We’re all guilty of spending many hours sitting down – and suffering tighter hip muscles as a result. Maybe you have a long commute on top of your office job, or perhaps working from home makes you less likely to take an hour’s lunch break. Even your fitness regime could be causing your hip muscles to shorten – Spinning, poor squat form or lots of running without stretching can cause the area to tighten up – which is not good news. Tense hip muscles can limit your range of motion, shorten your stride length when running (reducing sprint times), strain your back muscles and increase your risk of injury. What’s more, research in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy shows reduced hip-flexor length means your glutes will be less activated and you’ll have a lower glute-to-quad (rectus femoris) activation ratio, meaning you’ll have to depend more on your hamstrings, potentially causing them greater stress and leading to earlier fatigue, say the researchers.
HIPS 101
You’re probably familiar with the
