We often observe that Hip Flexor muscles(iliacus and psoas muscles) are often tight across the runners, men & women, beginners and experienced alike. Hip flexors take the brunt of the sitting through the day in chairs. Kneeling hip flexor stretch improves the hip flexor mobilitty. For runners, it helps by stretching out lower back and hip flexors, there by improving hip extension, and reduce any lower back pain.
How to do it
- Kneel on the mat with both legs
- Then go into a lunge position: Get one feet forward with the knee make a right angle to the ground,while the other knee is on the mat as shown in the Figure A
- As you are in the lunge position, make sure to engage your core and glute muscles, keep the torso straight, and your hips & ankle are aligned in a straight line. Keep your hands on the forward knee (only if needed)
- Now push the hip forward, while keeping the upper body erect. You should feel the stretch at the front of the hip on the kneeling leg, and hold this position as shown in Figure B.
- As a static stretch, hold this position for upto 20-30s. As a dynamic stretch rock back and forth.
When to do it
This stretch should be incorporated in dynamic form (don’t hold the stretch for more than 2s) before the run, or as a static stretch (hold the stretch up to 20s) during a cooldown or mobility session to improve your range of motion.
