If you're suffering from tight hips or you're experiencing pain at the front of you hips and in the lower back it could be connected to tension in your hip flexors. The hip flexor group are mainly made up by the two psoas muscles (major and minor) and the iliacus muscles.
These muscles control the movement of bending your hip, bring the knee up towards the chest. They can become short and tight due to prolonged sitting, or pulled/strained during exercise and over use which can cause pain in the front of the hip.
Try stretching out your hip flexors to release the tension in the front of your hips and spine.
• Start in a kneeling position, back toes tucked under and then move the front foot forwards a few centimetres shifting your weight forwards. • Make sure you don’t over arch your lower back, keep your core engaged and you tilt your pelvis back a little (imagine you're tucking you tail under). • You should feel a stretch in the front part of your hip of the back leg. • Try not to collapse forward on your front leg or lean too far forwards. • Use your arms for support. • Hold for around 30 seconds and repeat on the other leg. • You can place a cushion under you knee if it’s painful to kneel. You can repeat this a few times a day or after exercise. There should never be pain while stretching. Check your doing it correctly and not trying to stretch too far.
You may also need to work on your strength and stability of the hips and spine to help resolve the issue.
If there is pain during this stretch, or it seems to aggravate your problem then stop and seek some advice. You can book an appointment with us to get a better understanding of theproblem, treatment to help and suggestions of which stretches and exercises would be best for you, get in touch through our contact us page.
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