The hip flexors and back pain

The muscles that bring the leg forward (lift the leg) are known as the hip flexors.  Think about where you feel the work coming from when you raise your knee towards your hip.  These muscles are very important to walking, standing, running, and basically the posts is the kingpin (fyi Kingpin w Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson  was a great movie, that now I will need to watch once again) of connecting your upper body to your lower body.  That's a pretty important job.  We all know about the quads, but the posts may be new to some of you.  Take a look at the iliopsoas.  There's a lot more to lifting your leg than you may have thought.  When a muscle gets injured, the sirrounding ones take over (compensation).  This can be hard to reverse once a pattern has immerged.

These hip flexor muscles can also be weak, or tight.  God forbid they are both weak and tight.  Ugh.

Yoga is a great way to not only stretch these muscles but also strengthen them.  Do not underestimate the need for both strength and. range of motion.  

Many people suffer from back pain.  You don't need to be "old" to have pain in the back.  I suggest start a little exercise now to avoid any problems.  If you've never had back pain, count yourself as a lucky person.   Believe me, it totally sucks.  Begin your day with some gentle stretches and work into some more leg, shoulder and spine stretches.  Your body and mind will thank you for it.

Click on the link below to see how the hip flexors relate to back pain.  Very intersting indeed.  

http://www.lowbackpainprogram.com/hip-flexors-and-hamstrings.html

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