You’re not the only one looking to unlock your hip flexors. Millions of people from all walks of the life are looking for ways to tighten their hip flexors.
Contrary to popular belief, sitting for prolonged periods of time doesn’t cause your hip flexors tighten. Your hip flexors can become tightened by lifting heavy objects, improper stretching, jogging and cycling.
Another reason for tight, injured or strained hips is weak muscles, stiff muscle, falls, sudden movements, change in direction, while running, moving about, and other factors.
Hip Flexor Muscles
Before we get into the causes of tight hip flexors (sedentary lifestyle), and how to loosen them, it is important to learn about your hip flexibility muscles. The hip flexor muscles are a grouping of muscles that is sometimes called the iliopsoas (inner thighs muscles).
The iliopsoas is made up of the psoas, iliacus, and psoas muscles. This will allow your legs to swing forward when you run. The iliopsoas, which is the main and strongest muscle of the hip flexor group, is the reason.
Click here to learn more about the anatomy and function of your Iliopsoas.
Because it is responsible for many bodily functions, such as:
* Walking.
* Running.
* Supporting your upper back.
* Rotating the thigh laterally
* Maintaining proper movement and stabilization in your pelvis.
The following are other hip flexor muscles:
* tensor fasciae latae
* rectus femoris
* iliacus
* sartorius
There are so many functions to your hip flexor muscles.
Tight hip flexors
Tight hip flexors can lead to serious problems like stiffness and pain in the back, arthritis, pain in the knees, hip pain, and discomfort when you are trying to move comfortably.
It is important to learn how to unlock your hip flexors. You will never feel 100% yourself unless you can release your hip flexors.
Before we can get into how to unlock your hip flexors, it is important to understand what symptoms you should look out for.
Tight hip flexors symptoms
How can you tell if your hip flexors have become tight, injured or strained?
You should be aware of some common signs of tight hipflexors, such as severe pain in your pelvis or hips, muscle cramps or tenderness in your upper leg area, pain in your front groin, or muscle spasms in your hips or thighs.
Tight Hip Flexors Testing
The Thomas Test can help you determine if your hips are tight. To assess your hip flexor tightness, you will need to sit on the edge of a long table or bench to perform the Thomas Test.
After sat down, pull one leg to your chest with your knees. Then lay flat on your back. You may have tight hip flexors if your other leg isn’t able to stay flat on the table or bench you’re using while pulling your leg towards your chest.
Watch the video below to see how you can perform the Thomas Test correctly.
The most frequent question we receive on our website is about how to loosen tight hip flexors.
We almost always recommend this when people ask us how to relieve hip flexor tightness and pain.
Get your Hip Flexors Working!
My hip flexors have been tightening over the years and really started to bother me. Triathlete, I also sit a lot at work. It’s difficult to ignore the impact that sitting had on my hip flexors.
Because my hip flexor tightness was causing me to worry about my glutes as well as my lower back, I started getting anxious whenever I did exercises such RDLs, squats, or on almost every run.
I saw a physiotherapist, but he couldn’t tell me the cause of my problem. I tried different stretching techniques and foam rolling, which provided some temporary relief.
My physio suggested that I continue to do the stretches, but I was still experiencing the clicking when I walked. I also noticed that my tight hip flexors were starting affecting my running form and posture. It just didn’t feel like my hip flexors were working properly.
My weak hip flexors had been bothering me for quite some time. It eventually led to lower back pain and sore knees. My physio charged me $45 per session so I began looking for other ways to maintain my hip flexors health.
Because I saw a lot of negative effects and injuries, I felt the need to quickly find a solution.
Mike Westerdal’s permanent solution to tight hip flexors was the best I found. When my lower back pain started improving, and I stopped experiencing back pain while riding, I knew that I had found something. It was unbelievable. It worked!
It is easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of misinformation available regarding how to heal and prevent tight hipflexors.
After being repeatedly asked by our subscribers, we decided to test Unlock Your Hip Flexors and compare it to other hip flexor treatments we have found over the years.
It was not surprising that Unlock your hip Flexors stood out ahead of the rest.
Get your Hip Flexors Working!
Our number one recommendation was followed by most of our subscribers who tried The Unlock Your Hip Flexors program. They were very pleased with the results.
Many of our subscribers were able to unlock their tight hip flexors in a matter of minutes using the techniques and treatments in Unlock Your Hip Flexors.
Mike Westerdal, Rick Kaselj are the creators of this all natural hip flexor tightness treatment method. Rick Kaselj, an injury specialist, helped Mike Westerdal’s wife to naturally and safely unblock her tight hips using the “flow” method.
What’s Inside?
The program includes the “flow” method which is an easy-to-follow sequence of movements that unlocks specific muscles in your hip flexors. This will permanently eliminate the pain, tightness, and discomfort you are experiencing.
Your tight hip flexors won’t improve no matter how many exercises or stretches you do, because you are incorrectly releasing one before the other.
I was familiar with many of the techniques in this program. However, it wasn’t until the simple flow formula that I learned how to order them that things started to improve.
You’ll find 10 exercises in Unlock Your Hip Flexors. Rick will provide a step-by-step video explanation explaining each one.
These 10 exercises will help you reach the toughest muscles in your hip flexors, and provide instant relief from tightness and other symptoms.
The Results
This program has been proven to be quick and effective. Most of our subscribers experienced instant relief from their hip flexor issues after using the easy-to-follow formula.
Some users were able to relieve the pain and tightness in their hips, flexors, and lower backs within 15 minutes of starting these techniques. This is not bad.
The Bad
This program is not for everyone …. This program may seem too complicated for people who aren’t familiar with the psoas muscles.
The step-by-step videos Rick shows you how to use each technique make it simple to get started and experience great results.
You can return it if you don’t feel it’s right for you.
60-day risk-free money back guarantee
You can also return Unlock Your Hip Flexors within 60 days if you are not completely satisfied. No questions asked.
The Conclusion …..
There are many reputable products available to treat hip tightness.
If you are looking for long-lasting results that will allow you to live without hip flexor tightness and pain, and maximize your athletic performance, Unlock Your Hip Flexors is the right program for you.
Click here to check out Unlock Your Hip Flexors
There are many things you can do to relieve tight hip flexors. These exercises and stretches will help you unlock your hip flexors.
Hip Flexor Exercises
The hip flexor exercises strengthen your hip flexor muscles, which can help loosen them. Before you start performing the exercises below, it’s a good idea for you to warm up by doing some cardio.
Standing Leg Lifts
Standing leg lifts are a great exercise for your hip flexor muscles. This is a great exercise to strengthen your hip flexors by performing it regularly.
Do the following to perform a standing leg raise:
1. Start by standing straight up with your hands on your hips.
2. While keeping your torso upright, raise one leg off the ground so that it is as high as you can. (Be sure to not bend your other knee as you do this).
3. After you place your leg as high as you can, hold it there for at most 30 seconds before you lower it.
4. Once you have dropped your leg back to the ground, repeat steps 1 through 3 with the other leg.
This exercise is more effective the longer you can hold your leg straight up in the air. To increase flexibility and range in motion, try raising your leg slightly higher each time you do a leg lift.
You can help keep your balance when performing the hip flexors exercise by contracting your abs as you raise your leg in front of your body.
This video will show you how to do a standing leg lift.
Lunges
Lunges are one of the most effective exercises for hip flexor activation. Because you can use your own body weight, or add resistance with dumbbells, lunges are a great exercise to strengthen hip flexors.
Because your stabilizing muscles will be challenged every time you take a step, lunges are great for tight hipflexors. Lunge repetitions can not only strengthen your hip flexors, but it also strengthens your core.
Do the following to perform lunges that target your hip flexors:
You can learn how to better unlock your hip flexors by using lunges.
1. Start by putting your feet slightly apart while standing straight.
2. Contract your abs while keeping your torso straight and your torso upright, take a huge step forward with your left foot.
3. While balancing on your left leg, flex your knees and place all of your weight onto your left foot as you move forward.
4. Continue to lower your lunges until your right knee touches the ground.
5. This position should be held for approximately 30 seconds before you return to your original one.
6. After you have returned to an upright position, continue this process with your right foot.
To help your hip flexor muscles work more, slow down while you lower your body into the lunge.
If you have the space, you can also do walking lunges. Walking lunges can help loosen and strengthen tight hip flexors. They require more balance and motion.
Reverse lunges, another variation on this exercise to tighten hip flexors, are also an option. You will need to be able to stabilize yourself and make use of your hip abductors.
This video demonstrates how to properly do lunges and hip flexors.
Front Plank
The front plank is a great exercise for hip flexors. It can help you to regain full rotation range in your hips.
The front plank improves hip mobility and tightness. It stimulates your hip felxor muscle and important core muscles that support your spine and pelvic.
These are the steps to perform a great front plank:
1. Start by getting into a push-up position. Your hands should be on the ground, your knees bent and your forearms flat against the floor. Your elbows should be pointing towards your back, with your shoulders wide apart.
2. Your feet should be straight with your heels pointed up towards the ceiling. Your toes should not touch the ground during this hip flexor exercise.
3. Keep this position for 30 seconds, keeping your eyes on the ground. Do not look up or directly in front of yourself as this can put unnecessary pressure on your neck and cause you to lose your form.
This exercise can be used to strengthen your core muscles and hip flexors. Side plank is one variation. This involves holding a similar position, slightly higher off the ground but with your side.
Check out the image below.
Click here to learn more about how to unlock hip Flexors with Planks.
Hip Flexor Stretch
The following stretches will help you unlock your hip flexors. Because they stabilize your hip flexors, these tight hip flexor stretches such as the pigeon position are very effective.
This study shows that stretching can reduce tightness and tension in the hip flexors, as well as increase range of motion.
These are some of the best ways to loosen tight hip flexors:
Rectus Femoris Stretch
The hip flexor muscle group includes the rectus femoris. It helps you to extend your knee and hip flexion. This muscle can be stretched to release tightness and improve flexion movement.
This is how to perform the stretch:
1. Begin the stretch by extending your legs out to the side. Your front hip and knee should be bent at a 90 degree angle. Your back knee should rest on the ground.
2. Place a strap, exercise band, or towel around your back foot while you are in the lunge position. You can use your hands if you don’t own any of these items.
3. Use the towel, strap, or exercise band to lift your back foot towards your buttocks. While pulling your rear foot upward, you don’t need to exert too much force. A gentle pull on your foot in the rear is enough.
4. To complete the stretch, extend your hips forward and gently pull on the strap or towel until you have achieved maximum flexion.
This stretching technique can be used daily to fix your hip flexor muscles and increase your range-of-motion.
You can see the video to learn how to correctly perform a rectus-femoris stretch.
Happy Baby Pose
The happy baby position is an effective yoga hip flexors stretch and is considered a great hip opener.
Ananda Balasana is also known as the happy baby pose. It targets your lower muscles, which include your hamstrings and inner thighs. Because it lengthens your hamstrings, this yoga stretch can be used to relieve hip flexors.
The following steps will help you to perform the happy-baby pose:
1. Start by lying down on your back.
2. By bending your knees, bring your knees to your midsection.
3. Grab your feet using your hands. You should be grabbing the outside edges of your feet using your hands.
4. Spread your knees apart to create some space between them. Your knees should be aligned with your hips.
5. Your head should be straight, flat and level. Your chin should be aligned with your middle chest.
6. Also, you might want to make sure your spine and back are flat against the ground.
7. Inhale slowly and exhale. Hold this position for 30 seconds or more to complete one rep.
This stretch will help loosen tight hip flexors by being done regularly. You can open your legs a bit wider for a deeper stretch.
This article will help you to understand the best way to make your happy baby smile and how to reduce hip tightness.
For a better visual, you can also see the video below:
The Butterfly Stretch
This is a great hip flexor stretch for seated hips. It works your inner thighs and knees as well as your hips.
1. Begin by lying on your back, with your head up.
2. Place your bottoms together so that they touch one another. (Sole to sole).
3. Allow your knees to relax and let them drop to the sides.
4. Keep your hands on your feet and try to keep your hips straight while keeping your spine straight. Your head should be facing forward and your back should remain straight.
5. When you feel the inner thighs, back and outer hips stretch, you will know that you are doing it correctly.
6. You should hold this position for at most 30 seconds before you let go.
This is a great way to reduce hip pain and improve hip flexibility. You can increase the pressure by pushing your thighs towards ground while you hold the butterfly stretch.
This will allow the stretch to be effective. Keep your back straight and your shoulders straight. This stretch can be reduced by moving your feet further away from your body.
The video below will show you how to perform the butterfly stretch correctly.
The Frog Stretch
The frog stretch is one of the most effective yoga poses for hip flexors. This stretch, also known as the “frog pose”, loosens tight hips and improves hip flexibility.
Learn how to properly stretch your hip flexors if you want to unlock them.
These are the steps to correctly do the frog stretching.
1. You will first need to sit on the ground with your hands and knees bent, with your chest facing down.
2. Spread your knees out and make sure your knees are slightly wider than your hips.
3. Slowly slide your hips forward while lowering your body towards the ground. Your hips should be at a 90-degree angle to your knees.
4. Your toes should point outward and your ankles should align with your knees.
5. Rest your upper body on your forearms. Place your forearms flatly on the ground in front of you.
6. This position should be held for at least 30 seconds. Then, push your hands into the ground and slide your hips and knees forward so you can return to your original position.
This hip flexor stretch is great for lower back pain. This article has additional information about how to stretch the hip flexor muscles with this frog stretch.
You can also see the video below for a demonstration of how to properly perform this stretch to relieve hip flexor strain, pain, tightness, and strain.
For back pain, hip flexibility stretch
Tight hip flexors can cause severe pain in the hips and lower back. Your spine becomes unstable when your hip flexor muscles become tighter, which can lead to chronic back pain.
For back pain, the hip flexor exercises can provide quick relief.
Kneeling Lunge Stretch
The hip flexor muscles are the main focus of the kneeling lunge stretch. This simple stretch can be done regularly to increase your hip range of motion, which will result in some back pain relief.
Do the following to perform the kneeling lunge stretch:
1. You will first need to sit down on your right knee, with your left foot flat against the ground.
2. Next, push your hips forward until you feel the stretch in your right thigh.
3. Now, raise your arms high above your head. Make sure your elbows touch your scalp and your palms touch one another.
4. Next, arch your back while aligning your head with the floor.
This kneeling lunge should be held for between 15 and 20 seconds. Then, switch to the left knee.
The Piriformis Stretch
The piriformis muscle is an important part of hip flexion. If it gets too tight, it can cause pain in the lower back.
Do this properly to relieve lower back pain.
1. Begin by lying flat on your back, with your legs in front of a wall.
2. Keep your arms straight and your legs together.
3. Keep one leg straight against the wall and place the other on top of it.
Keep this position for around 20 seconds, then switch to the other side. This stretch will not only relieve your back pain but also open up your hip flexors.
Stretch your inner thighs
It’s always a good idea for lower back pain relief and hip flexor unlocking.
This is how to do an inner thigh stretch:
1. You will first need to lie down on the ground with your legs spread out.
2. Now, tighten your quads and flex those feet. Keep your spine straight.
3. Next, lean forward with your upper body while keeping your upper body upright. You’ll feel the stretch in your hips and thighs as you lean forward.
4. Take 10 to 15 deep, exhaling breaths and then return to your starting position. Next, stretch your inner thighs by leaning forward.
There are many hip flexor stretches which can be used to relieve back pain. These three stretches are a good place to begin.
Here are more tips on how to release hip flexors
You should not pull too hard when you do these exercises to strengthen and mobilize your hip flexors. It will cause you to feel sore the next morning and make it difficult to continue your treatment.
Avoid chronic hip flexor problems by not pulling on the muscles while performing these stetches. You may feel some pain during hip flexor stretches, but it shouldn’t be too severe. You can take a break if you feel that you have over-extended yourself.
These hip flexor exercises or stretches should be held for at least 30 seconds before moving on to the next leg. To avoid overworking your muscles, we don’t recommend that you hold any hip flexor exercises or stretches for longer than one minute.
Keep in mind, however, that each individual’s effectiveness with these hip flexor releases techniques will be different. We advise all subscribers to give each exercise and stretch at least one try. If your hip flexors are tight, you should definitely do it.
Conclusion
If you don’t know how to unlock your hip flexors, it can be difficult. The exercises and stretches found here are great because they have been proven to be effective for many people.
