What Are Hip Flexors?
Basically, the hip
flexors are a set of several muscles
that
pass through the pelvis.
The Iliopsoas
is made up of two muscles, the Iliacus
and the Psoas
Major, located at the front of the hip.
Together these muscles function in moving the thigh up in the direction
of the
abdomen.
Although the muscles originate in different
places...
...the Iliacus
begins at the hip bone and the Psoas Major,
the longer of the muscles, originates at the spine,
...both muscles end at the same area, at the
upper
thigh bone. It is at this point where a hip flexor injury is
most likely to occur.
The Rectus Femoris
is one of the Quadriceps
muscles, but the only one that crosses the hip joint. This
muscle acts not only as a hip flexor but straightens the knee, as well.
How Important is Hip Flexor Exercise?
If the hip flexor muscles become tightened they
will likely cause discomfort or pain in your pelvic area as well as the
lower back and legs. As in my own case...
...this happens as a result of the
tightened muscles exerting forward pull on my lower back and pelvis,
and pulling the abdominal muscles forward, which in turn causes
weakened stomach muscles.
As the saying goes, the best offense is a good
defense. In my case the defense is hip
exercise.
Doing something as
simple
as incorporating more walking
into my day has helped.
However, for greater benefit I routinely include hip flexor stretch
exercise. This helps increase the
blood flow to the hip joint, thus making it less prone to injury and
degenerative disease such as arthritis.
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