How To Relieve Tight Hip Flexors
As a runner your hip flexors are one of the common muscle groups that becomes tighter and can cause a number of problems if left untreated.
Not sure what or where your hip flexors are?
They are the group of muscles that help to bend forwards at the hips and raise your leg you your waist.
They include these muscles in your body
- Iliopsoas
- rectus femoris
- tensor fasciae latae
- sartorius
Your hip flexors don't just get tight from running, if you have a desk based job or do a lot of driving this can also be a problem as your hip is in a flexed position and this can lead to the muscle getting shorter before you have exercised and put any tension through it.
Pain you get from having tight hip flexors can also be associated with having tight hamstrings as your pelvis is tilted forwards and can then have a knock on affect of getting lower back pain.
In the video I show you a couple of exercises you can introduce into your training programme.
You could also try:
- Stretching and Foam Rolling
- Pigeon Pose from Yoga
- Getting up and walking around regularly to get away from your desk
- Massage
The main problem if you don't treat the problem is you're likely to continue to get pain in you groin and hips, you might also get lower back pain and get frequent hamstring strains and even knee problems.
It just shows how interlinked all the muscles in your body are if they can cause so many problems elsewhere.
