![]() ![]() ![]() Hold each stretch for 30 seconds on each side, and repeat for three sets total, at least twice a day. Here are four stretches you can sprinkle into your day to help increase flexibility and mobility in the hip flexors. “Stand up, walk around, or perform a quick stretch, if necessary.” “I recommend changing position every 30 to 45 minutes-or even sooner if needed-to avoid tightness,” says Kimberly Baptiste-Mbadiwe, a physical therapist at HSS. To keep your hip flexors supple, make sure to get up and move more throughout the day. Glute bridges, planks, crunches and clamshells can help keep your glutes, core and piriformis strong, which will help improve strength and mobility in the hips. Some strengthening exercises include, psoas march (standing or supine). Signs of tight hip flexors include pain or discomfort in the front of your hip that typically gets worse with prolonged sitting or repetitive hip-flexion movements like running and cycling. Stretching as-well as strengthening exercises are often useful for the hip flexors. Since the hips connect the lower back to the legs, tight hip flexors make it harder for your pelvis to rotate properly, which can impact several other areas of your body. ![]() The rectus femoris helps with hip flexion and knee extension, while the sartorius helps flex and externally rotate the hip and flex the knee. The iliacus and psoas major are the primary hip flexors, which work together to flex and stabilize your hip and pull your thigh and torso together when you walk, run, sit or stand. They include the iliacus, psoas major, rectus femoris and sartorius. Your hip flexors are a group of muscles along the front of your upper thigh. To add to that, if certain muscles are weak, including the core, glutes, or piriformis (a deep gluteal muscle that helps external rotation of the hip), it forces the hip flexors to take over some of the job of stabilizing the spine and pelvis, leading the already overworked hip flexors to stiffen. Complete all repetitions on one side before alternating to the other hip.Įxercise Variation: To increase the intensity of the stretch raise the left arm straight in the air and tilt slightly to the right side and you lean forward into the right hip be sure to alternate sides.On the flip side, certain athletes are prone to tight hip flexors-particularly runners and bikers, who repeatedly use the hip flexors to lift their legs, which shortens the hip flexor muscles, says Kimberly Baptiste-Mbadiwe, a physical therapist at the HSS Orthopedic Physical Therapy Center. Hold the stretch position for 30-45 seconds at a time for a total of 2-5 repetitions try to move into the stretch a little deeper with each repetition, but be sure to keep your core braced to not allow the pelvis to rotate and lose the stretch. To increase the stretch to the left hip flexors, squeeze and contract the glute muscles of your left hip. Lean forward into your right hip while keeping your left knee pressed into the ground, do not allow your pelvis to rotate to the anterior (forward). ![]() Place both hands gently on the right thigh to help maintain a straight, tall spine.ĭepress and retract your scapulae (pull your shoulders down and back) without arching your low back, "brace" (engage your abdominal/core muscles) to stiffen your spine and keep your pelvis level (and stable). Starting Position: From a kneeling position place the left knee on the floor (or stretch mat) directly under the left hip, and place the right foot in front of the right hip so that the right knee is directly over the right ankle and the right hip is in a position of ninety (90) degrees. ![]()
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