If you like to be active, you’ll probably experience tight hip flexors. You may feel this as a pain deep or tight sensation in the front of the hip or just inside the pelvis. You may get frustrated when you notice this when you’re running, walking or during or after a gym workout. If you’re fighting this, you need a plan to stop tight hip flexors.
Tight hip flexors are relatively common, but you don’t have to put up with it. At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, we help people with hip flexor tightness every day. Often the cause of tight hip flexors is related to how your ab muscles are working.
Your ab muscles help to control your spine whenever you’re moving or even just sitting. When your ab muscles aren’t working correctly, your hip flexors will kick in to help them out.
To solve your tight hip flexors you often need to get the hip flexors to relax and also get your ab muscles to work correctly as well. Here are 3 easy exercises you can do to improve your ab muscle function and get those hip flexors to relax.
Backward Lunge with Twist
This stretches the muscles on the front of your hip.
- Step back into the lunge position and turn your trunk towards your front leg.
- Slowly breath in and out 2 times.
- Switch legs.
- You can rotate as far as you can and even lean back some. Modify as much as you need to feel the stretch in the front of your hip and/or the front of your pelvis.
Do this twice a day for the best results.
Foam Roll Marching
This exercise makes you control your spine without using your hip flexors. Since your hip is moving, you can’t use the hip flexor to control your spine and you have to use your abs.
- Flex your hip up so that your knee points straight to the ceiling.
- Breathe in and out one time at the top before you lower your leg back down.
- Alternate legs so you can see any differences between the right and left sides
If this is easy, progress it by taking your hands off the floor. This is a motor control exercise, so frequency is your friend. Doing this twice a day will help you get better at it.
Seated Hip Flexion
Weakness of your hip flexors can also cause them to get tight. This is a great exercise to build hip flexor strength.
- Try this without a band first. If it’s easy you can add the band.
- Raise your knee up as high as you can.
- Hold for 5 seconds at the top. Don’t hold your breath while you hold it.
- Perform all your reps on one side at a time for this exercise.
Start off with 2 sets of 10 . Progress this by adding a third set. Then add a tougher band to increase the resistance
None of the exercises above should hurt beyond normal muscle fatigue.
If you’ve tried these and you’re still hurting, we can help you!
At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, our physical therapists are experts at treating hip flexor tightness and will develop a plan to help you stop it.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to request an appointment.
A member of our team will schedule you an appointment with one of our expert physical therapists.
What happens if you don’t have a plan to stop tight hip flexors?
- Your hip hurts every time you walk more than a few steps
- You can’t run anymore because your hip hurts too bad
- You stop going to the gym because your hip hurts
But WITH a plan to stop tight hip flexors you can live your BEST life again.
The exercises above are a great way to get started. They don’t require a lot of time and are pretty easy to do correctly.
But if you want an expert to listen to your unique problems and guide you to success, a Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine physical therapist in Alexandria, Springfield, or Arlington, VA will create a plan specifically for you.
You’ll feel confident that you have the knowledge and ability to quit having hip pain and do all the things you want.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to schedule your appointment and start your path to healing.
Working to keep you living your best life,
The Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Team
