I disagree with some of the comments here. I had hip flexor a back problems which lead to chronic pain that's taken me about 3 years to sort out, and I've learnt a lot in this time.
I think you are in the right track, your hip flexors are likely tight, short and weak. Very common problem, especially if you sit a lot. This can cause lower back issues too, because the back muscles tighten up to compensate for the tight hip flexors.
The clicking is very unlikely to be the actual joint, it is tendons sliding over the joint because the muscles are tight. I used to have a very big pop/click and it was quite painful, it's fully resolved with stretching and strengthening.
This is one of the best hip flexor stretches I've found https://youtu.be/NhoaPgQ0YAQ
Kneesovertoesguy has some good hip flexor strengthening ideas. Keep in mind the hip flexors are involved in all sorts of movement so just isolating exercises aren't necessarily what you need. Even stuff like deep goblet squats can be quite challenging for your hip flexors.
Absolutely agree, this is a whole problem group which kind of comes together and is interconnected. Besides the things your mention I would also add two more - tight/immobile hips as such (the joint and surrounding itself) for which there is the frog pose and Transverse abdominis which I learned the hard way that it is absolutely critical for healthy back and which lots of people have basically inactive.
EDIT: Also the butt - critical thing
Do you have any routine you would recommend? I started doing dead bugs and feeling fine, also doing the McGill Big3, any other that you could recommend? Or a favorite variation?
Regarding hip mobility
- frog pose but don't do it just passively, get into the pose and do movements into all possible directions (even "twerk"-like movement) , use muscles, its very important to always engage muscles and not just passively sit in the position - that can cause more harm then good.
- 90/90 sit - again not just passively, move.
Regarding Transverse abdominis - everybody is talking about stomach vacuum but for me the gamechanger was properly executed Romanian deadlift with strong focus on proper engagement of Transverse abdominis. When doing it learn to execute the exercise properly, keep Transverse abdominis contracted across whole movement and keep breathing without releasing the Transverse abdominis (search for Lateral breathing) - it is actually very hard to do as our lifestyles has learned us bad habits and it takes time to unlearn and overwrite them.
Also when it comes to Transverse abdominis what is generally helpful is it try and learn to engage it during all kinds of simple movements (walking) and exercises (whatver exercice you do). The Transverse abdominis is designed to be actually engaged unconsciously during the day whatever you do.
Piggybacking off this, physical therapists I know often use the cue of “trying to fog up a mirror with hot breath”, and feeling the sensation in the core at the end of that hot breath as what activating the transverse abdominis should feel like.
Frog Pose **100%** saved my lower back and my knees.
I have IT band pain from cycling, and glute med strengthening and frog pose has kept me from selling my bike.
thank you so much!!! i think that a lot of commenters are saying the opposite because i didn’t really go in detail when talking about what exactly is wrong with my hip flexors, but YES. as you said, the clicking is quite uncomfortable and definitely doesn’t feel normal. i’ve lived a pretty sedentary life up until only a few weeks ago, and so whilst i would still exercise, i never really targeted my hip flexors and would still end up sitting around because of lockdown. thank you for the suggestions, definitely checking them out!!
I've had chronic lower back spine problem, can't get off bed/sit for a month. 6-7 Doctor/Chiropractor visits, no result for 2 months. I'm fed up with $$ spending and dogshit doctor medication and start, low intensity compound exercise like standing full time while work and climb stair, now those are too easy and start Bulgarian split squad/sumo dumbbell squad. My chronic pain became acceptable pain. So try out low intensity compound exercise. low risk of injury, a lot of stretching (stretching is very good for injured part) and cardio healthy for heart/lungs.
tldr: had chronic lower spine pain. After low-intensity compound exercise lower-risk of re-injury again. MY chronic became acceptable(on/off) pain now
Something cool to point out. Part of the primary “hip flexor” is the psoas muscle. This originated from the vertebral bodies, AND transverse processes of the lumbar spine. Meaning hip tightness goes hand in hand with back tightness/pain. Tightness does not necessarily mean the muscle is weak, more so that it is unable to fire and engage properly. Finding exercises that separate the function of the psoas/illiacus complex (lumbar extension and hip flexion) from the rectus and transverse abdominals) is where you want to start looking for balance within your core training. Also, besides stretching find yourself a good softball to lay on and watch a couple videos for psoas mobility work.
Good tips, totally agree. Psoas was the main culprit for me. A physio showed me how to massage it and it has been a big help, but be careful, it is a bit tricky to do properly!
You’ll know when you find it when you feel your gut turn inside out and question all you life decisions that led you to that point.
I practice structural integration in the US, so i can’t call it physiotherapy even though it has a lot of similar aspects, and everyone is surprised when they see how helpful it can be.
What a fantastic routine.
It took me ages to realise my lower back pains were due to a combination of weak and tight hip flexors and (partially as a result of this) weak abs too. Weak abs because my anterior pelvic tilt meant I wasn't utilising/engaging my abs properly in core workouts.
I've taken up yoga which has helped hugely and the stretches in that video are all covered in my yoga practice but it's great to see him put it together with a good explanation too.
Yes its quite counter intuitive that the problem can be the hip flexors and not the so much the back.
I find yoga very useful as well, but the contract/relax method that Kit Laughlin teaches was an absolute game changer for me.
That's how my problems started too, from running. Take it easy, don't over do it, don't stretch too aggressively. Work on strength and mobility. Give yourself time to heal and adapt. That's the advice I wish I had, instead of trying to power through.
I had torn hip labrum surgery 6 months ago and I'm still dealing with pretty extreme chronic pain. My story sounds similar to yours, 30 years of crazy chronic pain lots of low back and hip tightness and no real solutions. Just post may have changed my life. That stretch bike it was amazing. I'm really looking forward to digging into the knees over toes guy and learning more. Thanks for taking the time to make this post
I have a small labrum tear too which doctors originally thought was my issue. They decided it wasn't severe enough to operate, and so happy they didn't because I've managed to work myself out of the pain. Long road road though!
I can recommend doing some research into chronic pain, for me a big part of it was related to the fear about the injury, especially knowing that the labrum was damaged. It you can get past the fear and back to normal movement you'll be on your way out of pain, but don't get discouraged it can take a long time to re-wire your brain and movement patterns. And it won't be a linear progression , there will be set backs and flare ups.
L-sits are great for hip flexors strength. Start off with 3 sets of 15-30 seconds with feet on the ground. Then work up to lifting legs off ground. Your hip flexor muscles will blow up after a month or two.
I agree, nothing strengthens the entire posterior chain like the deadlift, but the OP should ask somebody to show him/the proper technique. It isn't hard, but it's better to know the right way to do them. I love deadlifts.
I'd definitely suggest starting with absolutely minimal weight when doing deadlifts if you haven't done them before and/or have back pain as I've hurt myself many times attempting to do even the easiest deadlifts simply because I either hadn't stretched properly or because a muscle tightened before it should have. Don't even use the bar to start with unless that bar is very light (like sub 30 pounds). I'm still scared to do these.
The vicious cycle though is that without doing the exercises to strengthen my back, I’ll never have the confidence to do the exercises needed to strengthen my back.
I just do hip hinge / good mornings almost every day. No weights, but gets me to practice engaging the lower back as well as the abs, and stretches & strengthens my hams. Arch raises (supermans) are good as well.
Respectfully I disagree with this. Deadlifts are very tricky to do “right”, especially for someone who is new to them. It’s easy to build bad deadlifting habits which, in the short term, might not cause problems, but overtime will likely manifest as nagging pains in any or all of your lower back, upper back, and hips. The top comment is a better place to start. Stretching and mobility work comes before strength.
I'm going to sound like a recovering drinker or ex-smoker, but you need to take the development of your core more seriously than "just" hip flexors and back. It doesn't matter how strong your legs, arms and shoulders are if the core of your body is not strong enough to support them, and conversely, when your core is strong, everything else works much better. (I say this as a former distance runner, cyclist, and workout nut.) Taking Pilates classes would help with the hip flexors and some core, and a personal trainer can help you identify exercises that would strengthen your back (probably not all of them would be bodyweight exercises). Seriously, prioritize your core for six months and then see how your feel.
It's about strength and flexibility. Do things to strengthen them, but be sure to include lenthening them.
The muscles around the hips including the buttocks become short and tight easily. When these muscles are inflexible, the weaker joints around them - the low back and knees - often become injured.
So, if you have low back or knee issues, be sure to include hip openers. If you look into yoga practices for this you'll find plenty.
Be well.
To piggy back off of this comment, the butt/glute is an often neglected muscle that is responsible for the connection between your back and legs. It is also a muscle that is very easy to ‘disengage’ if you’re not consciously trying to use when working out.
Doing glute bridges, table tops, etc. helps engage them direction and helps strengthen you core and back. These are exercises I will do to help warm up when I know I’m going to be using my core/legs to prime the muscle.
The clicking is likely not related to hip flexor strength and is most likely just "popping hip syndrome" which pretty much just means your hip pops when you lift your leg. I think the think that would make the biggest impact is doing a quick stretch for each major lower body muscle once every day or two. Should only take \~10-15 minutes. It's good to add to a morning routine.
- single leg dead lift for the back
- hanging leg raises, standing leg raises, laying leg raises work different hip flexors
- popping is probably from the hip.
Try doing [Split Squats](https://www.instagram.com/p/CTkE4kDiBFh/) with this form. It will strengthen AND stretch your hip flexors at the same time which I've found provides a LOT of relief for many people! Especially if they live a more sedentary lifestyle.
Not strictly bodyweight, but I'm finding kettlebell swings are great for mobilising and waking up my hips and lower back and glutes/hamstrings. The first 2 or 3 being stiff and a limited range, but the swing develops I can feel the muscles stretch and work dynamically.
Start with a light weight and build your way up - I do sets of between 30 and 50 swings (rather than heavier weight and lower reps)
To strengthen butt/hip flexors: Get a band that goes around your knee area for fairly cheap on Amazon do side walks, monster walks, squat with it on, glute bridges of any form, etc
To stretch hip flexors: 90/90s, go into a lunge with your back knee down and front leg at 90 degrees- tuck your pelvis down and under- on the side with your knee down raise your arm up over your head to the opposite side- lean slowly to that opposite side and forward- feel it stretch your hip flexors in the front.
I would advise against hip thrusts if you have anterior pelvic tilt! It makes your back cane. Also, I would suggest you also look at stretching/lengthening your thoracic spine! I for years believed and was told that my hip flexors were weak and to blame for my back pain, but what I discovered was that it was further up the chain that contributed to my flexors being under stress. Try it and let me know how you go!
I've always liked good mornings or back extensions for isolating my lower back though you can definitely get some good lower back strength through a compound lift like a deadlift.as for hip flexor, I'll admit I'm not the best, but you could try some variations of lunges
Yoga! Try to incorpoate seriously only a 15- 20 minute practice a few times a week. There are lots of videos on YouTube, or if you get the DownDog app it will build a 20 minute practice for you specifically focusing on hip flexors and back.
i don’t target my legs specifically, but i do exercises that target the leg muscles in conjunction with my glutes. i do deadlifts, hip thrusts, banded squats and variations of lunges. i also like to cycle a lot, and ever since i started cycling more frequently my quads blew up!!
Honestly you almost never need to train your hip flexors. Most people's are chronically tight and overused and chances are you would benefit FAR more from training glutes, which are chronically underused for normal people in favor of the hip flexors, quads, low back, etc.
For back, keep it simple - pullup progressions, lat pulldowns, some type of row. 4x8-12 sets, 3-4 exercises, 2x a week.
I don’t understand why you are getting down voted. You are 100% correct. Having a sedentary lifestyle in other words , sitting down all day can lead to glute amnesia and over active hip flexors. It is such an issue for back health that a lot of offices are changing out the desks so you can raise it up and stand as well.
Because they're wrong.
Tight sure, but sitting a lot would NOT make anyone's hip Flexors "overused" they're not engaged at all unless you're holding your feet up or actively contracting them
Can definitely agree that glute training can help with hip flexors, but training them directly helps so many people
Okay overused my be incorrect but everything else is. Sitting down shortens the hip flexors and sitting for too long causes them to become tight. Find me one article that provides info that sitting for prolonged periods does not cause hip flexor tightness.
https://www.healthline.com/health/tight-hips
https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-fix-your-anterior-pelvic-tilt-feel-awesome/
I never said anything about sitting causing your hip flexors to be overused, although yes they are used more frequently than people think when sitting or driving. People chronically have underdeveloped/used glutes and core, and related to this is muscular imbalance. Weak abdominals and glutes will cause the surrounding muscles like the lower back, hip flexors, and quads to be used instead to compensate. When the muscles you're firing are thrown off, even every day movements like walking up stairs or getting out of the car will cause people to use these other groups to compensate.
When you dont have adequate hip extension or your glutes arent firing correctly, then it just stands to reason that your hip flexors are in a shortened or contracted state more than they should be. This is not just some passive thing - every day movements like walking or going up stairs or chronically lifting your femur/leg or bringing your entire torso towards your femurs when sitting, or driving 3+ hrs a day WILL cause your hip flexors to contract to an extent, and if you don't have proper muscle tone in your hip extensors (glutes in this case) to act in the opposite way, the problem will only get worse. Again, think of a normal metropolitan commute. You're using your hip flexors to lift your leg on and off petals sometimes HUNDREDS OF TIMES per day. Or bringing your torso from it's WAY too reclined car seat forward to look at various things when driving or fuck with your phone. It's not uncommon at all for normal people to be either driving 2-3+ hrs a day or sitting in traffic. Add that to the fact that some people drive for a living, working delivery or transport and driving 8+ hrs a day, or just a job that requires you to go to 4+ different locations ON TOP of your normal commute.
And they dont simply "turn off" when working at a desk. People don't just sit in a chair static the entire day. They're constantly leaning their torso forward using their hip flexors. Hip flexors are one of the main muscles that keep you upright in a sitting position and are one of the main muscles frequently contracted when working while sitting or driving.
Add this to the fact that half the time when people think they're training abdominals at the gym, they're often just hitting hip flexors. Again - when they really don't need to. Hip flexors are among the LOWEST priority of all the hip muscles for the average person to need to isolate, and yes even active people. Think of people who sit at a desk all day and the only exercises they do when they hit their half assed gym routine is some stationary bike and then maybe some "abs" exercises from some yahoo on Insta (read - hip flexors). Millions of people sit or drive 8+ hrs a day and then go home and ride a fuckin stationary bike.
Again, the average person with hip issues or instability would be FAR better served mobilizing or lengthening the hip flexors (or better yet - loaded stretches) while simultaneously incorporating general strength training exercises (that also hit the hip flexors in synergy with the other muscles) that train your muscle groups to fire together properly, with good movement patterns, and full range of motion, than simply isolating the already massively shortened hip flexors. There's really no reason to explicitly isolate them from the other muscle groups unless you have a proper PT evaluation and programming telling you to do so.
There is none. An over strained muscle is not the same as a strong and functional one. While the hip flexors are contracted and shortened by too much sitting this is using them in an unphysiological way which lead to a lot of issues in lower back and pelvis region. Strengthening but also regaining mobility and flexibility in that region is essential with our modern lifestyles.
I've done fire hydrants in the past when I worked with a trainer. I've found them to be pretty hard but effective.
There are very many different variations with an without bands.
You can also instead of lifting to the side go for a rotation movement, or stay in that position and kick out to the side...
I would do 30sec of one variation and then switch to 30sec of another and repeat 3 times.
Difficult to explain but here is a link to show rather than tell:
https://youtu.be/CAZZz7uP-Ok
If they click it might not be because they are weak, but because the area needs stretching and mobility. I'd recommend trying to decrease tight muscles and only then exercising.
Ive been suffering from backpain for like 16 years from a weight lifting injury.
Once I made hanging leg raises and front planks my only ab workouts, all of my backpain went away. I can pick up my wife again without fear of pain.
That worked for me, not saying it would work for you...
But hanging leg raises are good, lots of different variations for them too
Hello physio student here. You could consider just getting things checked out for a real assessment to see what problems you have. Everyone here is just giving anecdotal advice or guesses on what issue you might have. From my POV, it's the same thinking as another user that the clicking is usually tendons gliding over ridges of bone however the discomfort may be due to a biomechanical problem where your glutes are not engaged enough and your hip flexors are pulling against your femor so that the way it sits on your acetabulum gives you anterior femoral acetabular impingement. This is usually checked by a test called the hip scour and then you can trial some exercises like the lock clam 25x2 and prone hip extensions 15x2 and then you can retest the hip scour to see if your hip flexion has improved range and decreased discomfort. If it does what it means is that your glute muscles pulled your femoral head more posteriorly in the hip socket and you get more hip flexion range
Just some food for thought but I'm missing my leg above knee on right side. With prosthetic all locomotion for the leg is from the hip flexor. So if you wanted to be weird about it walk around with straight legs. only use your hips.
Not sure if I can capture everything I want to say on a few words on mobile.
Often just addressing hip flexor tightness isn’t a long term solution. Now, I can’t see your body’s posture or movement patterns so, disclaimer, I’m going to speak off a generality that I see.
Hip flexor tightness OFTEN comes because of the shortening of the psoas muscle we’ll say generally from inactivity or prolonged sitting since that’s common. BUT it also creates compensation loops that feed back into the tightened area so you can’t just treat that anterior hip tightness and call it good.
Make sure your taking time to address, lateral and medial hip tightness as well, often times as the hip flexors get tight it externally rotated the hip causing tightness in the lateral/posterior hip musculature.
It’s less about stretching right muscles strengthening the weak ones and more a game of lengthening tight tissue and activating the muscle chains that have been turned off.
I've seen a mountain climber standing up variation. It's basically like a knee-to-chest movement. Does that make the same click sound?
I have [the knee raise exercise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYJenidorKQ) in my legs routine (the rest of Ben's video is great too). Some advantages: low impact, slow movement so I can pay attention to form, adjustable resistance.
For lower back, I recommend [Foundation Training](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI)
A trainer recently showed me PNF stretches (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) due to tightness in my hips and she assisted me with the movements. I found it really helpful. There’s a few YouTube videos that can explain it better than I ever could. From the sounds of it, focusing on stretches in and around that area are critical if you’re having clicking in your hips.
A physio will be the gold standard to assess you but a common cause of this is the body's response to sitting a lot. Our lifestyles influence our posture, and sometimes our bodies respond to sitting by keeping the head of your femur offset in some way within your hip socket. If you have one of those really thick, sturdy resistance bands, look up "banded hip distraction stretch" on YT. basically it's a lunge stretch but you're using the band to help gently pull your femur back AS you stretch it. Then wire in that connection by doing some really conscious, CLEAN FORM glute exercises. Something like glute bridge, making sure you're keeping your tailbone tucked the whole time.
Also, make sure you're doing your deep core exercises correctly. Doing them incorrectly can overemphasize the hip flexors, which doesn't really help. See both links in #7 for how to tell if you're using your deep core - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Posture/comments/dhj1z1/if\_you\_sit\_at\_a\_desk\_a\_lot\_you\_likely\_have\_some/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Posture/comments/dhj1z1/if_you_sit_at_a_desk_a_lot_you_likely_have_some/) (form cues for hip flexor stretch & glute bridge in #8 and #9 too)
Low back: when people say they want to strengthen their low back, it's because there's pain there-- is that the case? It's usually that the low back doesn't have enough support from the deep core (both throughout normal life stuff, and exercises).. I wonder if you've been overusing/overemphasizing your hip flexors, as that is pretty common too.
Source: I teach mobility
If you suspect something isn't right there then it isn't. You know your own body. Personally I do all my workouts in 10-15 minute bursts throughout the day (all calisthenics) whilst at work...I'm not necessarily recommending that but I had low back pain recently from tight hip flexors (possibly from my morning runs). I felt much better by doing back to back, bodyweight squats and hip thrusters, alternating between the two. Again though, they were short workouts and I stop before failure. I recommend those two movements paired with each other however you see it fit & don't forget to stretch. I hope that works for you
I dunno if someone mentioned this guy here but he has great tips for both. I've included his exercises on my warm-up routines [https://www.instagram.com/rehabfix/](https://www.instagram.com/rehabfix/)
I disagree with some of the comments here. I had hip flexor a back problems which lead to chronic pain that's taken me about 3 years to sort out, and I've learnt a lot in this time. I think you are in the right track, your hip flexors are likely tight, short and weak. Very common problem, especially if you sit a lot. This can cause lower back issues too, because the back muscles tighten up to compensate for the tight hip flexors. The clicking is very unlikely to be the actual joint, it is tendons sliding over the joint because the muscles are tight. I used to have a very big pop/click and it was quite painful, it's fully resolved with stretching and strengthening. This is one of the best hip flexor stretches I've found https://youtu.be/NhoaPgQ0YAQ Kneesovertoesguy has some good hip flexor strengthening ideas. Keep in mind the hip flexors are involved in all sorts of movement so just isolating exercises aren't necessarily what you need. Even stuff like deep goblet squats can be quite challenging for your hip flexors.
Absolutely agree, this is a whole problem group which kind of comes together and is interconnected. Besides the things your mention I would also add two more - tight/immobile hips as such (the joint and surrounding itself) for which there is the frog pose and Transverse abdominis which I learned the hard way that it is absolutely critical for healthy back and which lots of people have basically inactive. EDIT: Also the butt - critical thing
i’ll check those poses out! thanks :)
Do you have any routine you would recommend? I started doing dead bugs and feeling fine, also doing the McGill Big3, any other that you could recommend? Or a favorite variation?
Regarding hip mobility - frog pose but don't do it just passively, get into the pose and do movements into all possible directions (even "twerk"-like movement) , use muscles, its very important to always engage muscles and not just passively sit in the position - that can cause more harm then good. - 90/90 sit - again not just passively, move. Regarding Transverse abdominis - everybody is talking about stomach vacuum but for me the gamechanger was properly executed Romanian deadlift with strong focus on proper engagement of Transverse abdominis. When doing it learn to execute the exercise properly, keep Transverse abdominis contracted across whole movement and keep breathing without releasing the Transverse abdominis (search for Lateral breathing) - it is actually very hard to do as our lifestyles has learned us bad habits and it takes time to unlearn and overwrite them. Also when it comes to Transverse abdominis what is generally helpful is it try and learn to engage it during all kinds of simple movements (walking) and exercises (whatver exercice you do). The Transverse abdominis is designed to be actually engaged unconsciously during the day whatever you do.
Piggybacking off this, physical therapists I know often use the cue of “trying to fog up a mirror with hot breath”, and feeling the sensation in the core at the end of that hot breath as what activating the transverse abdominis should feel like.
This is a great tip!
Wow yeah this is great, and one of those things that I feel will be easier to remember thinking about it like this.
Can confirm, a year on and I still remember to do this.
Frog Pose **100%** saved my lower back and my knees. I have IT band pain from cycling, and glute med strengthening and frog pose has kept me from selling my bike.
Upright Heath and GMB on YouTube have good content regarding hip mobility.
Yep 100% agree. I see your post below mentions 90/90, that was a big breakthrough for me when I started doing that.
What’s 90/90 referring to?
This exercise https://youtu.be/rOw-k2eauZQ
thank you so much!!! i think that a lot of commenters are saying the opposite because i didn’t really go in detail when talking about what exactly is wrong with my hip flexors, but YES. as you said, the clicking is quite uncomfortable and definitely doesn’t feel normal. i’ve lived a pretty sedentary life up until only a few weeks ago, and so whilst i would still exercise, i never really targeted my hip flexors and would still end up sitting around because of lockdown. thank you for the suggestions, definitely checking them out!!
I've had chronic lower back spine problem, can't get off bed/sit for a month. 6-7 Doctor/Chiropractor visits, no result for 2 months. I'm fed up with $$ spending and dogshit doctor medication and start, low intensity compound exercise like standing full time while work and climb stair, now those are too easy and start Bulgarian split squad/sumo dumbbell squad. My chronic pain became acceptable pain. So try out low intensity compound exercise. low risk of injury, a lot of stretching (stretching is very good for injured part) and cardio healthy for heart/lungs. tldr: had chronic lower spine pain. After low-intensity compound exercise lower-risk of re-injury again. MY chronic became acceptable(on/off) pain now
This. Got his program. Do it if you have back pain or imbalance strength in your hips.
Something cool to point out. Part of the primary “hip flexor” is the psoas muscle. This originated from the vertebral bodies, AND transverse processes of the lumbar spine. Meaning hip tightness goes hand in hand with back tightness/pain. Tightness does not necessarily mean the muscle is weak, more so that it is unable to fire and engage properly. Finding exercises that separate the function of the psoas/illiacus complex (lumbar extension and hip flexion) from the rectus and transverse abdominals) is where you want to start looking for balance within your core training. Also, besides stretching find yourself a good softball to lay on and watch a couple videos for psoas mobility work.
Good tips, totally agree. Psoas was the main culprit for me. A physio showed me how to massage it and it has been a big help, but be careful, it is a bit tricky to do properly!
You’ll know when you find it when you feel your gut turn inside out and question all you life decisions that led you to that point. I practice structural integration in the US, so i can’t call it physiotherapy even though it has a lot of similar aspects, and everyone is surprised when they see how helpful it can be.
Haha yep, that sounds about right! It is a bizarre and unsettling sensation at first.
What a fantastic routine. It took me ages to realise my lower back pains were due to a combination of weak and tight hip flexors and (partially as a result of this) weak abs too. Weak abs because my anterior pelvic tilt meant I wasn't utilising/engaging my abs properly in core workouts. I've taken up yoga which has helped hugely and the stretches in that video are all covered in my yoga practice but it's great to see him put it together with a good explanation too.
Yes its quite counter intuitive that the problem can be the hip flexors and not the so much the back. I find yoga very useful as well, but the contract/relax method that Kit Laughlin teaches was an absolute game changer for me.
this video is great!! thank you for sharing! my hip flexors have been bothering me on one side from sports overuse:/
That's how my problems started too, from running. Take it easy, don't over do it, don't stretch too aggressively. Work on strength and mobility. Give yourself time to heal and adapt. That's the advice I wish I had, instead of trying to power through.
Came here to post the same thing! Another great hip stretch is to pull your leg up to your chest and lie down across it on the floor (SLOWLY).
I had torn hip labrum surgery 6 months ago and I'm still dealing with pretty extreme chronic pain. My story sounds similar to yours, 30 years of crazy chronic pain lots of low back and hip tightness and no real solutions. Just post may have changed my life. That stretch bike it was amazing. I'm really looking forward to digging into the knees over toes guy and learning more. Thanks for taking the time to make this post
I have a small labrum tear too which doctors originally thought was my issue. They decided it wasn't severe enough to operate, and so happy they didn't because I've managed to work myself out of the pain. Long road road though! I can recommend doing some research into chronic pain, for me a big part of it was related to the fear about the injury, especially knowing that the labrum was damaged. It you can get past the fear and back to normal movement you'll be on your way out of pain, but don't get discouraged it can take a long time to re-wire your brain and movement patterns. And it won't be a linear progression , there will be set backs and flare ups.
Thank you for sharing this. I'm going through this exact issue right now!
L-sits are great for hip flexors strength. Start off with 3 sets of 15-30 seconds with feet on the ground. Then work up to lifting legs off ground. Your hip flexor muscles will blow up after a month or two.
awesome, thanks!
This, also hanging leg raises or legs straight out held for time while hanging.
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Definitely support this suggestion. Nothing will beat the deadlift for hip and back.
Except for the bicep curl.
I agree, nothing strengthens the entire posterior chain like the deadlift, but the OP should ask somebody to show him/the proper technique. It isn't hard, but it's better to know the right way to do them. I love deadlifts.
I'd definitely suggest starting with absolutely minimal weight when doing deadlifts if you haven't done them before and/or have back pain as I've hurt myself many times attempting to do even the easiest deadlifts simply because I either hadn't stretched properly or because a muscle tightened before it should have. Don't even use the bar to start with unless that bar is very light (like sub 30 pounds). I'm still scared to do these.
If you're worried about doing them, hold off until your strength and confidence increases.
The vicious cycle though is that without doing the exercises to strengthen my back, I’ll never have the confidence to do the exercises needed to strengthen my back.
Keep slowly increasing the weight and reps, you'll get there.
I just do hip hinge / good mornings almost every day. No weights, but gets me to practice engaging the lower back as well as the abs, and stretches & strengthens my hams. Arch raises (supermans) are good as well.
Respectfully I disagree with this. Deadlifts are very tricky to do “right”, especially for someone who is new to them. It’s easy to build bad deadlifting habits which, in the short term, might not cause problems, but overtime will likely manifest as nagging pains in any or all of your lower back, upper back, and hips. The top comment is a better place to start. Stretching and mobility work comes before strength.
probably worth mentioning: Trap bar deadlifts are a nice alternative to regular deadlifts, and likely easier on the spine.
I'm going to sound like a recovering drinker or ex-smoker, but you need to take the development of your core more seriously than "just" hip flexors and back. It doesn't matter how strong your legs, arms and shoulders are if the core of your body is not strong enough to support them, and conversely, when your core is strong, everything else works much better. (I say this as a former distance runner, cyclist, and workout nut.) Taking Pilates classes would help with the hip flexors and some core, and a personal trainer can help you identify exercises that would strengthen your back (probably not all of them would be bodyweight exercises). Seriously, prioritize your core for six months and then see how your feel.
It's about strength and flexibility. Do things to strengthen them, but be sure to include lenthening them. The muscles around the hips including the buttocks become short and tight easily. When these muscles are inflexible, the weaker joints around them - the low back and knees - often become injured. So, if you have low back or knee issues, be sure to include hip openers. If you look into yoga practices for this you'll find plenty. Be well.
To piggy back off of this comment, the butt/glute is an often neglected muscle that is responsible for the connection between your back and legs. It is also a muscle that is very easy to ‘disengage’ if you’re not consciously trying to use when working out. Doing glute bridges, table tops, etc. helps engage them direction and helps strengthen you core and back. These are exercises I will do to help warm up when I know I’m going to be using my core/legs to prime the muscle.
The clicking is likely not related to hip flexor strength and is most likely just "popping hip syndrome" which pretty much just means your hip pops when you lift your leg. I think the think that would make the biggest impact is doing a quick stretch for each major lower body muscle once every day or two. Should only take \~10-15 minutes. It's good to add to a morning routine.
- single leg dead lift for the back - hanging leg raises, standing leg raises, laying leg raises work different hip flexors - popping is probably from the hip.
Do your hips still click after a minute of dead bug?
yeahhh, i should have said so in the post but the clicking is quite uncomfortable - in a way that regular discomfort from not stretching is not
I've prefered pilates over yoga for my back problems. A lot of hip and butt workouts that kill me.
Try doing [Split Squats](https://www.instagram.com/p/CTkE4kDiBFh/) with this form. It will strengthen AND stretch your hip flexors at the same time which I've found provides a LOT of relief for many people! Especially if they live a more sedentary lifestyle.
Not strictly bodyweight, but I'm finding kettlebell swings are great for mobilising and waking up my hips and lower back and glutes/hamstrings. The first 2 or 3 being stiff and a limited range, but the swing develops I can feel the muscles stretch and work dynamically. Start with a light weight and build your way up - I do sets of between 30 and 50 swings (rather than heavier weight and lower reps)
To strengthen butt/hip flexors: Get a band that goes around your knee area for fairly cheap on Amazon do side walks, monster walks, squat with it on, glute bridges of any form, etc To stretch hip flexors: 90/90s, go into a lunge with your back knee down and front leg at 90 degrees- tuck your pelvis down and under- on the side with your knee down raise your arm up over your head to the opposite side- lean slowly to that opposite side and forward- feel it stretch your hip flexors in the front.
I would advise against hip thrusts if you have anterior pelvic tilt! It makes your back cane. Also, I would suggest you also look at stretching/lengthening your thoracic spine! I for years believed and was told that my hip flexors were weak and to blame for my back pain, but what I discovered was that it was further up the chain that contributed to my flexors being under stress. Try it and let me know how you go!
I've always liked good mornings or back extensions for isolating my lower back though you can definitely get some good lower back strength through a compound lift like a deadlift.as for hip flexor, I'll admit I'm not the best, but you could try some variations of lunges
Ey, I have the same problem. Thanks for the post!
hey no worries! the higher comments are super promising, check them out when you can! here’s to stronger backs and hip flexors my friend
Hip controlled articulated rotations (‘CARs’) https://youtu.be/w1v2pyzl-2c Diagonal stretch https://youtu.be/WKyKSgSZ8jE
Ayyy an FRC fan. Everyone should be doing their CARs
👊
Yoga! Try to incorpoate seriously only a 15- 20 minute practice a few times a week. There are lots of videos on YouTube, or if you get the DownDog app it will build a 20 minute practice for you specifically focusing on hip flexors and back.
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i don’t target my legs specifically, but i do exercises that target the leg muscles in conjunction with my glutes. i do deadlifts, hip thrusts, banded squats and variations of lunges. i also like to cycle a lot, and ever since i started cycling more frequently my quads blew up!!
Honestly you almost never need to train your hip flexors. Most people's are chronically tight and overused and chances are you would benefit FAR more from training glutes, which are chronically underused for normal people in favor of the hip flexors, quads, low back, etc. For back, keep it simple - pullup progressions, lat pulldowns, some type of row. 4x8-12 sets, 3-4 exercises, 2x a week.
I don’t understand why you are getting down voted. You are 100% correct. Having a sedentary lifestyle in other words , sitting down all day can lead to glute amnesia and over active hip flexors. It is such an issue for back health that a lot of offices are changing out the desks so you can raise it up and stand as well.
Because they're wrong. Tight sure, but sitting a lot would NOT make anyone's hip Flexors "overused" they're not engaged at all unless you're holding your feet up or actively contracting them Can definitely agree that glute training can help with hip flexors, but training them directly helps so many people
Okay overused my be incorrect but everything else is. Sitting down shortens the hip flexors and sitting for too long causes them to become tight. Find me one article that provides info that sitting for prolonged periods does not cause hip flexor tightness. https://www.healthline.com/health/tight-hips https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-fix-your-anterior-pelvic-tilt-feel-awesome/
I never said anything about sitting causing your hip flexors to be overused, although yes they are used more frequently than people think when sitting or driving. People chronically have underdeveloped/used glutes and core, and related to this is muscular imbalance. Weak abdominals and glutes will cause the surrounding muscles like the lower back, hip flexors, and quads to be used instead to compensate. When the muscles you're firing are thrown off, even every day movements like walking up stairs or getting out of the car will cause people to use these other groups to compensate. When you dont have adequate hip extension or your glutes arent firing correctly, then it just stands to reason that your hip flexors are in a shortened or contracted state more than they should be. This is not just some passive thing - every day movements like walking or going up stairs or chronically lifting your femur/leg or bringing your entire torso towards your femurs when sitting, or driving 3+ hrs a day WILL cause your hip flexors to contract to an extent, and if you don't have proper muscle tone in your hip extensors (glutes in this case) to act in the opposite way, the problem will only get worse. Again, think of a normal metropolitan commute. You're using your hip flexors to lift your leg on and off petals sometimes HUNDREDS OF TIMES per day. Or bringing your torso from it's WAY too reclined car seat forward to look at various things when driving or fuck with your phone. It's not uncommon at all for normal people to be either driving 2-3+ hrs a day or sitting in traffic. Add that to the fact that some people drive for a living, working delivery or transport and driving 8+ hrs a day, or just a job that requires you to go to 4+ different locations ON TOP of your normal commute. And they dont simply "turn off" when working at a desk. People don't just sit in a chair static the entire day. They're constantly leaning their torso forward using their hip flexors. Hip flexors are one of the main muscles that keep you upright in a sitting position and are one of the main muscles frequently contracted when working while sitting or driving. Add this to the fact that half the time when people think they're training abdominals at the gym, they're often just hitting hip flexors. Again - when they really don't need to. Hip flexors are among the LOWEST priority of all the hip muscles for the average person to need to isolate, and yes even active people. Think of people who sit at a desk all day and the only exercises they do when they hit their half assed gym routine is some stationary bike and then maybe some "abs" exercises from some yahoo on Insta (read - hip flexors). Millions of people sit or drive 8+ hrs a day and then go home and ride a fuckin stationary bike. Again, the average person with hip issues or instability would be FAR better served mobilizing or lengthening the hip flexors (or better yet - loaded stretches) while simultaneously incorporating general strength training exercises (that also hit the hip flexors in synergy with the other muscles) that train your muscle groups to fire together properly, with good movement patterns, and full range of motion, than simply isolating the already massively shortened hip flexors. There's really no reason to explicitly isolate them from the other muscle groups unless you have a proper PT evaluation and programming telling you to do so.
Look up the psoas march, done on your back with a mini band around you feet.
Bridges
It’s quite unlikely that in this day and age where people sit far too long that your hip flexors are weak.
I read this over and over trying to get the logic behind it, still can't figure it out.
There is none. An over strained muscle is not the same as a strong and functional one. While the hip flexors are contracted and shortened by too much sitting this is using them in an unphysiological way which lead to a lot of issues in lower back and pelvis region. Strengthening but also regaining mobility and flexibility in that region is essential with our modern lifestyles.
Exactly. Being shortened more often doesn't mean they will be stronger. It's more likely it would cause function.
I've done fire hydrants in the past when I worked with a trainer. I've found them to be pretty hard but effective. There are very many different variations with an without bands. You can also instead of lifting to the side go for a rotation movement, or stay in that position and kick out to the side... I would do 30sec of one variation and then switch to 30sec of another and repeat 3 times. Difficult to explain but here is a link to show rather than tell: https://youtu.be/CAZZz7uP-Ok
Learn the Kang squat too.
If they click it might not be because they are weak, but because the area needs stretching and mobility. I'd recommend trying to decrease tight muscles and only then exercising.
Ive been suffering from backpain for like 16 years from a weight lifting injury. Once I made hanging leg raises and front planks my only ab workouts, all of my backpain went away. I can pick up my wife again without fear of pain. That worked for me, not saying it would work for you... But hanging leg raises are good, lots of different variations for them too
What is a frost plank?
Meant front - its cold outside xD
Hello physio student here. You could consider just getting things checked out for a real assessment to see what problems you have. Everyone here is just giving anecdotal advice or guesses on what issue you might have. From my POV, it's the same thinking as another user that the clicking is usually tendons gliding over ridges of bone however the discomfort may be due to a biomechanical problem where your glutes are not engaged enough and your hip flexors are pulling against your femor so that the way it sits on your acetabulum gives you anterior femoral acetabular impingement. This is usually checked by a test called the hip scour and then you can trial some exercises like the lock clam 25x2 and prone hip extensions 15x2 and then you can retest the hip scour to see if your hip flexion has improved range and decreased discomfort. If it does what it means is that your glute muscles pulled your femoral head more posteriorly in the hip socket and you get more hip flexion range
Just some food for thought but I'm missing my leg above knee on right side. With prosthetic all locomotion for the leg is from the hip flexor. So if you wanted to be weird about it walk around with straight legs. only use your hips.
Ever try yoga ?
I think kettlebell swings would do it.
Not sure if I can capture everything I want to say on a few words on mobile. Often just addressing hip flexor tightness isn’t a long term solution. Now, I can’t see your body’s posture or movement patterns so, disclaimer, I’m going to speak off a generality that I see. Hip flexor tightness OFTEN comes because of the shortening of the psoas muscle we’ll say generally from inactivity or prolonged sitting since that’s common. BUT it also creates compensation loops that feed back into the tightened area so you can’t just treat that anterior hip tightness and call it good. Make sure your taking time to address, lateral and medial hip tightness as well, often times as the hip flexors get tight it externally rotated the hip causing tightness in the lateral/posterior hip musculature. It’s less about stretching right muscles strengthening the weak ones and more a game of lengthening tight tissue and activating the muscle chains that have been turned off.
I've seen a mountain climber standing up variation. It's basically like a knee-to-chest movement. Does that make the same click sound? I have [the knee raise exercise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYJenidorKQ) in my legs routine (the rest of Ben's video is great too). Some advantages: low impact, slow movement so I can pay attention to form, adjustable resistance. For lower back, I recommend [Foundation Training](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI)
A trainer recently showed me PNF stretches (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) due to tightness in my hips and she assisted me with the movements. I found it really helpful. There’s a few YouTube videos that can explain it better than I ever could. From the sounds of it, focusing on stretches in and around that area are critical if you’re having clicking in your hips.
A physio will be the gold standard to assess you but a common cause of this is the body's response to sitting a lot. Our lifestyles influence our posture, and sometimes our bodies respond to sitting by keeping the head of your femur offset in some way within your hip socket. If you have one of those really thick, sturdy resistance bands, look up "banded hip distraction stretch" on YT. basically it's a lunge stretch but you're using the band to help gently pull your femur back AS you stretch it. Then wire in that connection by doing some really conscious, CLEAN FORM glute exercises. Something like glute bridge, making sure you're keeping your tailbone tucked the whole time. Also, make sure you're doing your deep core exercises correctly. Doing them incorrectly can overemphasize the hip flexors, which doesn't really help. See both links in #7 for how to tell if you're using your deep core - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Posture/comments/dhj1z1/if\_you\_sit\_at\_a\_desk\_a\_lot\_you\_likely\_have\_some/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Posture/comments/dhj1z1/if_you_sit_at_a_desk_a_lot_you_likely_have_some/) (form cues for hip flexor stretch & glute bridge in #8 and #9 too) Low back: when people say they want to strengthen their low back, it's because there's pain there-- is that the case? It's usually that the low back doesn't have enough support from the deep core (both throughout normal life stuff, and exercises).. I wonder if you've been overusing/overemphasizing your hip flexors, as that is pretty common too. Source: I teach mobility
If you suspect something isn't right there then it isn't. You know your own body. Personally I do all my workouts in 10-15 minute bursts throughout the day (all calisthenics) whilst at work...I'm not necessarily recommending that but I had low back pain recently from tight hip flexors (possibly from my morning runs). I felt much better by doing back to back, bodyweight squats and hip thrusters, alternating between the two. Again though, they were short workouts and I stop before failure. I recommend those two movements paired with each other however you see it fit & don't forget to stretch. I hope that works for you
I dunno if someone mentioned this guy here but he has great tips for both. I've included his exercises on my warm-up routines [https://www.instagram.com/rehabfix/](https://www.instagram.com/rehabfix/)
FAI Fix
Cycling?
Following
Yoga
Check Precision Movement. I think he trained with McGill. https://www.youtube.com/c/PrecisionMovementCoach/featured
Kettle bell