Hip flexors are muscles that cross our hip region, allowing us to bring our legs up to our torso, such as in walking and running. There are two groups of hip flexors; the quadriceps located on the front of your thigh, and the iliopsoas, which attach to your spine from your leg.
Sitting, as well as biking and running (just to name a few activities) tighten these muscles, reducing our ability to function normally. Often times the tightening of your hip flexors causes your hips and spine to shift, which creates Nuero-Structural issues. In fact, hip flexors can become so tight that they limit our ability to stand upright and cause low back pain.
Below are two variations of a stretch you can perform to combat the tightening of your hip flexors. The first variation targets the quadricep portion of your hip flexor. For the second variation, target your iliopsoas by tucking your pelvis and tailbone under as seen in the photo. Try this out. Two minutes per side minimum. Remember, two minutes as compared to how long you sit every day isn’t very long.
Variation 1: targets quadricep area portion of your hip flexor by pushing your hips forward and down.
Variation 2: targets your iliopsoas by tucking your pelvis and tailbone under.