This is the first of 4 posts to flesh out the introducing hip mobility and lumbar stability post that I did last week. In this mini-series, I’m going to cover several techniques to improve hip mobilty and lumbar stability, including:
- Stretching
- Soft tissue work
- Activation drills
- Strength exercises
Stretching for increased hip mobility
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve allowed my posture to deteriorate recently and I was shocked at how bad it had become when I saw my holiday snaps (check out the lower back arch!). I’m cross with myself and I’m ready to be a bit more aggressive with sorting the problem out. Stretching is going to be one of the tools I use to help.
And for the avoidance of doubt, I’m not in denial about my upper back curving over but I’ll talk about straightening that out another day!
But isn’t stretching bad for you?
Since I can remember, there have been experts debating the pro’s and cons of stretching muscles. Some argue that stretching is always bad for you and you shouldn’t do it. However, most of the time, the argument for not stretching just relates to pre-workout or pre-game stretching. These people argue that stretching should not be done as a warm-up as it has a negative effect on performance but don’t they comment on stretching for changing movement patterns or for postural improvement.
This article published in the New York Times quotes Malachy McHugh, the director of research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who says:
“There is a neuromuscular inhibitory response to static stretching. The straining muscle becomes less responsive and stays weakened for up to 30 minutes after stretching.”
So, for example, stretching your calves or hamstrings before a run would be frowned upon. As would stretching your latissimus before doing pull ups or your triceps before doing dips.
Stretching for improving hip mobility and lumbar lordosis
When it comes to improving my hip mobility and reducing lumbar lordosis, I am looking to create a permament change in muscle length in order to change my posture and overall movement patterns. I want to allow my hips to move more freely so that the movement that occurs when I flex or extend my legs at the hip happens at the hip and not at the lower back.
So when I bring my knee up (in starting sprinting or stepping up) then my lower back doesn’t round outwards. And when I extend my leg behind me (in jumping or as the tail leg in sprinting) then my lower back doesn’t sway forwards (as in the photo above).
What muscles are we stretching?
The hip flexors. I wasn’t going to get too geeky here but I was doing a bit of reading around hip mobility to see whether there were any different stretches I could do from the ones I already knew. During my research, I kept reading articles in which authors referred to the hip flexors as the iliacus and the psoas as if there are only two hip flexors. For the record, there are quite a few hip flexors, and they include:
The adductors, which contribute to hip flexion:
Bascially, anything on the front of the leg and in the front of the groin acts to flex the hip in some way shape or form. Look down in the bath and you’ll see them (unless you wear clothes in the bath, for some reason).
Stretches for hip mobility
Lunge
Lunge forwards with one foot and allow the other knee to drop down (gently) onto the ground. Keeping your pelvis in alignment (i.e. don’t allow your lower back to arch – you may need to tense your abs quite hard to achieve this), push your elevated knee forwards. Repeat on each side.
Standing lunge
As above, but in a semi-standing position. Keep the back foot at a slight angle to stretch the groin muscles a bit more. Repeat on each side.
Groin stretch
A stretch I learned to do studying martial arts as a child, I feel this quite acutely in my groin and I’m hoping that is a good thing! Very simply, lunge sideways and drop the body over one foot. Repeat on each side. There are a couple of variants to this stretch and I have shown two of these below. The variants shown are heel on the floor and side of the foot on the floor. I haven’t quite got my toes vertical in the first picture but hopefully, you get the idea.
I tend to hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds or until I feel the muscles relax. In an ideal world, I’d do each one 3 times but I usually stop after 2 from sheer boredom. Unfortunately, there is always something more interesting to do than stretching but at the moment it’s probably the thing I need most.
For a list of my key articles by category, please check out this index.
Tags: corrective · Hip mobility · injury1 Comment
[...] Stretching [...]