Get hip to these simple movements that stretch and strengthen the hip flexors.
Dr. Andy Fata-Chan, a New York-based physical therapist and fitness coach at Moment Physical Therapy & Performance, told The Post that static stretching often fails to address the root cause of hip discomfort.
“The overall goal when trying to eliminate hip flexor pain is making sure that the joints can actually move and the muscles can lengthen,” he said.
The hip flexors are a group of muscles along the front of the upper thigh. They include the iliacus, psoas major, rectus femoris and sartorius. Every time you take a step, you use your hip flexor muscles.
Focusing on the hip flexors is crucial to maintaining mobility in our golden years. A 2021 analysis found that stretching and strengthening the hip flexors positively affects the joints, ligaments and muscles around the hip, improving balance and reducing lower back pain.
Fata-Chan told The Post that there are several reasons why people experience hip flexor pain, but the most common include a sedentary lifestyle, an increase in training, and/or injury from sprinting.
Many Americans sit for eight to 10 hours a day, to the detriment of their backs, hips, waistlines and hearts.
Sitting for extended periods can lead to obesity, muscle weakening, spinal stress, poor blood sugar regulation and decreased blood circulation throughout the body.
“If you’re in a seated position for an extended period of time, it puts the hip flexors in a shortened position,” he explained.
“Muscles can get achy and tight when they stay in the same position. There isn’t a posture that you can adopt that will address this, you need to get up and move.”
A study published in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine found that just five minutes of light walking every half hour can offset some of the increased risks associated with sitting for long stretches of the day.
And while walking is a clear benefit to the body, sprinting can cause hip pain.
“Sprinting is a movement that requires your muscles to produce a lot of force, particularly in the hip flexor,” Fata-Chan said.
“We don’t train sprints that often, so the muscles in our body can get deconditioned. People can hurt themselves when they go from not sprinting to running really fast out of the blue.”
Similarly, an increase in volume of physical training can lead to hip pain.
“If you change up your programming and start increasing the volume of leg work you do, you can experience some hip flexor pain. This is particularly common when people increase their volume of squats very quickly.”
Fata-Cahn notes that training the muscles eccentrically is key to strength and pain relief.
“Eccentrically means that you are loading a muscle as it is lengthening. The body will respond to the stress that is placed on it, so when you train a muscle in a lengthened position, it will remodel itself in a lengthened position as it adapts.”
Fata-Chan recommends incorporating these four targeted movements into your routine — either as a supplement or on their own — for lasting relief and improved mobility.
1. Hook lying breathing with ab mat
Begin by lying in the “hook” position, knees bent and feet flat.
Focus on breathing in your lower abdomen, taking slow and controlled breaths through the diaphragm. You should be able to feel your core muscles engaging.
“The ab mat supports the pelvis in a posterior tilt, allowing the lower back to relax, focusing on deep, controlled breathing promotes spinal alignment and reduces tension,” Fata-Chan explained.
2. Sprinter march with low to high chop
With one foot elevated, extend an exercise or medicine ball above the head and across the body.
“This movement targets the rectus femoris, a key hip flexor, while the chopping motion enhances the stretch by aligning with the fiber orientation of the psoas,” Fata-Chan said.
3. Half-kneeling kettlebell halo
Halos for hip health!
As Fata-Chan explained, “The half-kneeling position places the hip flexors in a lengthened state, while the kettlebell halo challenges core stability and reinforces hip control under dynamic load.”
4. Reverse Nordic curl
From a kneeling position, extend the arms out and slowly recline.
“By keeping yourself in a straight line from your knees to shoulders and then slowly leaning back you are creating max length in your hip flexors under load,” said Fata-Chan.
