Hip Flexor Tightness - Pelvic Tilts Not Helping? - TRY THIS INSTEAD!
Hip flexor tightness is one of the most common symptom complaints I hear.
In many cases, it is a simple case of anterior center of gravity and shortened (concentric) muscle orientation of the hip flexors.
Many times simply shifting the center of mass back and learning to lengthen the hip flexors helps.
But a lot of times, it doesn't.
In fact, for some people...
Hip flexor stretches, posterior pelvic tilts, and flattening out the lumbar spine seem to just make things feel worse.
What gives?
Turns out that the psoas muscle (one of your primary hip flexors) also attaches directly into the lumbar spine.
Many of us spend a lot of time sitting in a flexed lumbar spine position, which lengthens the proximal attachments...
Then we go to extend the hip while cuing a posterior pelvic tilt... and guess what?
We are pulling the hip flexor "tight" by lengthening it at both ends.
See this sensation of "tightness" is, in many cases, the same tightness you'd observe in a rubber band pulled taught from both directions.
The solution?
Simple.
Allow a little more of a shortened position proximally through lumbar extension, then retrain hip flexion and extension in that position.
This return of the lumbar lordosis will usually make you feel more powerful, lighter, and less "tight" in the hip flexor.
Not working?
You might need a different solution.
And if that's the case, head over to chaplinperformance.com and book yourself a Movement Assessment to find out!
00:00 - Intro
00:46 - Why stretching and posterior tilts don't always work
03:59 - Activity 1 - Prone Breathing
05:58 - Activity 2 - Standing Cross Connect with Lift-Off
08:09 - Activity 3 - Hip Thrust - Single and Double Leg
09:34 - Recap!