This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in of . For the original video go to https://youtu.be/u26WF7MfGec
Brad: We are going to show you four hip stretches that can work wonders.
Mike: They can also help fix your poor posture if you have hip arthritis, and even possibly help with your hip labral tear.
Brad: That's right. Okay, let's use Sam to show why these stretches work and why they're so effective with arthritis, as well as that labrum problem we mentioned at the end. Let's look at Sam. Now this red tape represents the muscles we're actually going to stretch. We have the deep muscles here, the iliopsoas muscles.
Brad: You don't need to know the name of them, but when these muscles get stretched, that's going to help eliminate that pelvic tilt. Can you demonstrate that Mike, that awkward position, and even that forward slouched position that we all like to avoid.
Brad: Then the muscle that gets neglected a lot is the rectus femoris. It's a long muscle that connects from the front part of the pelvis down to the knee. And if this muscle doesn't get stretched, it causes problem and pain as well.
Brad: Now let's look at the hip itself because this is really important and the last couple stretches get after that. The arthritis in the hip. Here's the ball of the hip. We need to do something to get the lubrication back into the ball of the hip and the socket to eliminate that arthritic pain.
Brad: And then the labrum, which goes around here, which I've had really good success with on the last stretch that we're going to show. And I'm not kidding. Mike, do you have anything more to add?
Mike: No, let's get to it.
Brad: All right.
Mike: So the first muscle we're going to stretch are the hip flexors. They often become tight when you're sitting too long. So when I'm sitting down, these muscles are in a shortened position. When I stand up, they are elongated. And to actually stretch them, you need to go in the opposite direction. So we're going to show you three different ways you can stretch this muscle group out.
Brad: We are going to show three options on how to stretch this. This one is going to be lying on your back, one's in a chair, and one's standing.
Mike: So to do the one lying on the back, we actually got from our friend Rick Olderman, who is a great physical therapist. So you're going to start on the edge of either a firm mattress, maybe a table, if you're comfortable getting on a tabletop here. And you're going to have to bring your knees to your chest to begin. Now if I'm going to stretch my left leg, I'm going to drop it off the edge here, and then I'm going to try to bend my knee. Once I'm in this position, I'm going to bring the right knee up to my chest. You'll see once I do that, my hip flexor is actually pulling up this leg. Try to keep him down as comfortable as you can. If you're getting any cramping, don't go as far down. And this little knee bend actually helps stretch the rectus femoris which we talked about earlier.
Brad: Right, that very long muscle that oftentimes gets neglected. So we'll do this 5 to 10 repetitions, on and off. Or how else would you like to do it, Mike?
Mike: I like to do 30 seconds on each side. Once I do 30 seconds, I switch. You may notice one side is tighter than the other. Maybe give the tighter side one extra stretch.
Brad: Right, and with all these stretches, think about being relaxed, nice, slow breathing. That will help you relax and get a better stretch. All right, a nice seated option. If you're in a chair about this height, not a stool, and it does not have armrests. You simply scoot to the edge of the chair. I'm going to stretch my right hip. I'm just going to bring my knee down to the floor, keep a nice upright posture, and stretch it back like this. And I'm feeling that stretch right now. If I lean forward, you will not get as aggressive as a stretch. So, try to keep up, shoulders back. You can hold this for 15 to 30 seconds, or stretch on and stretch off. That little bit right there, I can feel every time. Work that. Let's go to one standing.
Mike: The last option, we're going to show is in standing or a kneeling position here. So to begin, we're basically going to do a lunge. Now some of you may be really tight, so just bringing your leg back here and doing a little lunge, you're going to feel that pulling in there. That's where you begin. Obviously, you don't want to lean forward. This is going to destroy the stretch. Nice, upright posture. If you're a beginner, hold onto support as needed. I have something like a countertop here and the Booyah Stik. Work on progressing down.
Mike: Now if you can easily get down in this position as a beginner, you can just stretch from a kneeling position. I like to put some padding under my knee because it feels better. And then I'm actually going to lean forward into a deeper lunge. Notice my back is staying straight as I'm doing this. I'm not bending forward. And you're really going to feel a good stretch here. Sometimes I like to just kind of move back and forth throughout it. Or you can just hold it statically for 15 seconds. Make sure and you work both sides with the stretch, just like the other ones.
Brad: Yeah, if you don't work both sides, then you walk in circles.
Mike: Yes, I do that all the time.
Brad: Let's go to the next one. Okay, this next stretch is a really important one, and it's easy to do. You can do it lying down or you can do it in a chair. It stretches those small muscles around the hip, the rotators, as we call them. Go ahead, Mike.
Mike: So in a laying position, I'm going to bend my knees. I'm going to take my right leg to stretch first. I'm going to put my ankle at my knee joint here to begin. Then I'm going to push my knee down. You can use your hand if you need to, or you can just do it with your muscles. Try to hold this for 15 to 30 seconds. I like to push a little bit. The closer I have the left leg, the more stretch I'm going to feel as well. If you start here, that's fine. Just stretch here. Over time, try to get more rotation out of it. And again, you want to work both sides and stretch them out. You may notice one side's tighter than the other because I certainly do.
Brad: Now the thing about this is you can do it in your bed, on the floor, it really doesn't matter. Now you can do the same thing in a chair. This is a stretch I do every day. I incorporate it when I put my socks in and when I put my shoes on because I want to keep this motion really free. So as I get older, and get more gray hair than I already have, I can get my shoes on without a problem. So simply sit and place your ankle on your opposite knee, you know, and stretch down like this. It feels so good, and it's so practical. I know a lot of older people, I've worked with them as patients where this motion gets so tight that they can't even get their shoes on or their socks on. It's a real problem. So simply do this for maintenance every day.
Mike: And the third stretch we're going to do is actually go into hip flexion. You're going to stretch your buttock muscles. So what you want to do is bring one knee up to your chest. I'm going to leave the other leg flat on the mat here. Again, I'm going to hold this for roughly 30 seconds. You can go straight up, you could try to go in a little bit. You can try to go out a little bit. Just go with what feels good. Work, noodle around as Kelly Starrett, physical therapist, would say. And then you're going to switch legs and do it on the other side. And Brad, you can actually do this in a seated position, correct?
Brad: Exactly. And I definitely, I'll do it here. And this is one point where, you know, we say it's okay to slouch in there. We need to stretch the low back a little bit in that direction. And the noodling that he talks about, I really find helpful, particularly when I go towards or across my body. Make sure you do it with both knees. It's a really nice stretch. It gets that piriformis muscle as well.
Brad: All right, a third option that I also like for the hip flexion stretch that we just demonstrated in bed or in the chair, is use a stairway. I usually go to the second step like this. Having something with the handrails to hold onto for stability is nice. And then I'll lean into it. This is more aggressive. It's more for someone advanced or who has done it before. And I like to put the weight in. And I'll actually noodle in here. And boy, does that ever feel good on my hip. It really makes me more ready to start the day.
Brad: Now, we're going to show the one that can be very helpful for arthritis or that torn labrum. Great success with this in the clinic.
Mike: So, oftentimes with hip arthritis or a labral tear, you get more pain with actually bearing weight on that hip joint. So what it's actually doing is putting the ball and socket tighter together. And we need to try to stretch it out and make it relax a bit. So what we're going to do is I'm going to stretch my right leg. This would be the painful side. I'm going to stand sideways on one step and notice I'm going to relax my pelvis. So essentially your pelvis is going to shift and drop. I am now relaxed on this side, getting a nice distracting feeling here. Now what you can do is kind of swing forward and backward a little bit to see if that helps.
Mike: If you're not getting enough pulling or distracting forces and you have a cuff weight, say, you can put this around my ankle like Brad is doing now, and it'll help put more of a pulling force. If you don't have this at home, maybe you have a pair of heavy winter boots, you can just put that on this foot to get the same kind of feeling.
Brad: Right, now I do want to mention, I've had this with a number of patients. When you do this, figure out how to relax your body and that hip, because that does take a little practice. The relief will be immediate. As soon as that traction occurs, when the muscles relax, it actually distracts the joint, allows the synovial fluid to get in there, relieves the pain, and that happens whether it's arthritis or labrum. Particularly with the labrum. I've had patients that, this was the only way I could get relief with some labrum problems. And then you do it, you hold it for maybe 30 seconds to a minute, and do it three to four, even five times per day. All right, so these stretches are very nice. You can incorporate them into your day, like I mentioned by tying my shoe or putting my socks on. Good luck with them. It'll definitely pay off.
Mike: If you want to check out more videos on how to stretch out your hip muscles, you can check out our video "STOP Hip Flexor Stretches Unless You Do This!"
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