Tight hip flexors are a common problem, often caused by too much cycling or sitting at your desk, to name two possible culprits. What’s less clear is what exercises to do to properly stretch tight hip flexors to ease your pain.
If you’ve tried post-workout stretches or walks for tight hip flexors, you probably haven’t found pain relief. That’s because the problem isn’t actually in your hip flexors—it’s in your glutes, according to Allison Heffron, DCchiropractor and owner Customize your Performance in Springfield, New Jersey. And you don’t need to stretch — you need to get stronger. Fortunately, this is fairly easy with the right exercises for tight hip flexors.
What causes hip flexor pain?
Have you ever felt a sharp pain running from the front of your pelvis to the top of your thigh every time you lift your leg? This is what you would call tight, painful hip flexors. Quick Anatomy Lesson: Your hip flexors are a group of muscles that connect your pelvis to your femur (the bone in your upper leg) and help it raise and lower, as well as make every micro-movement in between, According to a research from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The largest of the hip flexors is the psoas, which wraps from the back of your spine around the front of your pelvis to the top of your femur, and the iliacus, which connects the upper front of your your pelvis straight down. tendons to the femur as psoas.
“Typically, the hip flexors tighten up because they’re overactive in response to something else being underactive—usually your glutes,” Heffron says. Thanks to activities like sitting all day or rushing through your squats with improper form, your glutes aren’t always taught to fire properly. Sure, yours truly touch like engaging your glutes when you work out, but if you’re suffering from sore hip flexors, that’s a major sign that they haven’t been engaged enough.
“It’s almost like your glutes are the power switch to turn off the hip flexors. When you exercise or even just walk and focus on activating the glutes, it inhibits the overactivity of the hip flexors. This allows the hip flexors to rest and tax yourself less while the glutes are doing the work they’re meant to do,” Heffron says.
Think of your hip flexors as the muscles that control the front half of your leg, and your glutes (all three – maximus, medius and minimus) as the ones that control the back half. When the two sets of muscles fire and work in sync, all is well. But when one set isn’t doing its job, the other has to pick up the slack.
It can also help strengthen your core, according to Heffron. “The hip flexors attach to the front of the spine and cross over the front of the hip, so if your core is inactive, then you’re either going to bend or hyperextend at your waist, creating more tension in the hip flexors and less buttock activity,” he says. Same problem, different trigger.
Spin and bike classes are high on the offender list for inducing tight hip flexors, but it’s all about the seat. Whether in the saddle, on the plane, or at your desk, parking it in a seat most of the day puts your hip flexors in a contracted and shortened position while also preventing your glutes from activating. Trying to use your hip flexors when they’re tight makes the problem worse — and therefore the pain.
“By no means does this mean you should avoid spinning or riding your bike,” assures Heffron. It just means you need to do a little extra strengthening—including some of the exercises for tight hip flexors below—to combat those muscle imbalances.
The worst exercises for hip flexor pain
If you feel the tightness every time you climb the stairs or every time you get dressed, your instinct was probably to Google “hip flexor stretches.” But pigeon pose and happy baby — two of the most common stretches that will come up from a quick search — don’t solve the problem. To be honest, they can even make hip flexor pain worse.
These types of movements are called static stretches, which are exercises without any kind of dynamic movement. “Think about stretching a rubber band for a long time. As it stays stretched, it starts to lose its elasticity, so when you let it go, it won’t be as effective or stable. Similarly, static stretching starts to reduce the elasticity and stability of muscles,” says Heffron.
So, you should never static stretching? Well, it’s good to do, say, after a run when your body is super flexible. But most physical therapists and personal trainers agree that static stretching isn’t the best choice when your body isn’t already warm — like when you’re trying to relieve pain at night or first thing in the morning.
You’ll also want to avoid exercises that bring your legs up toward your torso, like star crunches or mountain climbers, as they shorten the hip flexors and you want to lengthen to relieve tension. Strengthening your glutes and core, on the other hand, trains both muscle groups to fire effectively, taking the pressure off your hip flexors without completely destabilizing them.
The best exercises for tight hip flexors
If your hip flexors are sore, try this simple routine first thing in the morning after your body warms up and gets flexible, Heffron advises. You should start to see relief after just a week or two, although the more you do this hip flexor workout and the further you progress, the longer lasting relief you’ll get.
A few notes: You want to go slow and controlled, really tightening your core and glutes with each movement to increase stability. Think “rehabilitation” instead of “training.” And while you’re probably used to doing more reps or holding a plank for longer than this routine prescribes, the compression and release that happens here (called an isometric contraction) helps build endurance in your muscles and recruits more muscle fibers to help with stabilization, Heffron says. Translation: Work slowly now, and when you’re ready, you’ll be able to effectively activate those glutes and core muscles when you do faster movements and more reps. (And if you still have hip flexor pain, try these yoga hip openers, too.)
Buttock Bridge
ONE. Lie on your back, feet hip-width apart and flat on the floor, arms straight with palms flat on the floor. Tighten the abs, aiming to hold this gentle contraction throughout the exercise while still breathing.
SI. Keeping your shoulders and feet on the ground, squeeze your glutes and push your hips up toward the ceiling until your body forms a line from your chest to your knees.
DO. Pause, then slowly lower back to starting position.
Do 3 sets of 8 reps.
Dead Bugs
ONE. Lie on your back with your arms extended in front of your shoulders, facing the ceiling. Bring the knees to a 90 degree angle. Tighten your abs and press your lower back into the floor.
SI. Take a deep breath and as you exhale, slowly extend the left leg towards the floor and bring the right arm up.
DO. Keeping the abs tight, slowly return the arm and leg to the starting position. Switch sides; repeat.
Do 3 sets of 8 reps on each side.
Squat with straps
ONE. Loop a medium resistance band across the legs and place just above the knees.
SI. Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, toes slightly turned out. Tighten the abs, aiming to hold this gentle contraction throughout the exercise while still breathing.
DO. Keeping chest and head up, shift weight back into heels, squeeze glutes and drive hips directly back and down. As you lower the hips, continue to push the knees out to maintain tension in the resistance band.
HEY. Once the thighs are parallel to the floor, use the glutes to push back up to the starting position, continuing to push the knees out and engage the core.
MI. Pause at the top. repeat.
Do 3 sets of 8 reps.
Forearm plank
ONE. Start in a push-up position, but on the forearms instead of the hands. Lower the hips so that the body forms a straight line from the shoulders to the ankles.
SI. Brace your core and squeeze your glutes as tight as possible. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds while breathing deeply.
DO. Release and Termination. repeat.
Do 3 sets of 8 reps.
