You even have hip adductor muscle tissues (which embody your pectineus, adductor longus, and adductor brevis) on the within of your thigh, and hip abductor muscle tissues (your aspect butt muscle tissues, just like the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, in addition to your tensor fasciae latae) on the surface. If you transfer your legs out to the aspect—say, should you’re doing a lateral lunge—your hip abductors are firing; while you carry them in, like while you hop your ft again to middle in a leaping jack, your hip adductors are working. You may as well take into account your gluteus maximus (the biggest muscle in your butt) a part of this space too; it performs a job while you do just about any transfer that requires hip extension, like a glute bridge or deadlift.
Whereas your butt muscle tissues have totally different capabilities than your hip flexors, additionally they are inclined to work in tandem with them. That’s why a few of the finest stretches for hips goal these surrounding muscle tissues as nicely.
What’s the issue with tight hips?
Tight hips don’t simply create issues in your hips; they’ll influence functioning (and result in aches and pains) in a bunch of different physique components, too. That’s why addressing hip tightness is so essential and impactful.
Particularly, tight hip flexors make it tougher to your pelvis to rotate correctly throughout train and on a regular basis actions, which might trigger your decrease again to overcompensate, Teo Mendez, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at NY Orthopedics who focuses on sports-related accidents, musculoskeletal accidents, and arthritis, tells SELF. “This could be a setup for lower-back damage,” Dr. Mendez says. In truth, Dr. Herzberg notes that tight hips are sometimes the explanation individuals really feel like they’ve strained or “thrown out” their again when squatting.
An excessive amount of tightness in your hips may make it tougher to your glutes to activate. Here is why: They’re opposing muscle teams, so when one is absolutely tight, the opposite turns into lengthened—which reduces its capability to contract. “Robust, highly effective glutes create the anchor to your total pelvis,” California-based coach Holly Perkins, CSCS, tells SELF. So after they’re lengthened and compromised, it could throw off your physique alignment and kind, making your exercises much less environment friendly and even doubtlessly growing your danger of damage, Perkins says. (For instance, you might turn out to be extra quad-dominant, which might weaken your hamstrings and even have an effect on your knees, she explains.)