Hip Flexors

[DOD]Asprilla · 22 Oct 2008 at 14:11

Afternoon,

Right, I've just come back from the physio and I could do with some advice. I've had some irritation of my patella tendon that came to a head on Sunday when it twanged like a banjo string and I went down like a sack of spuds. No serious damage done, but needed looking at.

Went to one physio yesterday and she did some manipulation and advised lots of stretching of my quads and hip flexors as they are putting strain on my ITB and patella tendon.

I already had a sports massage booked for today with the woman who comes into the office, but she was off sick so I decided to go to another place near the office, and it turns out the massuse was actually a physiotherapist as well.

Anyway, I did some squats for her and she has pointed out that my right hip flexor is incredibly weak and if I don't strengthen it I'm just going to keep getting tight regardless of how much stretching I do.

So, I'm going to pull my finger out with my stretching, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any good exercises for hip flexors? I really don't want to go though the pain I've been though today on a regular basis.

Google generally turns up articles stating that hip flexors are a neglected muscle goup in terms of strength exercises. I don't have access to a cuff attachement for a cable machine so that's no good I'm afraid.

Anything I can include in my current leg routine of:

Squats
Calf Raises
Leg presses
Hamstring curls
Leg Extenstion

BennyC · 22 Oct 2008 at 14:25

I may not be of much help but I'll try! I assume by hip flexor you mean the tendon that runs through the top of the thigh, more specifically in the hip.

Do you have access to any cable pulley machines? If theres no cuff attatchment, you could try using one of those single handles used for ab rotations etc etc with a towel round your ankle?... its an idea! I dont know if leg raises while lying on your back would be of any help?

[DOD]Asprilla · 22 Oct 2008 at 14:31

It's not a tendon, it's a deep lying muscle group, the ones you use to raise your knee if you are standing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_flexors

Billy 2 Sips · 22 Oct 2008 at 14:33

Box squats with a box below parallel.

[DOD]Asprilla · 22 Oct 2008 at 14:42

Billy 2 Sips said:
Box squats with a box below parallel.

I thought that was more of a quads exercise? I'm already doing my squats with my bum to the floor.

Billy 2 Sips · 22 Oct 2008 at 14:53

Box squats are better than normal squats for hip strength. As long as you do them properly they will help.

MTA99 · 22 Oct 2008 at 15:21

[DOD]Asprilla;12746584 said:
Afternoon,
So, I'm going to pull my finger out with my stretching, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any good exercises for hip flexors?

[DOD]Asprilla;12746727 said:
It's not a tendon, it's a deep lying muscle group, the ones you use to raise your knee if you are standing.

There's a big clue there!

Hanging leg raises with knees bent (doing the exact movement you've described) are a start, then progress onto straight legs and weighted straight legs.

Leg raises are often used as an ab exercise but the abs only contribute if you "roll" up your hips.

[DOD]Asprilla · 22 Oct 2008 at 16:47

Cheers, that sounds fairly straight forward and I found the hip flexor section on EXRX.

The guy who used to sit in front of me used to coach triple jump so I asked him, and surprise, surprise he know's loads about hip flexors. He's going to dig me out some plyometric circuits he's used for athelete rehab before and go though them with me which should help.

DanH84 · 22 Oct 2008 at 17:32

one thing i used to do to work my hips was put a dumbell on the floor right in front of a wall. then with my toes touching the wall and facing towards it i'd squat down slowly to pick up the dumbell between my legs. the posint being that if you use your hips properly no part of you should move forward to touch the wall. then i found once the technique was right exploding out of the squat into a jump by thrusting my hips through helped build flexibility and power as well.