What do the hip flexors do?
The hip flexors are a group of muscles toward the front of the hip. They help you move or flex your leg and knee up towards your body.
Why hip flexor strength is important?
Along with the other ‘core’ muscles of the torso and glutes, the hip flexors are key muscles in stabilizing the pelvis and spine. This allows you to move and exercise without risk of injuring the lower back. Secondly, they are powerful muscles used in explosive movements like running and jumping.
What Causes Hip Tightness?
For most people, the biggest cause of tightness is what we do all day long: sitting for too long is a major culprit in tightening the hip flexors. When you sit all day at a desk, the iliopsoas, in particular, shortens, making the flexors tight. Some people are also more prone to tightness in their hip flexors.
What problems can tight hip flexors cause?
A large percentage of the population has dysfunctional hip flexor muscles as a result of poor posture, faulty biomechanics, sitting too much and/or stress. This can lead to pain in not only the lower back area, but the knees, ankles and feet as well.
The Hip Flexors Include:
- Quadratus Lumborum
- Iliacus
- Psoas
- Pectineus
- Tensor Fascia Latae
- Adductor Group
- Quads
– Rectus Femoris
– Vastus Lateralis
– Vastus Medialis
Hip Flexor Stretches
- Standing lunge.
- Low Lunge with extension of the thoracic/Lumbar- Psoas Stretch.
- ButterFly with laying on your back.
- Bridge hold.
- Sidelaying quad stretch.
Example of the Psoas Stretch
Any questions or still having difficulty/pain, please contact us through the link below. We would love to help you get back to the activities you were born to do!