Tag: pilates and hip flexors

Are my hip flexors tight or weak?

Priya Tew

The hip flexors are a complex group of muscles that play a huge role in posture, pilates and day to day life. They are also a muscle that I often see people struggling with when undertaking curl up, roll ups, sitting up and any exercises with the legs in the air!

By Beth ohara – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=545389

What are they are where are they?

The hip flexors are the:

Psoas

Iliacus

Sartorius

Tensor Fascia Latae

Rectus Femoris

Pectineus 

Adductor Brevis

So a whole host of muscles. They attach to the vertebrae of the lower back, the inside of the femur in the top of the thigh, the hip bone and some run down the inner thigh. 

These muscles interact with each other, so if one is tight or weak it can affect the others. The same goes if one is too strong or overstretched. Ideally we want these muscles to be at the correct strength, length and position. 

What happens if these muscles are not working optimally?

The peso and iliacus are commonly know together as the iliopsoas. These muscles stabilise the spine and if out of balance they can affect your posture. A tight iliopsoas causes an anterior tilt of the pelvis (bum sticks out behind you and a curved lower back). This can result in lower back pain and pelvis issues.

A weak or long iliopsoas can mean the pelvis is pushed too far forward (posterior tilt). The person may feel the hamstrings are tights and pull and the lower back weak. 

Testing:

Try this out at home. Lie down on the floor with legs outstretched. Hug a knee into your chest. Now you are in a posterior pelvic tilt. If the iliopsoas is of optimal length the leg stays on the mat and knee stays down on the mat. If the foot flops out to the side or the knee lifts up it is tight. 

Signs in class:

The hip flexors can try to take over and do the work of the core in certain exercises.

For example if your legs lift up off the mat in a roll up or your legs lower and ache in a teaser. 

To fix this it is a case of going back to basics. Strengthen the core more and mobilise the lower abdominals by using a half roll up. Use a band for a teaser and focus on working through the spine going back down to the mat.  To strengthen the hip flexors practise those knee folds and any exercise with the legs in the air. To rest the hip flexors practise being in neutral letting go of any tension and just being there for 5 minutes or try out some of the hip flexor stretches – there are so many of these so find one you like and be consistent with it.

I’m going to be focusing on this in class for the next few weeks. Join me on the mat!

Turn off those Hip Flexors

Priya Tew

Over the past few weeks you may have heard me talk about not using your hip flexors, switching off your thighs and hips or releasing tension through the hips…. why? It’s all about using the core more and the hip flexors less.

The hip flexors are a group of muscles that bring the thigh and trunk of the body closer together. You use your hip flexors in many daily activities like walking, stepping up, and bending over. Technical bit here: the hip flexors are the illiacus, psoas major, pectineus, rectus femoris, and sartorius muscles.

Now these are a very important group of muscles but they can tend to take over when we do core work. In some exercises duch as curl ips, roll ups and leg lifts the hip flexors can want to do the work, which means the abdominal muscles do less! Hence some people can do sit ups all day – it doesn’t mean their core is strong 😉

 

Anterior_Hip_Muscles200

So how do I stop using my hip flexors?

 A lot of us have to work on the hip flexor habit constantly and to be honest you can’t leave the hip flexors entirely out of most abdominal exercises. The idea is to get the core involved as much as you can and to keep the hip flexors from taking over too much. Think core more, hip flexors less.

Body awareness is the key here, think about what muscles you can feel active/tight when doing exercises. Try to switch off the hip flexors, relax through the bum, thighs and legs. It may mean taking an exercise down a level in order to perfect your technique. Try not to grip through the floor and draw the core in a little more. Soreness in the groin area (especially after classes) can be a sign that you are weak in the abs and over-using your hip flexors. Another clue is not being able to keep your feet and legs down when you do a sit up or roll up.

These Pilates exercises can help increase awareness and set the foundation for the balance between the core and hip flexor use:

In knee folds, using the core muscles to stabilize the pelvis and lifting from your centre not your hips, also. In knee folds try to keep your big muscles, like the quadriceps of the thigh, out of the exercise as much as possible. Keep space in the hip area.

Half Roll Back: As you begin to roll back, You might sense a point where the hip flexors want to take over. You can feel that at crease of your thigh. As you roll down, the hip flexors will have to do some stabilizing, but try to maintain a focus on rolling down and controlling with the core. Again keep that space in the hip area, think length.

The full hundred calls for the legs to be extended. The hip flexors often see that as a call to over-work, so try taking it down a level and keep the legs bent with a focus on just using the core.