In this video, I'm going to
show you how to fix your hip flexor pain in a very easy to
follow, step-by-step guide. Stay tuned. Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe
coming to you from SpineCare in St. Joseph, Michigan. In this
video, we're going to go over a big overlooked cause of lower
back pain which are tight hip flexors, notably the iliosoas
muscles. If you're unfamiliar with the hip flexors, they're a
group of muscles that lie on the top of your thigh towards
your groin and they function to flex the hip. That is the
movement of bringing your knee towards your chest. When these
muscles become strained and inflamed, they can cause a lot
of pain and discomfort over the top your thigh, towards your
groin, even pain that will travel deep into your pelvis,
towards your buttocks, and lower back. Since these muscles
are very deep, you really can't massage them out. Instead, to
get pain relief, we need to focus on mobility exercises
that are going to engage and lengthen these muscles and then
more importantly, focus on strengthening them and I'm
going to show you how to do this in a very easy
step-by-step guide. To get the best results, go through all of
the exercises and also in order. As a bonus, all of the
exercises can be done at home require no equipment and you
may find get quick hip flexor pain relief even within 30
seconds. So, let's get started and fix that hip flexor pain
right now for good. So, let's start by warming up the hip
flexors. This is a really important step because it's
going to loosen up the muscles and just make it a lot easier
to do the other exercises in this video. One of the easiest
ways to do this is with the progressive lunge. Very easy to
do. So, start standing with very good upright posture. We
want to keep our back as straight as possible during
this exercise. So, we don't want to round into it like
this. To help out, take your hands, put them together
kind of like a prayer position, put your hands against your
chest. You want to tighten your core that is taking your belly
button towards your spine and then squeeze your glutes. It'll
just help support the spine a little bit more. The movement
from here is very easy. You're just going to step forward with
one leg and then lunge your weight forward. The more that
you lunge forward, the more that you're going to feel a
deep activation into the psoas and the hip flexors on the
other leg, the back leg I should say. The key with this
though is that we're going to progress into it. So, don't go
directly right into the full lunge. Just go down enough
where you feel those muscles start to fire and then you're
going to hold this comfortably for about one to two seconds.
You're just going to relax and then you're going to repeat it
on the other side. On the next repetition you're going to
notice that you have a little bit more range of motion
because those muscle fibers are starting to lengthen. So, go
down just a little bit more and then keep repeating this over
and over again until you feel like you can't go any further
or you can take your knee all the way down towards the floor
and with this one too, you can always throw in as many
repetitions and sets as you like. To make it more
challenging, you can start to use dumbbells and make it a
very good strengthening exercise. I to take this one to
the next level by targeting the hips and the muscles around the
hips just a little bit differently so I'm going to do
what is called a side lunge pretty similar let's get back
into our original stance just like this but this time around
I'm going to step towards my side keeping this other leg
straight and then you're going to lunge into it just like this
until you feel a very good activation of the muscles on
the inner part of the leg and also around the hips 1 to 2
second hold you're just going to come up like this and
then just repeat it on the other side. Again, with each
repetition, try to progress into it just a little bit more
but I try to do this one for about 10 to 15 repetitions on
both sides. So, after we have the muscles warmed up, we're
going to move on to the most important part, strengthening
exercises. If you want quick but also long-lasting pain
relief, you have to make those muscles stronger. Here's a
really easy one that you can do in bed or on a floor What I'm
going to do is go into a basic dead bug position. So, my legs
are going to go up, knees towards the ceiling and also
bent at 90 degrees. The first movement is very easy. Let's
tighten our core muscles. Again, taking our belly button
towards our spine and I'd like to squeeze my glutes right
here. Just lower one leg down just like this. Straighten your
knee but the key with this exercise is don't let your leg
or your foot touch the bet of the floor. Let it hover about
an inch or two above. In this position, you're going to feel
a lot fire, the leg muscles and the core. I like to hold this
one for about 5 seconds. This is how we're going to take it
to the next level. We're going to bring our knee back into 90
degrees like this. Take your hands, overlap them, put them
right on the top of the knee. Now, drive your knee towards
your shoulder but resist against it with your hands.
When you do this, you're going to feel a ton fire on the top
of the legs including the psoas and the hip flexors. What you
want to do is press into it as much as you can hold this for
five seconds and then what you're going to do is just
repeat that exercise just nice and slowly I like to do this
one for about five to 10 repetitions, but if you want to
make it more challenging throw in more repetitions and sets
but remember whatever you do on one side always switch to the
other side to keep everything in balance if you really
want to take this one to the next level you can do what is
known as a marching bridge which is also going to target
the hip flexors but allow more muscles including the glutes
and the legs. So, what I'm going to do in this position is
have my knees bent, feet flat. Let's tighten our core, squeeze
our glutes, take your hands, you can put them off to your
side or on your hips. The movement is very easy. You're
just pressing up with your pelvis and hips upward towards
the ceiling until your body is in a nice straight line from
your knees to your hips to your shoulders. If you're unable to
get into this position, maybe you can only go up an inch or
two because of weakness or tightness, do the best can over
time you should notice that you have a lot more strength and
flexibility to finally get into this position but what I like
to do is hold this one for about five seconds if you want
to make it more challenging march one leg up like this so
we're really trying to take this knee towards our chest as
much as we can and you'll really start to feel those
muscles on the top part of the leg start to fire five second
hold you're going to relax and then you're going to repeat it
on the other side just nice and slow for about five to 10
repetitions and if it feels like you have a little bit more
energy, you can always throw in another set or two. So, here's
a really easy hip flexor strengthening exercise. The
great part about this one though is you can do it pretty
much anytime, anywhere. Start seated with very good upright
posture. That means just trying to keep your back as straight
as possible during this exercise. We're going to have
our knees bent at 90 degrees, feet flat on the floor. Take
your hands, grab off to the side of the chair right here or
if you have armrest on those for support. The first movement
is very easy. We're just going to take one knee lifted upward
towards our chest, kind of like a marching motion. The more
that you lift that leg upward, the more that you're going to
feel those hip flexors engage. You only want to go towards a
comfortable point. If you start to feel any pain or discomfort
back off just a little bit before that point. Then, you're
going to hold this one comfortably for 5 seconds.
You're going to relax and then you're going to repeat this one
five to 10 times. With each repetition challenge yourself
to build into it just a little bit more and afterwards, if it
feels like you have a little bit more energy, you can always
throw in another set or two. Just make sure whatever you do
on one side to switch to the other side and repeat to keep
everything imbalance. From there, we're going to take this
one to the next level by making it an isometric exercise. That
means that we're just going to put a little bit of resistance
in there. So, let's get back into that original stretch like
this. Lift it up until you hit a point where the muscles are
fire but this time around overlap your hands just like
this and put them on the top of your knee you're going to
gently gently press down on your knee until you feel a very
deep activation of those hip flexors you want to hold this
one comfortably again for five seconds you're going to relax
and then you're going to repeat this one 5 to10 times, but
again you can always throw in another set or two and then
just repeat on the other side the last movement this one is
really going to get those hip flexors firing is to add knee
extension in there. So, it makes it a dynamic movement.
So, with this one, we're going to lift our leg up just like
this but this time around, extend the knee that is
straining it as much as you can. You're really going to
feel those muscles start to fire. Try to hold this one for
5 seconds. You're going to relax and then repeat this one
five to 10 times on both sides. In the final step, we're going
to focus on stretching. Stretches are perfect to do
after strengthening exercises to keep the muscles loose and
also help avoid soreness. One of my absolute favorite
stretches is the psoas cobra because it's really going to
target those hip flexors and a whole bunch of other muscles.
To get into position, we're going to lie on our stomach
right next to a wall or a door. You're going to have your knees
bent roughly at 90 degrees and you're going to put the top of
your feet right up against that door. We kind of want our knees
as close as possible also. So, as a no with this exercise
before we begin, when you do it, you want to keep your hips
and pelvis flat on the floor. We don't want them raised up
like this. Instead, all the movement is going to come
through our back. So, let's start off with what is known as
the baby cobra. So, you're going to take your hands and
put them right off to your side. So, your arms are right
off your side and then, you're just going to gently push up
like this. The key is what we want to feel is a very good
stretch forming in the core muscles working down towards
our pelvis into the front of the legs, the hip flexors. So,
really focus on feeling that. You're going to hold this one
comfortably for 30 seconds but if it feels good, you can hold
it for longer. Several minutes if you're able to and also do
nice, slow, controlled breathing. From there, you can
relax by lowering your chest but I try to do this one for
about three to five repetitions and with each repetition,
challenge yourself to build into it just a little bit more.
Try to raise the back up just a little bit to intensify that
stretch. If you want to make this one an active stretch and
take it to the next level, When you're doing the cobra, what
you want to do is take the top of your feet and really press
them into the door at the same time. The more that you press
into the door, the more that you're going to really feel
those hip flexors start to engage. I only like to hold
this one for about five seconds though. Relax and then repeat
this 110 to 15 times and build into it just a little bit more
with each repetition and if it feels like you have a lot more
energy, you can always throw in another set or two. So, really
try to focus on building a the full cobra which is going all
the way up just like this but if you're unable to do the best
you can if you want to take this one to even the next level
instead of having your body straight tilt your back towards
one side moving through your waist what this will do is open
up the back on the other side so if you tilt a little bit
towards your right you're really going to feel it open up
on the left so give that a try going all the way towards the
right going all the way towards the left if you find that one
position just offers you more relief. At that point, throw
more repetitions in. If the exercises help, please support
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please leave them below. I'll get back to you as soon as I
can. Thanks for watching.
