Psoas Stretch: 3 Hip Flexor Stretches & Anatomy

Let’s find your hip flexors! From a standing position, lift your knee up toward your chest. The main muscles that contract to make this movement possible are the psoas, iliacus, and rectus femoris. The sartorius and pectineus also play a smaller but important role in flexion too (we'll cover those in a future video).

VIDEO CONTENTS
00:00 Psoas Stretch
00:11 Hip Flexor Tightness Check
00:42 Psoas Anatomy
01:22 Iliacus Anatomy
02:05 Why Your Hip Flexors are Tight?
03:54 Standing Hip Flexor Stretch
06:27 Blaster Pose
07:47 Splits

Psoas: this is your filet mignon muscle that starts at thoracic vertebra 12 and lumbar vertebrae 1-4, crosses the pelvis and then attaches on the inside of your femur on the lesser trochanter. If this muscle is tight, it can pull your lower back into extension and put excessive pressure on your lower back region.

Iliacus: this hip flexor starts on the inside of your pelvis, meets up with the psoas and attaches on the lesser trochanter.

NOTE: the psoas and iliacus are often referred to as the iliopsoas muscle(s) since they act in unison and are wrapped in the same iliac fascia.

What happens if they are tight? From a standing position, take a big step forward into a lunge and hold here. Those same muscles on your back leg, need to relax and extend to make hip extension possible. Your ability, or lack thereof, to lunge, will be determined by the mobility of those same five muscles. In a deep lunge, it’s easy to see and feel the limitations those flexor muscles to extend, but less obvious is how those tight muscles might affect your standing posture, walking, and running gates.

Tight Hips Problems
*Exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt
*Side swing gate
*Pain in back, hips, knees

Why are my hip flexors so tight? Since we spend most of our day sitting, in a shorted hip flexor position, your muscles naturally shorten and tighten over time. In a world without furniture and cars, we would get up and down from the ground hundreds of times daily, constantly extending our hips and stretching those muscles. In developed societies, you might go days or even weeks without any significant hip extension movements at all.

To stretch your hip flexors, you need to extend your hip, relax completely, and hold for 2-5 minutes. If you’re familiar with Science of Stretching approach to flexibility, you’ll know the Three Principles of Practice: (1) Wet Noodle, muscles stretch best when relaxed, (2) Breathe to Relax, inhale through your nose for four counts and out through your mouth with a “ha” sound for an eight count, (3) Time Under Passive Tension, spend 2-5 minutes in each pose when training mobility.

POSES
Standing Hip Flexor Stretch
Blaster Pose
Splits

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[YOGABODY.Official]

Let me know which of these poses help you or if you have any questions. I monitor these comments myself. Be sure to hit subscribe to get next week's video. - Lucas

Thanks mate 2 years of Physio couldn’t fix but you did…. Grateful to you

[Bas_Lightyear]

Seeing how the psoas muscle connects to all those lower vertebrae really highlights why the lower back can get so tight and compressed, and result in hyperlordosis when the muscle is shortened and pulls everything in!

The immediate relief in the lower back after doing these stretches is incredible. Thank you so much for this video!

[ez]

Thank you so much! The front of my hip been bothering me for a week, I just try table stretch and already feel so much better. Going to try full routine in a bit ❤

[peachescastillo]

Amazing how being tight in this area can cause so much pain. Im definitely going to do these stretches. Thank you!

[lorane]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Ive been doing hip stretchers for only 4 days and I feel so much relief. New subscriber for sure

[BelalC]

I think the key message here is to use those 3 principles to get the most out of any stretches. Thank you!!

[tamaramcphail]

I'm amazed at how long 3 minutes feels in these poses!

[farahdibastephanus]

From the moment I stumbled onto your YouTube channel I have been enjoying your approach of simplifying yogic practices. Thank you so much for sharing this with us! Blessings to you.

[hellothereboyo]

I started doing incline walking and was always getting left side hip flexor pain 20 minutes into the workout, just tried the knee on floor dynamic stretch once for each side before walking and the pain is gone, thank you! you are a life saver

[chelsiearthome]

Thank you so much! I have had a sore psoas since postpartum almost a year ago. making my back, hips and pelvic bone feel so off.. that's why I recently got your yoga trapeze! I am so in love! I love your channel to! thanks so much for all you do!

[emilymiller]

These videos are great!!! Thank you!!! I've been trying to diagnose a tight left psoas muscle for years. This video made it crystal clear to me what was going on AND gave me great stretches to address it. (I've watched a lot of YouTube videos trying to figure this out. Yours are fantastic.) I particularly like the "blaster pose" and the "standing psoas lunge" from your "three weird stretches" video. Thanks again. You're doing a great service here.

[susanatkinson]

so calm and well explained. and a refreshing change for bombastic, music filled, too quick videos. thank you

[ns]

My hips are sore and when do lunges I tip over to the front my posture tilts my knees start to hurt. I do cycling and a bit of weight training, I also do yoga yin type holding the posture for a time. This does help but I just learned that I can also use other support props like the chair so I will do this at home. Bless you for sharing!

[Skillmatic]

Holding the pose for longer than three minutes is a complete changer. So many videos recommend this and that stretch but nothing has been as effective as the timed “wet noodle”. thank you!

[angus]

Thank you for this man. I’ve been living in paint for ever and this looks like an alternative to the normal lunging that doesn’t seem to be belong much.

[MicheleAccettulli]

Wow!!! Thank you for this video. I’m LITERALLY living in ‘answered prayer’. I took the question of ‘what is going on with my hip’ and here you are! A friend sent a different video of yours to me, but it skipped over to this one. Have a wonder-full day!! I am now!! ✨💖✨🙏🏻✨💖✨

[vrudy]

I did these stretches, and in just my third session I felt an improvement. I think the 2 minute minimum stretch is key. Thanks!

[AA-pgve]

Thank you man I’ve got my hips a little bit relax after days telling a lot of pain

[ras]

This video has been a savior for me. Very active - walking, cycling, basketball and tennis. All of these are leg and back sports. Recently I've taken muscle relaxer and it has helped me to stretch. # The pose I like most is placing my leg on the table.