4 days ago
Unlock your hips — 3 hip mobility tests you can do from home
Tight hips can lead to pain and discomfort in your lower back, hips, knees, or feet — an extremely common issue that can be caused by prolonged sitting, muscle imbalances, or repetitive movements like running or cycling.
Besides pain and discomfort, tight hips can affect your posture and reduce your mobility. Shortened hip flexors, caused by prolonged sitting, might make it uncomfortable to stand up from a chair or extend your leg backwards when running or walking.
Over time, tight hips can put you at an increased risk of injury, as other joints like the knees and lower back will compensate. You might also find that your glutes become weaker if your hip flexors are tight and working too hard.
If you're worried about your hips, it's always best to seek advice from a qualified professional, but the good news is, with the right exercises, you can work on your hip mobility and loosen tight hip flexors from home. Here are three tests you can do from home to assess your hip mobility:
Named after the British orthopedic surgeon Hugh Owen Thomas, this simple test assesses your hip flexor and quad tightness. The test looks at the iliopsoas — the group of muscles that connect the spine to your legs, or the primary hip flexor muscle.
Here's how to do the Thomas test:
You can read what happened when this fitness writer recently added the 90/90 hip stretch to his routine for a week, but as well as being a great stretch for tight hip flexors, it can help test your hip rotation.
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How do the 90/90 hip stretch:
Finally, this test looks at the internal rotation mobility of your hips, or the hip's ability to rotate inwards. Poor internal rotation can be a cause of knee pain.
Here's how to do this test:
If you do have tight hips, why not try these 5 mobility moves to help, or this 15-minute hip-opening yoga flow.
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