If you've ever struggled with incessant soreness and deep dull ache in the front of your hip that won't go away,

you've probably scrolled to the end of the internet trying to find some kind of relief.

*cue the evil hip hook*

If you don't know what that is, you literally lie down on your belly and impale yourself and your hip flexor over a metal hook. I wish I was kidding.

If you're needing THAT kind of "release", it's REALLY time to take a deeper look into WHY your hip flexor is clamping down tighter than Fort Knox. (for my non-US people, that's the "money/gold-fort" in the US, but I don't think there's actually any gold there anymore...)

Because it's hip flexor season: right in time for peak mileage and/or marathon tapers.

And with you all being on the running-fit-fam email newsletter, you get my extra thoughts in addition to this week's blog post which has...ta da!...an entire circuit designed to help relieve your tight aching, hip flexors AND begin to gently strengthening them in time for race day. Jump to that here:

But lets bring everything together, hip hook included:

1. Tight muscles don't automatically mean "I need to AGGRESSIVELY stretch them".

I understand that's our natural, normal response.

You're in pain and you want to move out of it ASAP so you can keep running and training.

2. But I also need you to understand that a tight hip flexor doesn't automatically mean it's weak.

It could be! But in runners, while it's still possible, it's not always probable.

A muscle like a hip flexor can get "uber tight" out of protection-mode. Think about that 20 mile run. Unless that's your regular distance, that's an entirely new stimuli and MOUNTAIN of a task your body just accomplished!

If your body literally battens down the hatches by tightening up your hip flexor, it's because it's aggressively telling you, "we rest. NOW."

That doesn't mean I want you to stay in pain-land. While we can understand the reason for protect-mode, we do need to move out of that tightness because long term, it makes for goofy compensations that do more harm than good. Hence, this week's circuit.

But I want to make you aware of a THIRD option.

3. Our hip flexors can tighten down because of a neural / or neuromotor response.

You might have heard me talk about your brain as a super computer before. And this computer is plugged into it's external sensors (your muscles) which give it information about the outside world. Your brain and your muscle-sensors may be cahoots.

For some reason, your brain may be continually sending the message to your hip flexor saying,

"hey, I need you to stay tight because things are unstable here at X, I need you to provide extra stability because Y, because I'm trying to prevent pain at Z...."

And that whole piece of dialogue there is why you go to a PT, and not waste your money and impale yourself on a hip hook.

Because while aggressively stretching your hip flexors may feel good in the moment, if you don't piece out the WHY behind it, it's likely to come right back.

I've written you all a novel...again. But I think this is important information that I can't put in a 30 second reel.

So your turn: go check out those hip flexor saving exercises so you can keep training and crush your upcoming race. ;)

Dare to Train Differently,

Marie Whitt, PT, DPT //@dr.whitt.fit

P.S. I'm sorry if you have a hip hook and you really like it. I promise, I'm not coming for you. I just get so worried people are going to hurt themselves on that thing...

Looking for MORE ways to work together?

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