is still walking.

How far should I walk if the hip already hurts?

A practical ramp, in line with the start-low-and-build advice used in arthritis education:^[3]

• If a walk flares you, cut the time in half and keep the frequency.
• Use flat ground before hills. Downhill often irritates a hip more than flat walking.
• Build time before speed. Ten tolerable minutes, most days, beats one hard 40-minute push.

The JOSPT guideline also wants education on activity modification and on weight reduction when someone is carrying extra weight, because load on the hip is part of the picture.^[2] That is a conversation with your clinician and, if needed, a dietitian. It is not a reason to stop moving while you work on it.

What the research says

Four findings are worth keeping straight.

• Land-based exercise is core care for hip osteoarthritis, next to education. That is an OARSI consensus built on meta-analyses, not a blog opinion.^[1]
• The 2025 physiotherapy guideline still rates individualized exercise as a should-do, with doses in the range above. It also rates manual therapy as useful for mild to moderate hip osteoarthritis when motion is limited, and education as a should-do.^[2]
• The 2026 Cochrane update says the average pain and function gains are small, and may sit under the threshold many trials use for a change you would notice. Quality of life did not clearly improve. Adverse events were not increased in a meaningful way. The evidence is current to February 2025.^[4]
• A walking-specific trial found supervised Nordic walking beat both strength training and unsupervised home exercise for function in older adults with hip osteoarthritis.^[5] That supports coached walking. It does not prove that every neighbourhood loop will outperform a strength program.

Video physiotherapy is a separate question. A 2025 JOSPT network meta-analysis of telerehabilitation for chronic musculoskeletal pain found that care delivered by videoconferencing reduced pain compared with usual care or a minimal intervention (standardized mean difference -0.69). App-based self-managed rehab did as well. This was not a hip-only review, and the authors noted possible publication bias.^[6] It supports a video visit as a real option when you need a plan, not as a claim that video beats hands-on care for every hip.

Try this today

Stop any of these if pain spikes, the hip gives way, or you cannot walk normally afterward. Ache that settles is different from a flare that lingers into the next day.

1. A ten-minute flat walk: Pick a flat, even route (in winter, a cleared path or indoor loop). Walk at a pace where you can still talk in short sentences. Turn around at five minutes, even if you feel fine. The next day, note the hip. Same or better: add two minutes. Clearly worse: repeat the same ten minutes, or drop to six.
2. Sit-to-stand, two sets of five: Use a firm chair. Feet flat, hip-width apart. Lean your trunk forward a little and stand up without using your hands if you can. Sit back down with control. Rest, then do a second set of five. Stop if the groin pain jumps and stays high.
3. Short bridge, two sets of six: Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat. Gently squeeze the buttocks and lift the hips a few centimetres. Do not push into a high arch. Hold two seconds, lower, and repeat six times. Rest, then repeat the set. Stop if you feel a pinch in the front of the hip that does not ease when you lower down.

When to see a physio

Book a visit if walking is shrinking, the hip is stiff most mornings, or you are avoiding hills, shops, or getting off the floor. A registered physiotherapist can watch your stride on video, set a walking dose, and add hip strength so the walk is not your only tool.

Calm Joints visits are virtual, with a registered physiotherapist, from home anywhere in Canada. Many extended health plans cover physiotherapy. In Ontario, people with a confirmed arthritis diagnosis and an Ontario health card can also ask about the Arthritis Rehabilitation and Education Program, which offers free arthritis physio, including virtual visits, in most regions.^[7] Community physiotherapy is not routinely covered by OHIP for every adult, so check your plan before you assume a visit is publicly funded.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Bannuru RR et al. OARSI guidelines for the non-surgical management of knee, hip, and polyarticular osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage, 2019.
2. Hip Pain and Mobility Deficits-Hip Osteoarthritis: Revision 2025. Clinical Practice Guidelines. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, 2025.
3. Arthritis Society Canada. Osteoarthritis: a guide to understanding and managing your symptoms (condensed booklet, June 2024).
4. Hall M et al. Exercise for osteoarthritis of the hip. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2026, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD007912.
5. Bieler T et al. In hip osteoarthritis, Nordic walking is superior to strength training and home-based exercise for improving function. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 2017.
6. The relative efficacy of different types of telerehabilitation for managing chronic musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review with network meta-analysis. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, 2025.
7. Arthritis Society Canada. Arthritis Rehabilitation and Education Program (AREP).
8. NHS. Hip pain.

Keep reading

This article is for general education and isn't personal medical advice. If you have pain that worries you, talk to a registered physiotherapist or your doctor. In an emergency, call 911.