I was talking with a friend of mine who is having hip pain and wondering what to do for it. She has been seeing a practitioner for active release, but is not sure what to do on her own to help keep it from being too tight. Tight hips are a common malady in the population since so many of us sit throughout the day which puts our hip flexors in a shortened position. In order to restore normal motion focus on these things:
Strengthen the glutes: your muscles act as opposites, so if your hip flexors are tight it means your glutes are not tight enough. Focus on bridges, squats and lunges to strengthen them.
Reverse lunge with overhead reach: I really like this one for stretching the quads, hip flexor and abdominals. Perform a reverse lunge and reach both arms up as high as you can and hold for a few seconds, then switch legs. Perform 3-5 reps each.
Kneeling stretch: get into a half kneeling position and reach your same arm as the knee on the ground in the air, push forward and raise your foot for a greater stretch. Hold for 60 sec.
Self-release: Get into a half kneeling position and apply pressure over the hip flexor then lean forward at your hip to relax the muscle and then extend your hip and sit up straight to increase pressure. Perform 2-3 sets of 10 reps.
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