Hip dips are the inward curves or indentations on the sides of your body, just below each hip bone and above your thighs. Sometimes called “violin hips,” they’re a completely normal part of human skeletal anatomy, not a sign of being overweight, underweight, or out of shape. Nearly everyone has them to some degree, though they’re more visible on some people than others.
Why Hip Dips Exist
The indentation sits in the space between two bony landmarks: the top of your pelvis (the iliac crest) and the bony knob near the top of your thighbone (the greater trochanter). Two important muscles, the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, run from the pelvis down to that thighbone knob. The dip appears where there’s a natural gap in the coverage of muscle and fat between these two points.
How noticeable your hip dips are depends on several factors that are largely genetic: the width of your hips, the size of the greater trochanter, the distance between your pelvis and hip socket, the length of your femoral neck, and how your body distributes fat and muscle in that region. Two people at the same weight and fitness level can have very different-looking hip dips simply because their skeletons are shaped differently.
Hip Dips vs. Love Handles
These two features are often confused, but they sit in different spots and have different causes. Hip dips appear lower on the body, right where the outer thigh meets the hip, and they’re structural. Love handles (sometimes called muffin tops) sit higher, around the waistline and flanks, and they’re pockets of excess fat. You can pinch a love handle. A hip dip is a contour created by bone and muscle, not something you can grab.
Do They Affect Movement or Health?
Hip dips have no meaningful impact on how your joints or muscles function. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the only scenario where hip dips might relate to movement limitations involves an underlying condition affecting how the thighbone sits in the hip socket. The dip itself isn’t the issue. If you notice discomfort during certain exercises, it’s worth exploring whether a form adjustment helps, but the indentation on its own is not a problem to solve.
Can Exercise Change Their Appearance?
No exercise, diet, or lifestyle change can reshape your skeleton. The bones that create the dip are fixed. That said, building muscle in the surrounding area, particularly the glutes and outer thighs, can create a slightly smoother visual transition between hip and thigh. The dip won’t disappear, but it may become less pronounced as the muscles on either side of it grow.
Weight changes can also shift their visibility. Gaining fat in that specific area may soften the look of the dip, while losing fat can make it more noticeable. Since you can’t control where your body stores or loses fat, these changes are unpredictable.
Cosmetic Options
For people who want to minimize the appearance of hip dips beyond what exercise can do, a few cosmetic procedures exist. Fat grafting (transferring fat from another part of your body into the dip) is the most common surgical approach, though it carries the risks associated with any procedure involving fat transfer. Implant-based options exist but have a reported complication rate above 30%, making them a less popular choice.
On the nonsurgical side, injectable fillers have been used to fill the depression. A 2024 study followed 11 patients who received large-particle filler injections in the hip dip area and reported high satisfaction with no complications over 10 months of follow-up. The procedure is minimally invasive with little downtime, though it’s temporary, as the filler is gradually absorbed by the body. These procedures are elective and cosmetic, not medically necessary.
How the Term Became Popular
The term “hip dips” gained traction around 2017, when women on Instagram began posting photos highlighting and celebrating the feature. Before that, many people who noticed the indentation assumed something was wrong or that they needed to lose weight. The social media movement reframed hip dips as what they are: a normal anatomical variation. Some bodies have a visible dip, some don’t, and neither version indicates anything about fitness or health.