Hip flexor stretches
Disclaimer : This information is not guaranteed to be accurate and I am not liable if you make any decisions or take any actions, in terms of medical treatment, health decisions, exercise, behavior or anything else based on the information presented. I am not telling you any decisions to make even if I use terms like "you" but am using the word "you" as part of a writing style to simplify writing. Any suggestions for what "you" should do are not for you personally to do but what someone might do as part of a exercise or nutrition program which might help some people's health and make other people's health worse. You should not do any activity that will make your health worse even if "you" should do it according to the program described. If the information is wrong and you believe it is true, act on it and it causes you problems, I am not responsible because I have warned you the information is not guaranteed to be accurate.
This is not medical advice
I am not saying you should do any specific exercises. When I say "you" should do an exercise I only mean that you should do it if it is safe for you to do and what you want to do. I can not know if it is safe for every person reading this and I am not claiming these exercises are safe for any reader when I say they should be done or should be done a certain way. "You" does not mean you the reader but is a figure of speech meaning possibly someone somewhere but not necessarily applying to everyone reading this. Since I do not know who will read this, this should not be taken as advice for everyone who reads this and should not be legally considered to be exercise advice for which I am responsible if you do something and get injured having given this warning that I do not know if the activities described are safe for you specifically.
If you ask me I only have time to do one pose to stretch my lower body per day, what pose should I do?
If I have to guess it should be a hip flexor stretch that does not tighten your other hip flexor.
Technically it is two poses, one for each side that I am recommending. If that is too many because you can only do one pose per day then do this only on one side but change which side you do every day
Why?
When most people are not lying down sleeping they are either sitting or standing. If they own a chair they are sitting with their hips flexed but if they are so poor they do not own a chair and they live in the squats then they are squatting all day with their hips flexed. Standing all day will also tighten hip flexors.
Why not center splits?
Because doing the center splits without stretching your hip flexors may make it more difficult to do a hip flexor stretch but doing a hip flexor stretch will not make it more difficult to do a center splits.
Doing a center splits in which you strectch the transverse plane hip adductors is equivelent to first flexing your hips in the sagital plane then rotating them in the trasverse plane which leads to tight hip flexors because it flexes the hips similar to a forward bend.
Doing a center splits that stretches your coronal plane hip adductors does not require hip flexiom but may result in tight coronal plane hip abductors.
Tight coronal plane hip abductors are extremely difficult to stretch because it is extremely difficult to adduct your hips in the coronal plane more than a small number of degrees.
Most coronal plane hip abductor stretches involve standing and tighten the opposite side hip abductors more than they relax the side you are stretching
It is possible to stretch coronal plane hip abductors by lying on a bed or table with the leg you are not stretching flexed at the hip 90 degrees and the leg you are stretching flexed at the hip 0 degrees and dangling off the bed or table but it is extremely difficult because pelvis tilt can occur instead of hip abduction stretching.
There are work arounds to stretch coronal plane hip abductors without doing hip adduction involving doing a set of four stretches for each side using a combination of internal or external rotation of the hip and either 0 degrees of hip flexion lying down or 90 degrees of hip flexion while sitting.
There are also work arounds involving flexing the hip and then doing trasverse plane hip adduction but this misses stretching the hip abductors that also flex the hip and only stretches the hip abductors that extend the hip.
Doing either a coronal or transverse plane center split will result in pain in the side of your hips if not followed up by a second stretch, resulting in the necessity to do at least two stretches per day but the question is what if I only do one stretch per day.
Why not forward bending?
Because doing the forward bends without stretching your hip flexors may make it more difficult to do a hip flexor stretch but doing a hip flexor stretch will not make it more difficult to do a forward bend. Doing forward bends involves flexing your hips and may tighten hip flexors. People forward bend all the time when they sit in a chair or a car or pick up objects off the floor or do many other activities but rarely backbend so if anything it would make more sense to do a back bend not a forward bend if you only do one pose per day.
Why not back bending?
Because doing the back bends without stretching your hip flexors may make it more difficult to do a hip flexor stretch but doing a hip flexor stretch will not make it more difficult to do a back bend. Doing a bridge or standing back bend has a large lever arm which requires utilizing hip flexor strength and may tighten the hip flexors.
What about a lying or standing pose where the hip is abducted in the coronal plane? This could include some standing triangle poses called Trikonasana variations or a side reclining leg lift also called the eternal one pose
These poses will result in tight coronal plane hip abductors if not followed up by more stretches and you are trying to limit yourself to one stretch per day in the original question. See my answer for why not center splits
What about a lying or standing pose where the hip is adducted in the coronal plane?
See my answer for how difficult it is to stretch coronal plane hip abductors in why not center splits
What about a lying or standing pose with one leg or foot forward?
Then you are just tightening your hip flexor in one leg or both legs if you do both sides for that pose. Because doing that pose without stretching your hip flexors may make it more difficult to do a hip flexor stretch but doing a hip flexor stretch will not make it more difficult to do that pose.
What about a standing pose with one leg or foot backward?
Do you mean a hip flexor stretch?
Why not some other standing pose?
I do not think there is any other standing pose that is a lower body exercise I have not listed as one of the categories or a combination of the categrories above.
Because doing a standing pose without stretching your hip flexors may make it more difficult to do a standing pose but doing a hip flexor stretch will not make it more difficult to do a standing pose.
Why not sitting in half or full lotus? Or other sitting pose with external hip rotation
Because doing sitting half lotus without stretching your hip flexors may make it more difficult to do a hip flexor stretch but doing a hip flexor stretch will not make it more difficult to do a sitting half lotus. Because sitting half lotus is a sitting pose in which you are tightening your hip flexors because you are flexing instead of extending at the hips to do it. Lotus and half lotus externally rotate your hips and should be followed up by a second pose that internally rotate your hips if you can do so without injury although many people will say not to internally rotate your hips. Internally rotating your hips would lead to doing a second pose but you are trying to limit yourself to one pose.
Why not butterfly?
Is butterfly closer to a forward bend or is it closer to center splits or is it closer to lotus and external rotation poses? I am not really sure it can kind of have similarities to all of them. Pick one and read the answers I already gave.
Why not some other sitting pose?
Because doing a sitting pose without stretching your hip flexors may make it more difficult to do a sitting pose but doing a hip flexor stretch will not make it more difficult to do a sitting pose.
Because all sitting poses in which you are not stretching your hip flexors generally put your legs in front of you or to the side. If it is in front of you then see my answer for why not forward bending.
If it is to the side this is basically putting your leg in front of you and then rotating it to the side in the transverse plane in such a case this might be thought of as forward bending because you are flexing at the hip to do this and will develop tight hip flexors doing this if you do not stretch your hip flexors. This is like doing a center splits in the transverse plane. For such a case you should see my answer for why not forward bending and also my answer for why not center splits.
What if I put it to the side without forward bending first? Then it is like a center splits in the coronal plane in such a case see my answer for why not center splits.
But what if I put my leg somewhere else? The only other somewhere else is behind you like in a sitting hip flexor stretch, if you count the splits or the lunge as sitting poses.
But, I could adduct my hip that would be somewhere else? I already explained how difficult it is to adduct hips in why not center splits in explaining how difficult it is to stretch hip abductors.
Do sitting kneeling poses stretch my hip flexors?
No they do not they may bend your knee and some of your hip flexors may be stretched by bending your knees if your hips are not flexed but you undo that by flexing your hips when you kneel. The other hip flexors that are not stretched by bendimg the knees will be tightened during kneeling when you flex your hips. Psoas major flexes the hip but does not get stretched through knee bending stretches because it does not extend the knee or because it is inserted at the femur not below the femur.
Why not a lying pose like reclining warrior? Is reclining warrior a hip flexor stretch because you bend your knees? Reclining warrior is like starting out kneeling and then lying down while keeping your knees bent.
Reclining warrior stretches your quads by bending your knees. You bend your knees every time you walk or sit down, most people can bend their knees at least 90 degrees enough to sit down. Hip flexors that straighten the knee can be stretched by this pose but hip flexor stretches that do not straighten the knee can not be stretched by this pose. Therefore hip flexor stretches in which the hip is extended that stretch the other hip flexors also are better than reclining warrior for hip flexor stretching. Reclining warrior does not stretch the Psoas major for example.
Why not a lying pose with hip internal or external rotation?
Most people do not internally and externally rotate their hips all day but they do flex their hips all day either sitting on a chair or squatting if they can not afford a chair. Doing a external rotation pose would be balanced by an internal rotation pose but many people are afraid of internal rotation poses and will say you will hurt yourself by doing them. Surely you will hurt yourself by doing internal rotation of the hip incorrectly but that does not mean internal rotation is unsafe when done correctly. Doing both a external and a internal rotation pose would be two poses but the question is about doing one pose per day.
Why not twists?
The question was about only doing one lower body stretching exercise. Twists would not qualify as a lower body stretch. I included forward and backbends even though the torso is not the lower body because forward bending involves bending the hips which are part of the lower body and back bends are the opposite of forward bends.
That being said people keep the hip at 90 degrees flexion a lot more hours per day then they twist their torso 90 degrees as measured comparing torso to shoulder position. 90 degrees is a lot for torso twisting most people would not be comfortable with that isn't that a straw man fallacy? Exactly people are uncomfirtable twisting but very comfortable hip flexing so they will get tight hip flexors, sitting or squatting with their hips flexed all day perfectly willingly but are not willong to intentionally twist all day getting tight twister muscles or twisters in the work place. Osha will flag workplaces that require twisting to do work as dangerous long before they ever contemplate flagging workplaces that require sitting to do work as dangerous.
Doing a twist in the opposite direction should be enough to balance out twisting but people who get injured twisting too much who could benefit from twisting exercises probably tend to twist at a greater time and or intensity twisting in one direction than the other. People who get injured twisting too much who could not benefit from twisting exercises probably do not have a problem with twisting the two directions for an unequal time or intensity but simply twist both directions at two great a time and or intensity.
Why not do lower body strength training instead?
You only have time to do one exercise. The best lower body exercises are squats and deadlifts according to many blogs. The reason is lombards paradox. Doing a squat allegedly strengthens every major lower body sagital plane muscle group. Doing a straight leg deadlift emphasizes the back lower body muscles when peoples front lower body muscles tend to be too strong relative to their back lower body muscles allegedly. Both Squats and deadlifts will tighten your hip flexors and if you do them all the time without stretching your hip flexors you will injure your knees. If you have time for two lower body exercises per day then I will go with squats or deaflifts and a hip flexor stretch but for only one lower body exercise per day then it must be the hip flexor stretch because it is a preqrequistie for safe squats.
But you can not limit yourself to one lower body pose per day by only doing hip flexor stretches because they also require another pose to balance them?
Although I do not recommend only doing one pose per day, you do not need to do another pose to balance out hip flexor stretching. Why? Because you already do poses that balance out hip flexor stretching every time you bend forward flexing the hip to pick something up or flex the hip to squat to pick something up or flex at the hip to sit in a car or chair or squat because you live in the squats and can not afford a chair to sit down.
What are some hip flexor stretches
There are at least five common poses to stretch hip flexors by extending your hip in the sagital plane
1 Standing on one leg with one leg back on elevated object and hips square
2 Lunge with hips square and without either knee on floor
Warrior 1, Virabhadrasana 1
This pose should not be done as your only hip flexor stretching pose because it will most likely tighten your other hip flexor more than it relaxes the one you are trying to stretch but can be done in addition to one of the other four hip flexor stretches for strength and endurance but not hip flexibility although it should encourage calf flexibility
3 Standing hip flexor stretch with both knees straight
Hips Square, one foot forward and one foot back both knees straight
Parshvottanasana but modied with the torso in neutral or leaned back instead of forward and with posterior pelvic tilt or neutraility instead of anterior pelvic tilt
4 Lunge with hips square and one knee on floor
Anjaneyasana
A common mistake with this is not to have your knee behind your pelvis or to lean forward and anteriorly tilt your pelvis
I do not care if your knee is bent and you feel it, if your knee is not behind your pelvis this is not a hip flexor stretch at least as far as your psoas major is concerned. If you can not get your knee behind your pelvis doing this stretch then choose another one and do not do it as a hip flexor stretch. You can do it for strength and endurance training without your knee back but should choose a different exercise for hip flexor stretching and do that in addition to this exercise or do not do this exercise at all.
What about doing it without your knee back and trying to work toward getting your knee back? You can do that but until you can get your knee back choose a real hip flexor stretch and do that in addition or do not do this exercise at all.
What about doing it with your knee back but leaning forward? That does not count either, either do not do it or do it plus a real hip flexor stretch. It can too count if my knee is back far enough to outweigh my leaning forward? Maybe but instead of taking a goniometer and measuring joint angles, you should instead choose a easier stretch where you can know you are doing it correctly.
It can too count if my knee is not behind my pelvis but I lean back? You might be bending your torso back without extending your hip and should instead choose a easier stretch where you can know you are doing it correctly
5 Front Splits with hips square - One leg forward and the other leg backward
A common mistake is to do this and think your hips are square but by the time you think you got fully into the pose they are not square anymore and you are halfway between a front splits and a center splits. A center splits is not a hip flexor stretch but a front splits is.
How to do Hip Flexor Stretches correctly in terms of body allignment
Squaring The Hips with torso in neutral or twisted the way that emphasizes hip squareness in the transverse plane
Twist option
Your torso can either be twisted or in neutral. If it is twisted there is a correct direction of twisting to encourage squaring hips and a wrong direction of twisting for this purpose which discourages it
If your left leg is forward and your right leg is back then your right shoulder should go forward and your left shoulder back relative to your hips if you are twisting your torso to encourage squaring your hips
Torso should be neutral or lean to the side that emphasizes stretching your hip flexors and not the other side in the coronal plane
If your left leg is forward and your right leg is back then your torso should lean to the left in or be in neutral in the coronal plane
Back Leg goes back in the sagital plane and is not abducted in the coronal plane
If your left leg goes forward and your right leg goes back then your right knee should not be translated to the right of your right hip socket in the coronal plane or should be translated as little to the right as possible
If your left leg goes forward and your right leg goes back then you may adduct your right hip in the coronal plane in order to stretch your right hip abductor
If your left leg goes forward and your right leg goes back then your right knee maybe translated to the left of your right hip socket in the coronal plane if you wish to stretch your hip abductors
Your right knee should be translated behind your right hip socket in the sagital plane
Posterior Pelvic Tilt or being in neutral in the sagital plane
Your Pelvis should either be neutral or rotated in the sagital plane in a direction that emphasizes stretching the hip flexors. This direction of pelvis rotation is called posterior pelvis tilt. It is a bad name because only the top part of the pelvis is translated posteriorly, since it is a rotation the bottom part of the pelvis translates in the opposite direction of posterior.
If you choose to posteriorly tilt your pelvis then
the top of the pelvis should go back
the front of the pelvis should go up
the bottom of the pelvis should go forward
the back of your pelvis should go down
Torso should be in neutral or extended backward in the sagital plane
To emphasize stretching your hip flexors you may lean your torso backward but not forward in the sagital plane
The two most important rules of allignment to qualify as a hip flexor stretch
The first rule is your knee should be translated back
If you are stretching your right hip flexors then the front of your right knee absolutely must be behind the front of your right hip
If the front of your right knee is 0 inches behind the front of your right hip then you are not stretching your right hip flexors when your pelvis is in neutral at least as far as your psoas major is concerned
If the front of your right knee is in front of the front of your right hip then you are not stretching your right hip flexors when your pelvis is in neutral at least as far as your psoas major is concerned
But if the front of your right knee is only 0.0001 inches behind the front of your right hip then you are stretching your right hip flexors when your pelvis is in neutral
The second rule is you should not anteriorly tilt your pelvis
Usually this means you should not lean your torso forward
Anteriorly tilting your pelvis is rotating your pelvis the opposite direction of posteriorly tiliting your pelvis. Posteriorly tilting your pelvis is described above
Copyright Carl Janssen 2022
The material above is copyrighted by Carl Janssen but any pictures, videos or links below are not
List of Yoga poses
http://web.archive.org/web/20220607154905/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asanas
Explains the origin and insertion of the psoas major
http://web.archive.org/web/20220428145448/https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/psoas-major-muscle
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=square+hips&ia=web
Open Splits
What it looks like when someone tries to do the front splits but accidentally does the center splits
Hips are not square
The right knee is to the right of the right hip socket
The right knee is not behind the right hip socket
This is not a hip flexor stretch
.png)
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622074335/https://static.wixstatic.com/media/46b9e1_3b284a8e84034510ab385221b7e235db~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_825,h_228,al_c,lg_1,q_95/46b9e1_3b284a8e84034510ab385221b7e235db~mv2.webp
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622074355/https://static.wixstatic.com/media/46b9e1_3139d609d3e94262a215159494dcce00~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_826,h_227,al_c,lg_1,q_95/46b9e1_3139d609d3e94262a215159494dcce00~mv2.webp
https://web.archive.org/web/20220622074110im_/https://static.wixstatic.com/media/46b9e1_3139d609d3e94262a215159494dcce00~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_300,h_300,al_c,q_5,enc_auto/file.png
https://web.archive.org/web/20220622074110im_/https://static.wixstatic.com/media/46b9e1_3b284a8e84034510ab385221b7e235db~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_300,h_300,al_c,q_5,enc_auto/file.png
https://web.archive.org/web/20220622074110/https://www.themovementdanceexperience.com/post/why-are-square-hips-important-in-dance
Warrior 2
Hips are not square
Right knee is to the right of the right hip socket
Right knee is not behind the right hip socket
This is not a hip flexor stretch
Warrior 1
Hips are close to square
Right knee is behind the right hip socket
This is a hip flexor stretch
But it will probably tighten the left hip flexors more than it relaxes the stretched right hip flexors because it requires so much strength to do
This is not a flexibility exercise for practical purposes but it is a strength and endurance training exercise
This might build flexibility in the right calf but it might not
If the right heel was on the floor it would build flexibility in the right calf if the person did not rotate their foot in the tranverse plane to do it easier but chose the more difficult variation in which the foot is not rotated in the transverse plane. By more difficult I mean more difficult in terms of calf flexibility
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622075852im_/https://fineryoga.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/high-lunge.jpg?w=768
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622081106/https://fineryoga.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/warrior-2.jpg?w=768
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622080946/https://thewellcrew.com/2020/08/25/closed-vs-open-hips-in-yoga-poses/?amp=1
http://web.archive.org/web/20210508131249/https://thewellcrew.com/2020/08/25/closed-vs-open-hips-in-yoga-poses/
Open Splits
What it looks like when someone tries to do the front splits but accidentally does the center splits
Hips are not square
The left knee is to the left of the left hip socket
The left knee is not behind the left hip socket
This is not a hip flexor stretch
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622082305im_/https://i0.wp.com/fitandbendy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ya2.jpg?w=400&ssl=1
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622082305im_/https://i0.wp.com/fitandbendy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ya.jpg?w=400&ssl=1
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622082305/https://i0.wp.com/fitandbendy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ya2.jpg?w=400&ssl=1
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622082305/https://i0.wp.com/fitandbendy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ya.jpg?w=400&ssl=1
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622082256/https://fitandbendy.com/want-better-backbends-more-flexible-hips-square-splits-heres-how-why/
Hips are close to square
Right knee is not behind the right hip a practically significant amount
Doing this will tighten the left hip flexors more than it relaxes the right hip flexors
This either is not a hip flexor stretch or is a bad hip flexor stretch
This is not a stretch, it does not improve flexibility, this is a strength and endurance training pose that improves strength and endurance
Some people think this pose makes them more flexible because they can do this pose easier the more they do it but they are wrong, they can do this pose easier the more they do it because it makes them stronger and have better endurance.
.jpg)
http://web.archive.org/web/20200323053336/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Airman_performing_lunge.jpg
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622085341/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airman_performing_lunge.jpg
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622084943/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Ashwa_sanchalanasana_zamkovoi_%28cropped%29.jpg
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622085002/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ashwa_sanchalanasana_zamkovoi_%28cropped%29.jpg
http://web.archive.org/web/20211205123221/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunge_(exercise)
Anjaneyasana
Lunge with one knee on floor
Hips are close to square
Very little anterior Pelvic Tilt
Slight lower torso forward lean with upper torso backward lean
Right Knee is behind the right hip socket
The anterior pelvic tilt is small enough relative to the backward knee displacement that this is still a hip flexor stretch
This is a right hip flexor stretch
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622091109/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/J%C3%B3ga_Anjaneyasana.jpg
http://web.archive.org/web/20220622091131/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:J%C3%B3ga_Anjaneyasana.jpg
http://web.archive.org/web/20220424213250/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anjaneyasana
http://web.archive.org/web/20220607154905/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asanas
She is aggravating her back left knee because her back left knee because the force or torque her back left knee is resisting from gravity is not in the correct direction for a hinge joint. The problem is her knee is rotated in the transverse plane which it should not be for that direction of force or direction of torque.
It has to do with foot placement in order to achieve a right angle of her front right knee she rotated her back left foot in the transverse plane because that requires less calf flexibility and in order to do that she rotated her knee in the transverse plane by externally rotating her hips resulting in knee pain
Trying to square the hips did not cause the knee pain
If she did not rotate the foot in the transverse plane then she would not have externally rotated her hips resulting in rotating her knee in the transverse plane and would not have put force on her knee in the wrong direction
There are three solutions none of which involve trying to square your hips less
1 being content with not making a right angle on the other knee so that you do not rotate your foot in the transverse plane in order to achieve that thus avoiding externally rotating your hip and rotating your knee in the transverse plane
2 Rotating your foot in the trasverse plane without externally rotating your hips so that you do not rotate your knee in the trasverse plane
3 Not having your heel touch the floor and not rotating your foot and knee in the transverse plane and not externally rotating your hip
4 minutes and 40 seconds
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gi2ypBg0Js&t=280s
youtube.com/watch?v=4Gi2ypBg0Js
Anatomy Facts: Why You Can't Square the Hips in Warrior I or Warrior II
Physical Therapy & Yoga Therapy with Dr. Ariele Foster
http://web.archive.org/web/20210212204833/youtube.com/watch?v=4Gi2ypBg0Js
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