It’s not uncommon for us to hear our clients mention waking up with tight, sore hip flexors. Hip tightness can occur for many reasons. Excessive sitting can cause the muscles to relax and deactivate becoming progressively weaker and shorter, creating pain.
Poor posture habits can create a structural imbalance which will cause an uneven pulling of muscles. No matter the reason, tightness in the hip flexors will lead to decreased movement in the hip and change the way we walk, stand and sit. Our pelvic position will be out of line because the hip flexors are pulling the pelvis forward. This changes the load of our body and creates instability in our gait. Over time, the uneven load and misalignment leads to inflammation, arthritis and other degenerative changes causing pain. What to do?
At Pain Free we will evaluate you individually to see what is going on with your body that’s creating the issue. Part of the prescribed plan will retrain those hip flexors to let go, get back to their intended length and tension to eventually re-establish the entire body’s alignment restoring proper gait. All of that equals being pain free!
Try this and see if you are able to notice a release:
Stand with your back against the wall. When your hips are touching the wall, your thighs and kneecaps will begin to release. If your thighs want to engage, stay in this position for 2-5 minutes until your thighs release and the backs of your legs begin to work.