If you ever feel pain or stiffness across the front of your hips, there is a good chance that is due to tightness in your hip flexor muscles. The hip flexors are a group of muscles (iliopsoas, rectus femoris, and sartorius) that are responsible for stabilizing the hip and bringing your thigh to your torso when walking (Hospital for Special Surgery).
Why do Hip Flexors Become Tight?
There are a variety of reasons for one’s hip flexors to tighten, but the two most common reasons are compression and overuse.
We spend plenty of time in our day sitting. Whether it is driving, sitting at a desk, or sitting on your couch, extended periods of time in sitting can compress your hip flexors. Given enough time this can shorten your hip flexors, resulting in increased tightness when you are not sitting
Conversely, hip flexors can also tighten due to overuse. It is common for athletes in running sports or biking who repeatedly lift their legs can overwork the muscles in the front of your hip resulting in tightness. If you have weakness in your core and glutes it can also force your hip flexors to work overtime to stabilize your hips and lower back resulting in overuse and tightness
Below are three exercises that can help not only stretch your hip flexor muscles, but also strengthen your core and glutes to decrease stress on this group of muscles.
90-90 Hip Flow
Romanian Deadlift
Dead Bug with Hip Flexor Isometrics
Sources: Hospital for Special Surgery, https://www.hss.edu/article_hip-flexor-stretch.asp
