Let’s find your hip flexors! From a standing position, lift your knee up toward your chest. The main muscles that contract to make this movement possible are the psoas, iliacus, and rectus femoris. The sartorius and pectineus also play a smaller but important role in flexion too (we'll cover those in a future video).
VIDEO CONTENTS
00:00 Psoas Stretch
00:11 Hip Flexor Tightness Check
00:42 Psoas Anatomy
01:22 Iliacus Anatomy
02:05 Why Your Hip Flexors are Tight?
03:54 Standing Hip Flexor Stretch
06:27 Blaster Pose
07:47 Splits
Psoas: this is your filet mignon muscle that starts at thoracic vertebra 12 and lumbar vertebrae 1-4, crosses the pelvis and then attaches on the inside of your femur on the lesser trochanter. If this muscle is tight, it can pull your lower back into extension and put excessive pressure on your lower back region.
Iliacus: this hip flexor starts on the inside of your pelvis, meets up with the psoas and attaches on the lesser trochanter.
NOTE: the psoas and iliacus are often referred to as the iliopsoas muscle(s) since they act in unison and are wrapped in the same iliac fascia.
What happens if they are tight? From a standing position, take a big step forward into a lunge and hold here. Those same muscles on your back leg, need to relax and extend to make hip extension possible. Your ability, or lack thereof, to lunge, will be determined by the mobility of those same five muscles. In a deep lunge, it’s easy to see and feel the limitations those flexor muscles to extend, but less obvious is how those tight muscles might affect your standing posture, walking, and running gates.
Tight Hips Problems
*Exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt
*Side swing gate
*Pain in back, hips, knees
Why are my hip flexors so tight? Since we spend most of our day sitting, in a shorted hip flexor position, your muscles naturally shorten and tighten over time. In a world without furniture and cars, we would get up and down from the ground hundreds of times daily, constantly extending our hips and stretching those muscles. In developed societies, you might go days or even weeks without any significant hip extension movements at all.
To stretch your hip flexors, you need to extend your hip, relax completely, and hold for 2-5 minutes. If you’re familiar with Science of Stretching approach to flexibility, you’ll know the Three Principles of Practice: (1) Wet Noodle, muscles stretch best when relaxed, (2) Breathe to Relax, inhale through your nose for four counts and out through your mouth with a “ha” sound for an eight count, (3) Time Under Passive Tension, spend 2-5 minutes in each pose when training mobility.
POSES
Standing Hip Flexor Stretch
Blaster Pose
Splits
WANT MORE?
* Check out this article: www.yogabody.com/hip-flexor-s...
* 21-Day Hip Opening Challenge www.yogabody.com/21-day-hips
* My Podcast: www.LucasRockwoodShow.com
* Main Site: www.yogabody.com/
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