Arguably the most common complaint I see in the clinic on a day-to-day basis.
But why is this a common thing amongst us?
The answer is simple.
We simply need to ask ourselves, how often do we walk backwards?
Biomechanically we are designed to be more dominant in our anterior chain versus our posterior chain (front versus back). It’s innate human behaviour to want to push than pull. Based on this alone is enough to comprehend why you would have this complaint, however our body is more complex than that.
3 reasons why you have tight hip flexors.
- Sitting is the new smoking
- Weakness in the glutes and hamstring musculature
- Overuse of the hip flexor muscles (e.g kicking in Muay Thai, incorrect use of hips while squatting in crossfit)
In my clinical experience as a therapist (spanning over 9 years) I spend a lot of time telling people one thing.
“Your glutes aren’t firing.”
I know we can sound like a broken record but it’s absolutely true.
For some, the neurological connection between the brain and the glute is literally switched off.
Here’s a way you can test how active your glutes are; If you can individually contract each glute muscle at will, than congratulations you are one step closer to engaging those glutes, and reducing the toll on your hip flexors.
For those who can’t perform this task, you need to start putting in some work.
Start by tapping your glute while trying to contract at the same time (one side at a time). This will help to reestablish the connection between the glute and where it lives in the brain. We call this Kinaesthetic Feedback.
Looking for more ways to release the tension in your hip flexors? Work your way through the list below (these are all of the muscles that cause hip flexor tightness). Get a spikey ball into these bad boys for a few mins a day and you’ll feel the benefits in no time.
- Illiopsoas
- Rectus Femoris
- Sartorius
- Tensor Fascia Latae (TFL)
- Pectineus
- Adductor Longus/Brevis
- Gracilis
Above, e’re really just talking about tight muscles, which is a very normal challenge that we face, especially in our society today. It can however get worse or more difficult to work with.
Everyone has one hand that is dominant, thus we also have one leg that is more dominant.
Based on this theory we can assume that tight hip flexors can exist more dominantly on one side. Why does this happen? In Osteopathy we talk about the pelvis as being the foundation for the rest of our spine. A balanced level pelvis is not only important for the function of our lumbar spine, but also the extremities. In my experience with pelvises, there is always one side of our pelvis more jammed than the other. I see this every day.
Now, it is pretty common knowledge that muscles pull on bones to move a joint, hence creating movement. Now think of what it would feel like trying to open a locked door. This is what it’s like when muscles pull on immobile bones.
The result (in the case of tight hip flexors) is the hip flexor muscles get stuck in a neurological spasm causing them to be weak and tight.
Could this be the reason why you have an unsymmetrical squat? Could this be the reason why your switch kick is not as good as your rear kick? Could this be the reason you have back pain? Could this be the reason we have tight hip flexors?
“Absolutely!!”
So how can you manage this issue?
Number one thing I recommend to people is to learn how to treat themselves. Foam rolling and spikey ball is essential. Target the above anatomy and you will find symptomatic relief. Unfortunately for me I don’t have the luxury of getting treated so this is my go to.
Stretching! Seek some stretches from your trainers on this issue. There is so many out there, I could spend days listing them.
Finally get treatment!! Find someone who understands the complexity of the body and tailors their treatment to YOUR body.
“The body heals its self, so find the issue, fix it and leave it alone”
Dr. Brendan Rose (Osteopath)
A UFT PLAYground is a place that people of all shapes, sizes and ages learn to develop their movement abilities through an infinite learning and development program. UFT PLAYgrounds have been created to re-inspire our natural ability to move, create, adapt, re-act, connect, have fun and of course PLAY.
PLAYgrounds have been developed to allow people to feel and explore their own abilities by utilising a multidimensional, infinite, creative and PLAYful approach to training.
We live in a world full of specialists and obsessions. At an ever increasing rate, people are specialising more and more, in their jobs, in their businesses, in their sport and in their training. The result, is a backward step in human evolution. By specialising, we limit ourselves to thinking that 1 particular way of doing things is the right way, or the only way.
We promote creativity, not only in movement and training methodologies but in thinking in general.
A UFT PLAYground is created to provide the general public with an opportunity to PLAY across multiple styles of training and moving, to be able to progress in the training methods that they become passionate about or that excites them and to be a part of a community that promotes more than just fitness.
The “fitness” industry above all others has brought about a need to specialise in order to achieve anything, and majority of what we do for “fitness” is for an aesthetically pleasing reason. We understand that aesthetics are nice and we too love to look and feel good. However a UFT PLAYground is developed to allow people to move better than ever before across a broad range of training methodologies and ideas. Aesthetics, therefore are a result not a goal of that system. We know that “If you train to look good, you will not always enjoy what you do, but if you PLAY a lot, and do the things that you love, you will ending up looking good”. Aesthetics should be a result not a goal.
For years now, we have recognised that the best movers on the planet are children. They are flexible, mobile & fit, they have better relative strength than a typical adult (and even most adolescents), they are the best creators and innovators, they learn faster, the adapt better, they interact better with other people, they are more connected to nature and most importantly, they PLAY more than anyone else.
As adults, we tend to believe that because we are taller and more experienced in “life”, we are better, and then we get to an age that says we are “too old to PLAY”. As we grow taller (and in a lot of cases rounder), we experience things that inhibit our ability to move, think and not think. We allow our experiences to limit our abilities as humans, whether it be a physical injury, a story that we heard or a youtube video that we watched. We also allow our emotions to control our behaviour because of our past experiences. Maybe it was the feeling of humiliation when we tried something new, regret when we failed or heart break when it was taken away from us. Because of this, we allow our experiences to control our future instead of learning from them and creating our own
.
This is what UFT PLAYground’s are built on. The understanding that we as humans need to go back to the way things were before our negative experiences took over our subconscious mind and body.
A UFT PLAYground gives people the ability to re-learn what they have lost, as well as develop new sets of skills that will allow them to follow any particular passion that they uncover in PLAYtime. When we PLAY, we are simply, exploring. Through exploring we become curious and through curiosity we become obsessed or passionate about a particular thing. This is why in a PLAYground we allow people to PLAY across a broad range of training systems (minimum of 3), Through this system they are able to identify 1, their current limitations and be educated on how to overcome them, and 2, identify their passions and learn to develop, grow and excel in them.
UFT PLAYgrounds are also a development centre for up and coming entrepreneurs in the fitness industry.
Each PLAYground founder will have been trained and will be continuously trained in UFT’s Trainer Success System.
This system allows personal trainers, coaches, teachers, instructors, etc. to continue to develop in their fields of specialty (as they play they will find it) and in the philosophy of PLAYtime. They will also be trained in the business systems of UFT in order to have their own successful and profitable business.
See UFT Trainer Success System for more details.
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