The 2020 holiday season has been a shake up from our normal end of year routines. Usually there is shopping to be done, turkeys to cook, relatives to visit and plenty of beautiful displays to take in walking around town. If you are like me, you have likely been sitting more this holiday season than you normally would.
With that sitting comes: hip, hamstring and low back tightness. Below is a brief explanation of why this tightness comes and how to make it go away!
How Sitting Leads To Hip Tightness
When seated our hips and knees are bent. This means that when we are sitting our hamstring and hip flexors are in a shortened position. When we do this for long periods of times our muscles tighten up.
Our hip flexors attach onto the front of our pelvis and our hamstrings attach onto the back of our pelvis. When both of these muscles are tight, we end up with a tug of war on either side of our pelvis, leading to pain and discomfort.
Fixing The Issue:
**A disclaimer: if you are having serious back pain or issues with your hips you should seek professional help from an athletic therapist (AT) or physiotherapist (PT)**
Warming Up: prior to beginning any stretching routine it's important to do a warm up to increase blood flow and reduce the risk of injury. Below is a short warm up that you can complete before jumping into a lower body stretching routine:
3 Rounds:
Hip Flexor Stretching 3 x 1 min per side
Progression 1: Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch
Progression 2: Runners Lunge
Progression 3: Couch Stretch
Hamstring Stretching 3 x 1min per side
Progression 1: Hurdlers Stretch
Progression 2: Down Dog (1min only)
Progression 3: Supine Hamstring PNF Stretch
Groin Stretching 3 x 1min
Progression 1: Wide Leg Child's Pose
Progression 2: Butterfly
Progression 3: Frogger (30sec per side)
Low Back Stretch: 3 x 1min
Progression 1: Child's Pose
Progression 2: Cat/Cow
Progression 3: Cobra
This entire sequence should take you approximately 21-25min to complete
3-5min Warm Up
6min Hip Flexors
6min Hamstring
3min Groin
3min Low Back
You can do set 1 of all stretches, then once you've completed all stretches go through sets 2 and 3. This whole sequence should have you walking on clouds!
See you soon!
Coach Mylan