What Causes Tight Hip Flexors?

You may have heard a reference to “tight hip flexors” during a yoga class or other fitness program. Yet this condition is about more than tight muscles that need to be stretched back out. If unaddressed, they can reduce your range of motion and lead to a more serious injury.

How Hip Flexor Injuries Occur

The hip flexors are a group of pliable muscles that let you move with ease, more efficiently. Connecting the femur to the back, groin and hips, these muscles help coordinate the top and lower portions of your body, playing a key role in bending down and lifting your legs.

Hip flexors include:

• The iliopsoas – two muscles designed to support your lower back
• The rectus femoris – connects the pelvis to the knee
• The Sartoris – helps increase flexible movement in your legs
• The pectineus – helps with thigh movement

When this area gets overworked, injury can result.

Common incidents include:

• Overuse or overstretching injuries, resulting in sharp pain and reduced mobility
• Hip flexor strain, in which the muscles are torn, pulled or otherwise injured
• Sprains, in which neighboring muscle and bone experience damage

How Do Tight Hip Flexors Occur?

Any time you draw your knees toward your torso, your hip flexors are working. Repetition of this motion can result in strain; common sources include:

• Sports that regularly engage the hip flexors in training, without any counteracting movement, including martial arts, dancing and running.
• Sitting in one place for an extended period, which causes the iliopsoas to atrophy over time.
• Having a weak core, which forces the hip flexors to stabilize the spine and work overtime to provide such support. You may eventually notice pain and a tight sensation in this area.
• Standing up after sitting for a long period of time.
• Structural issues, like having a tipped pelvis or one leg naturally longer than the other.
• Having poor posture, including leaning toward one side of the body or forward.
• Excessive focus on lower-body exercises, like squats and deadlifts.

Symptoms of a Hip Flexor Injury

What begins as tight hip flexors can eventually give way to:

• A sharp or sudden pain in the hip, pelvis or groin area
• Cramping, tender or sore muscles along the upper leg
• Swelling or bruising on the hips or thigh
• Pain in an adjacent muscle group, like your glutes or core
• Decreased strength along the groin area
• Muscle spasms in the hips or thighs
• Reduced or a lack of mobility when you attempt to jump, kick or run
• Limping
• Stiffness or tightness after you’ve been sitting for a long time
• Lower back pain
• Difficulty standing up fully
• Tightness around the neck

How to Lessen Tight Hip Flexors

In general, stretches designed to lengthen muscles and lessen tension help strengthen the hip flexors and prevent injuries long term. Engaging the hips with counteracting movement, including cycling and swimming can also help strengthen this area.

Depending on the source, you can reduce your risk of injury by:

• Warming up and stretching your muscles before and after a workout
• Taking breaks during the work day to stand up and walk around
• Stretching and massaging your muscles with a foam roller to improve blood flow
• Applying heat to the muscles to warm up the area and increase blood circulation

If you regularly experience hip pain or tightness, work with our physical therapists to effectively strengthen and stretch the area.

To learn more about our services, contact Integrated Rehab today.