Tabletop hip abduction and rotation teaches your trunk to keep the pelvis still while one hip moves. You lie on your back with both hips and knees bent to a right angle and your shins level with the floor, a position often called tabletop. One leg stays where it is while the other opens out to the side with a slight outward turn of the thigh, pauses, and comes back to the middle. The app title, Stabilization abd ext rot, is short for stabilization with hip abduction and external rotation.

How to do the tabletop hip abduction and rotation

Lie flat on your back with your arms resting at your sides.
Lift one leg and then the other into tabletop: hips and knees bent to about a right angle, shins parallel to the floor.
Gently tighten your stomach muscles so your lower back stays steady on the mat. Keep breathing.
Holding one leg still, slowly let the other knee move out to the side, turning that thigh slightly outward. The knee stays bent.
Pause briefly at the end of your comfortable range, then bring the leg back to the middle with control.
Switch legs and repeat. When the set is done, lower one foot to the floor and then the other.

What you should feel

Your stomach working to keep the pelvis and lower back still. The weight of the leg helps it open, so the inner thigh of the moving leg works to guide it out and pull it back. The front of both hips works to hold the legs up.

Common mistakes

Letting the pelvis rock or roll toward the moving leg.
Arching the lower back off the mat as the leg moves out.
Letting the still leg drift or drop toward the floor.
Moving fast, so the leg swings out instead of being guided.

How often

Many programs start with 1 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 on each side, with a short pause at the end of each movement. Your physio will adjust this.

Stop and check with your physio if

Lower back pain, or you cannot stop your back arching even with a smaller movement.
A sharp pinch in the front of the hip or in the groin.
Pins and needles, numbness or pain traveling down either leg.

From the clinic

The voice guide describes the moving leg going out to the side with a slight outward turn. Because the video is filmed from the side, it is hard to see how far the leg goes out. Keep the knee bent and let the leg open only as far as your pelvis stays level. Small and steady beats big here.

If holding both legs up strains your back, start with your feet on the floor, as in the bent knee fall out. The dead bug is a harder exercise that starts from the same tabletop position.

If you are pregnant and past the first three months, check with your physio before exercising flat on your back. If you have recently given birth, including by cesarean section, or you have a gap down the middle of your stomach muscles (diastasis recti), ask your physio, midwife or doctor first. If you have had a hip replacement, get the go-ahead from your surgeon or physio before you try this exercise. Some operations limit this kind of work for the first months, so the timing depends on your surgery.

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-28.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. If you have pain, an injury or a health condition, see a physiotherapist or doctor before starting new exercises.

Tabletop hip abduction and rotation