Exercises to fix those tight hip flexors

Strengthening 1a: Lie on the floor and bend your right knee. — Photos: ONG SOON HIN/The Star

In my last column, I discussed how tight and weak hip flexors are often an overlooked cause of lower back pain.

Aside from a dull ache in your lower back, you might also feel a pulling sensation in the front of your hip or a feeling of stiffness in your hip area.

This tightness or pain becomes more noticeable after long periods of sitting or driving, or when performing activities that require hip flexion, such as climbing stairs, squatting, running and cycling.

Don’t ignore these signs as leaving them unattended can cause the body to compensate for this weakness.

This can lead to altered movement patterns, such as excessive arching of the lower back, and pain not only in the hips, but also the thighs and knees, due to the resulting muscle imbalances.

Tight hip flexors may also put you at a higher risk for injury because of the increased demands on tissues that aren’t moving properly.

You definitely don’t want it to become a chronic issue that impacts every step, sit and stride.

While there are many ways to strengthen and stretch the hip flexor muscles, here are a few easy ones that you can try.

Work your way up slowly during the strengthening portion, and perhaps do the two exercises shown below two or three times a week on alternate days.

Stop or scale back when there is pain, or when you can no longer maintain proper alignment.

The stretching exercises can be done multiple times daily, depending on how tight your hips feel.

Be sure to hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds.

In fact, anyone can reap the benefits of performing these exercises – you don’t have to wait for pain to strike.

If you spend a lot of time sitting, set a timer to stand up and move around every hour.

Taking short breaks to walk and stretch can prevent your hip flexors from becoming tight.

While you’re working on relieving your tight hip flexors, try to limit abrupt high intensity workouts, jumping, running, squats and lunges.

Once you feel better, you can resume these activities.

Depending on how bad your weakness is, recovery can take several weeks, or even months, so be patient and give your body time to heal.

In addition to stretching and strengthening exercises, you should also focus on getting plenty of rest, eating a healthy diet and staying hydrated.

Revathi Murugappan is a certified fitness trainer who tries to battle gravity and continues to dance to express herself artistically and nourish her soul. For more information, email [e-mail]. The information contained in this column is for general educational purposes only. Neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.