Hip Flexor Foam Roller

We have spoken a lot about the hip flexor muscles on Lauren’s Fitness and how they can affect the way your body functions. The muscles consist of the Rec Fem, the Illiacus and the Psoas. Tight hip flexors can result in a lot of problems, most notably back pain. The best way you can loosen the hip flexors is through soft tissue work. There are a lot of stretches that you can do that will help a lot, but the fact is that the hip flexors are made up largely of fascia. Fascia is the sheath of connective tissue that covers the muscles and it often needs something more than just stretching to release it.

Soft tissue work is the best thing for the hip flexors, and combined with stretches it is very effective. If you can get a professional to release them you will get the best results. Not all of us have the opportunity to get a massage as often as we would like or need, so it is important to be able to do your own soft tissue work at home. There are a couple of methods that you can do at home, and they are using a foam roller and also a tennis ball/ massage ball.

Everyone should invest in a foam roller. It’s the easiest method to do your own soft tissue work at home. Check out this foam roller on amazon, comes in different lengths.

Now…as I explained above the Rec Fem, which is a muscle that actually crosses the hip and the knee is part of the hip flexors, and is the first one that you can do work on by yourself with the foam roller. Here are two videos showing you how to do it.

Remember at first that it can be very painful, especially if you have never had anyone do any work on you before. Points that hurt more, stay on them, eventually the pain will start to fade away. These points that you hit may be trigger points, you can hit them even harder later with a tennis ball. Ensure that you do this often, at the start a couple of times a day. The fact is that tight hip flexors are often a result of our lifestyle. A lot of us work sitting down and our hip flexor muscles are in a shortened position all the time, so we need to do regular soft tissue work to counter act the fact that we are tightening the hips daily.

Try to work up as high as you can, you will hit the lower part of the psoas as well. Combine this with the tennis ball work and stretching regularly and you will be well on your way to releasing your hip flexors and reducing your pain.

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