Monday, September 13, 2010

Releasing the Hip Flexors

The Psoas Major and the Illicus are in everyday terms in the athletic world known as the hip flexor. The action of this muscle is flexion of the hip. What does that mean? Every upward stroke of the pedal is done by hip flexion. Every time the leg is raised when running is done by hip flexion. Great...what does this have to do with anything. Great question. Multiply the amount of pedal strokes over a season or a lifetime. You can do the same math for every stride when running. It adds up. Do you sit down? Your hip is flexed and those two muscles like to stay in that position. To make a very long story short, just about everything we do in a normal day causes the hip flexors to get tighter and tighter and tighter.



Most people have learned the basic hip flexor stretch. It's a great one that I personally use at least once a day. What I am hoping to communicate here is another way to release this muscle group and provide you with more flexibility and great range of motion.

I've have become a very big proponent of myofascial release using items such as foam rollers and balls. Most athletes are now wise to foam rollers and use them regularly on their legs. What a lot of people miss is the fact that the quads and hamstrings are just one part of the equation. They do a lot of work in flexion and extension of the hip, but they are not alone and they don't take quite the brunt of punishment as the hip flexors.

The following is an example of something I learned about helping the hip flexors to release with something as simple as a tennis ball and some tolerance to a little discomfort.


  • Position a tennis ball on the floor and lay on top of it placing it in the area above the groin and about an inch or two towards the top of the leg.
  • Roll on the ball until you find a tender spot. The tender spot always tells you where the problem spot on the muscle is. It is going to hurt a little and the key is to to bear it out. You can stop rolling once that spot is found and just stay there for 30 seconds or so. Repeat a few times.
  • Upon completing the myofascial release, get up and do the standard hip flexor stretch for 60 seconds. Repeat one more time. Make sure to hold good spinal posture though the stretch and get to a point where you can lift both hands over your head.

  • After doing this try to move around by walking.
  • Drink a little extra water throughout the day to help the repair process. You created microtears in the muscle and now repair is key to insure that the muscle comes back to a better state than it was before you started.
Try this if you want to achieve better hip flexion, you will not be disappointed.

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