How to Loosen Tight Hip Flexors

If your hips cause pain you get when rolling out of bed in the morning, or getting out of your car… then you might be suffering from tight hip flexors.

Hip Flexors are a combination of muscles that attach to the front of the hip.

The primary muscle known as a hip flexor is the Illiopsoas. The Illiopsoas is made of up two muscle bellies (the Illiacacus and the Psoas Major). The iliacus originates at the front of the inside of the pelvis while the Psoas muscle originates at the lumbar spine and discs. Together, all these muscles are used when you flex your hip, like when you try to bring your knee up towards your chest.

Now, if you don’t use them regularly, it can shorten, tighten and worse, lock up. Sitting all day is the number one cause why hip flexors get tight and short. This is a common case for people who have desk jobs or those who travel often on cars and planes.

When the muscles get too short, it can actually affect our stride and balance when we walk or run. Stretching locked-up hip flexors can also cause pain, especially on your lower back and inner hip where it is all connected. This is quite serious as this can lead to injury when it’s painful to move and you don’t have proper balance which stabilize the way you carry yourself.

The best way to prevent this from happening is to keep your hip flexors loose and healthy.

Avoid prolonged sitting as much as possible and do daily stretches for your hip flexors. You can make use of your small breaks in between your shift to stretch out your muscles.

In this detailed video, Dr Gian will show you his favorite stretch to release tight hip flexors. Targeted exercise like this, along with chiropractic care can help restore function and strength to your body especially your muscles and spine. Watch below: