Hip-opening stretches for beginners (video included)

After multiple days of dreary and rainy weather, we finally had some sunny fall days in Boston.

It was nice enough yesterday for me to drive to Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA, to enjoy a stroll on the beach, eat a warm cider donut at the Russell Orchards Farm Store (voted to have among the best cider donuts in the entire State!), and enjoy a fresh lobster roll at J.T. Farnham's. That's New England at its best!

It was also nice not spending all day sitting in front of my computer. I'm sure you're well aware of the negative health consequences of spending too much time sitting (it raises our risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol).

But did you know that too much sitting can also result in lower back pain, discomfort in your knee joints, and bad posture?

Let me explain.

We have a group of muscles that are located near the top of our thighs. These muscles are called the hip flexors. They are a very strong muscle group running along the front of our hips. They are key for stabilizing your pelvis and spine.

When sitting, your hip flexors constantly remain in a flexed (i.e., forward bent) position. Over time, sitting too much can cause these muscles to shorten and tighten. Eventually, this may limit your ability to fully straighten your hips when you are in an upright position.

When your hip flexors are too tight, they pull your pelvis forward and down, thereby compressing your low back. This can result in back pain and/or muscle spasms in your lower back, hips, and thighs.

By the way, while excessive sitting (at the office, in the car, on a plane ride, etc) is the main cause of hip flexor tightness, the exercise postures of cyclists, runners, rowers, etc. can also cause this tightness. Any activity where your hip flexors are in a bent position for extended periods of time can cause them to tighten

To prevent the negative effects of tight hip flexors and relieve the associated back pain, it's important that you regularly stretch your hips.

My students and I stretch them regularly in my weekly Stretch-To-Flex course, which focuses on simple yet effective stretches to relieve muscle tension throughout our entire bodies. If you missed signing up for the current 8-week course, I have recorded a 15-minute video of hip opening and hip flexor stretches for you that you can access anytime:

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Click here to access your 15-minutes video of stretches

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Want to feel better? Start or end every day by stretching your hips to keep low back pain at bay!

Best,
Christine

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Wellness & Yoga with Christine

Inspiring you to bring wellness into your life and providing you with the tools to do so.​​​​