Our Physical Therapists are always treating the hip flexor.
You ever wake up and just rolling out of bed you feel how tight your hips are? Or, you go to get out of your car, and you get a deep pinch in the front of your hip? How about squatting? There's no chance you can get into a deep squat, I'm sure.
Hip flexor tightness is extremely common in the everyday person, but even more so in active adults. If you're running through Boston, squatting a few times a week, or go from sitting at a desk for 10 hours to a workout you've probably felt some hip flexor tightness before. Clearly, a lot of people deal with hip tightness which is why we created the "fix your hip at home guide" -- grab it below!
The great part is that because the hip flexor is such a common part of the body to be tight, most people know how to stretch.
Well, they think they know how to stretch at least. Our Boston Physical Therapists might tell you otherwise.
Tell if this looks familiar;
The way this stretch looks makes our Physical Therapists go crazy
It's not wrong, per say. You feel the stretch, but the intent is lacking.
When most people try to stretch their hip flexor the thought is, "I better get as far forward as I can, that probably makes the stretch bigger." Common sense would say that's correct -- but unfortunately that's not the case.
As you can see, this person's lower back is arched which puts her pelvis in an inopportune position to get a stretch in the front of the hip. If you think about our anatomy and particularly the hip flexor we know that if the pelvis is in that position, we're actually not stretching the hip flexor itself. When the tailbone is in that position, the hip flexor is staying relaxed and not actually being pulled into it's biggest stretch.
Alright, enough of the boring anatomy talk -- how do we fix it?!
In our Boston Physical Therapy clinic, we go over the best ways to actually stretch the hip flexor every day.
There are two main components to a hip flexor stretch that we always teach.
These two components deal with rib cage and pelvis positioning. If you don't have either of these in check, you can guarantee that your hip flexor stretch is less than optimal.
Checking the ribcage
When looking at your ribcage, you want to make sure that your not arching backwards and your ribcage is 'stacked on top of your pelvis'. A flare in your ribcage or over extension backwards can result in compression in your lower back and less of a hip flexor stretch -- two things you want to avoid!
Checking the pelvis
This is the biggie. The hip flexor is attached to the front of your pelvis, so making sure your pelvis is in the right position confirms optimal stretch. We want to make sure your 'tail bone is tucked under'. When you do this at address, you should immediately feel the stretch. So, think pelvis tucked under!!
More tips to optimize your hip flexor stretch
Like we said, our Physical Therapist and Sports Massage Therapists are constantly working on people's hip flexors. So, to do right by you guys, here are two other tips to improve your hip flexor mobility, flexibility, and strength!
Add force to your stretch
Finding your hip flexor stretch is only part 1. Yes, the stretch will help loosen the hip up and give passive range of motion, but the overall idea of stretching the hip is to increase your useable range of motion. We like to use these isometric contracts in the front and back of the hip once we find the stretch. Ideally, you're stretching for 2 minutes, than adding in 30s of contractions on both sides!
Add internal rotation to your stretch
This one makes my hip feel better just looking at it! Adding IR to your hip flexor is one of those 'hurts so good' stretches. When you feel tightness in the front of your hip, sometimes just stretching that doesn't work. Getting hip internal rotation catches the deep stuff that may actually be what is causing your hip tightness. Grab something heavy, and try this stretch out!
If all of this sparked your interest, I'll urge you to download our "Fix Your Hip At-Home" guide to get even more information on how to take a tight, cranky hip and turn it into something brand new.
But, the best thing you can do if you're dealing with a tight and cranky hip is to book a free 15-minute phone call with me to discuss what's going on with your hip, what it's stopping you from doing, and how we can fix it! Oftentimes people hop off the 15-minute phone call with 2 or 3 action items that fix their pain. Don't you want that to be you!? Book your call below!
