Answer: The Best and Worst stretch for your Low Back

Question: What is ‘Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

Yes, you’re putting your back in Jeopardy if you do this stretch incorrectly (see what I did there? :)). Done correctly however, it’s one of the best stretches you can do for yourself. So what the hell am I talking about? This

Anatomy: The psoas muscle attaches to the vertebrae on your lumbar spine, and then crosses the outer edge of each pubis (near your pelvis). It next joins with the iliacus muscle at your inguinal ligament (in your groin region), and finally attaches at your femur.

In other words, it travels from your low back to your femur–top of your inner thigh. This muscle is a primary reason as to why we are bipeds—animals that standing upright! And, as you can imagine, that means it’s under considerable pressure (physically, and emotionally I’m sure :-p)

Guess what. 10,000 steps/day is amazing but who is the primary muscle initiating the movement? (Ilio)Psoas! –Don’t worry about that Ilio part, its just nerdy anatomy–

So, 5,000 contractions/day/leg (10,000 steps/2 legs) for the Psoas, for how many decades now? And how much time have we spent stretching this muscle?

‘Umm..maybe sometimes for 10 seconds Jeff’

Hey, I’m guilty too! If we were to flex our biceps 5,000x/day for the last 20+ years with minimal stretching, do you think they would be tight? Maybe dysfunctional?

(Yes)

So(as) let’s do this. Let’s balance out the ratio of contraction:relaxation for this ever-so-important muscle.

Try taking a kneeling position (cushion under the knee, yes please)

Step the front foot forward because we want to find a 90 degree angle at that knee (it’s safest for the knee joint)

Find a neutral pelvis (engage your abdomen so your belly button pulls in towards your spine and up towards your sternum)

And then lean forward from the hips. So often we lean forward at the chest, first, and it actually adds strain to our low back (thus why it can be the worst stretch for our low back).

Try this for a week and tell me how good you feel after 🙂

Live Life Well,

Trainer Jeff