Hip Flexor Injury Prevention

When considering training, the hip flexors are often not considered because it is a “hidden” group, but also very important group of muscles responsible for the stability and flexibility of the pelvic area. when it comes to training, when training the hamstring, quad, and groin muscles you have already started to develop and train your hip fles, even though it is just as important. Hip flexor injury prevention excercises need to be part of your physical training schedules and can be defined in two area’s:
• Hip Flexor Flexibility
• Hip Flexor Strenghtening

Hip Flexor Flexibility

Flexibility is one of the most important ways we can make our body more agile and protect it against injuries. Look at it as a flexible tree that will bow in high wind while the hard and inflexible wood will break. The same thing happens in our body. We need to maintain a balance. Flexible doesn’t meabn weak: hip flexor flexibility and strength go together to create a strong but agile base of the lower back and spine.Therefore in addition to working on our hip flexor muscles, we also need to work on the supporting and connecting tissues and muscles.
Below we have gathers a number of hip flexor stretches and surrounding muscle stretches that will help you strengthen and stabilize the pelvic and lower back area..

Groin Stretch

Sit down with your feet soles facing inside and touching eachother, then push your knees and thighs down with your. Make sure you keep your back straight while doing this exercise to avoid pressure on the lower back

Piriformis Stretch

The Piriformis stretch is a more challenging stretch and is performed lying down. Go and lie down on your back, and bring one leg up , bending your knee across your other leg. Then hold your other leg at a straight angle (90 degrees). This stretch will extend the muscles on the outer side of the bend leg, Perform this stretch for about 30 seconds on both sides. (8 breaths)

Stretching Hamstring and Glute

This stretch will lengthen both the hamstrings and the gluteus-maximus These two mucles/tendons act in opposite movements as the hip flexor, and thus we work out both. Go and lie flat on your back, pull your legs up one at a time,m using an elastic stretching tube, a towel or rope, or your hands. Try to keep your legs as straight as possible to maximise the result.

Standing Quad Stretch

You might get some support from a wall or fixed obstacle if you don’t have a great balance to perform this stretching exercise. T simple quad stretch is done by bending your leg behind you and hold it with your arm or a towel if you need the extra bit of length , on the same side. You will notice that again the hip flexor will act counter and you should feel a bit of stretch in your hip flexor. The tighter your hip flexor is, the more you will feel a pulln in your groin or pelvic area,