I would like to tell you a little story about the hip flexor muscles. My mom asked me to share this, and when my mom says I should blog about something, well, I listen! Most of the time.
My mom and I were emailing back and forth this morning and she divulged some information about a recent battle with the elliptical machine. My mom began the long and sad journey of grieving the loss of her husband this past June, and she has slowly been getting her mojo back, including thinking a lot about, and finally starting some exercise. Gung Ho about getting back to her routine of months past which included very vigorous walking (she finished the Susan G. Komen 3 day last year which is 60 miles in 3 days) she promised herself that she would get over to her fitness center and at least put 15 or 20 minutes on that elliptical as a start. Well she finally did that, and then immediately ended up with low back pain.
I know she won’t mind me telling you all that she is 65. My mom is the prettiest, healthiest, most upbeat and caring 65 year old woman anyone would want to meet. With the recent months of intense care taking of my step dad, she wasn’t able to take care of herself as much as she needed to, and now she is battling the body that is a result of those many months of neglect.
Here is where the advise, and the “Go slow” come into play. I therapied to her over the phone this morning about taking her exercise routine slow. I told her not to have any rules about what she should do to get it going again. That her body would need some TLC, and for her to give it some time to stretch out between dates with the elliptical. Cardiovascular fitness is extremely important, but flexibility is the thing I see the most lacking in people as they age. So I talked her through a hip flexor stretch over the phone. Hip flexor stretch, you may be wondering? Yes, and here is a picture taken from an awesome book called, “The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga,” by Ray Long, MD.
Can you see where the muscles (red) come up from the hips and pelvis and attach into the lumbar vertebrae? The hip flexors are back muscles! There are several ways to stretch out the hip flexors and I ended up talking my mom through one of those exercises. A few minutes after we got off of the phone she emailed me. ”That one exercise alone helped me enormously!!! You NEED to post about that… And hip flexors!” So here is that post! Don’t forget to stretch out your hips when you have low back pain!
COMMENTS
Well, thank you! I will print this out and share with my walking buddies. We talked about the specific exercise you gave me this morning, and as we talked, we walked — about 45 minutes. I can happily say that I am not having any lower back pain!! Thank you, Laura!
And for those of you reading who are my taekwondo enthusiasts, every time you lift that leg in the air to kick, the hip flexor initiates the lift. The hip flexors are used and abused constantly, and deserve the time you give them for stretching. Before a workout or competition you might try dynamic stretches for moving and warming up the muscles. For improving general health and flexibility of those muscles over time, try long, slow, myofascial stretching, aimed at release and elongation of the tissues. Stretching too hard and long before a workout or competition can cause injury, so the timing of these kinds of stretches is important.
