Too Much Binge Watching & Chill Is Not Good for Your Hips… “Your hips don’t lie”

Do you suffer from tight hips? Limited hip mobility? Or hip pain? Read below for a quick explanation of the anatomy of the hip, possible causes for hip tightness and exercises to help strengthen your hips and improve your mobility.

Many people experience tight hip muscles. It can be caused by overuse or inactivity. Let’s face it, we all have been sitting for longer periods of time. For example, sitting at a desk, working from home, or pounding pavements through lockdown. Recent studies have shown even sitting for 30 minutes can increase hip tightness. If you have tight hips, you will more than likely have less hip mobility. Having tight hips and poor hip mobility can lead to back pain, knee pain, and can even contribute to an anterior pelvic tilt which is bad news for your posture.

Every time you take a step, you are using your hip flexors. Here’s the science bit…. Your prime movers for hip flection are the psoas major muscle which integrates with either side of the spine and inserts at the femur. The psoas and iliacus are often grouped together as the iliopsoas. The iliopsoas is the bodies most important hip flexor. These two muscles contribute to postural stability while standing meaning they keep you standing up straight.

See the source image

So how do you strengthen these muscles?

  • Lunges
  • Bulgarian Split Squats
  • Squat Variations
  • Hip Hinge Variations
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Hip Adduction & Abduction Variations

How do you stretch these muscles and mobilise the joint?

  • Pigeon Pose
  • Half Kneeling Hip Stretch
  • Mini Band Hip Flexor Iso-Hold
  • Clam Shells
  • Bear Sit
  • Controlled Articular Rotation (CARs)  

Next time you hit the gym, try and incorporate some of the above into your workout and keep your hips mobile and pain free.… because you’re worth it!

Love Dee