Tight hip flexors? Try this instead.

Always stretching your hip flexors?

Do your hip flexors always feel tight? Same. No matter how much stretching I do I can’t seem to get any long lasting relief (this stretch is my favorite).

The truth is, although a hip flexor stretch may feel amazing, if the front of your hip is chronically tight it may have to do more with the position of your pelvis / overall orientation. If you’re in more of an Anterior Pelvic Tilt, the pelvis is in a tipped forward position, often accompanied by an increased lower back curve. Most of the literature you’ll find on the internet will talk about ways to “fix” an anterior tilt because it is a BAD position. And yes - while we do want to address postural shifts, no posture is inherently BAD. The problem arises when we get sort of “stuck” and are unable to transition to a different position. Variability in movement and posture is important because our bodies need to tolerate different activities throughout the day without having to overthink it.

How do we fix an Anterior Pelvic Tilt?

If you google this question you’ll typically find a variety of hip flexor stretches. And it makes sense. If the problem is short and stiff hip flexors, why wouldn’t we stretch them? But, in my experience stretching doesn’t address the reason they’re tight long term.

So, what do we do instead?

Strength, body awareness, and honing in on breath mechanics. Working to find a rib cage over pelvis stacked body position sets up our pelvic floor and core for optimal function. Additionally, this more “stacked” position is going to get the pelvis and the thorax (ribcage) in a better position for optimal length of the hip flexors.

Instead of stretching we can focus on working the muscles that support better overall position to stop the feeling of “tightness.” Bring on the hamstrings and abdominals - the muscles that essentially pull the pelvis underneath us / help with the stack :)

• Hamstrings (especially proximal hamstrings): Help pull the pelvis underneath us. If there is too much laxity here (aka you can palm the ground) that can result in a pelvis that easily dumps forward.

• Deep abdominals: help pull the pelvis up and draw the ribs down in front. We want a ribs down position, but without “crunching” down from above to do it.

Give this Bear Position with Hip Extension exercise below a try! This may also be a great option if you are in more of an extended pattern (Anterior Pelvic Tilt), as we want to drive some expansion in the back too.

Directions:

1. Start in a bear position and place one foot on the wall behind you. Add a soft knee bend and pick a height on the wall that doesn’t bring the movement into your low back. It’s OK to go low. Tune into your position. Are you arching through your low back?
2. Sense pressure through the foot, playing close attention to the area below your big toe and the inside part of your heel. Keep the foot superglued to the wall, but envision dragging up keeping those points of contact.
3. Keep the chest wall lifted. I’m guilty of losing this part.
4. Feel the hamstrings and glutes? Good!

Ultimately utilizing the muscles to pull your pelvic underneath you VS stretching all the time is going to have a longer lasting effect. Just an example of movements we may work through in a 1:1 training session. Curious? Let’s chat!

Enjoy!

xoxo,

Erica