Stretches for your hips

Physical therapy

﻿Hello, how's your day going? I hope you're having a good day. So welcome to the lesson today. We are on unit four and this is lesson 11. So we're continuing on the topic of stretching. And what we'll be doing in today's lesson is taking a closer look at a stretch for your hip flexors. So these are the muscles on the front of your legs. So sometimes these muscles can get a bit tight when we've done a lot of sitting activities, and it can just be a nice release if you've been sat in a seated position, perhaps during the day. So you don't need any equipment for this, you would just need yourself and you may need some help from a parent or carer. So if you'd like to ask them now and get yourself ready, and then we can make a start with today's lesson, I would just like to give you a little message from our team. We, as therapists have tried to think of the best way to continue to support children, young people and their families. So you may be watching this as a child by yourself, or you might be with a parent or carer. We will be exploring topic areas that we readily provide advice and support on across all ages and abilities. And each lesson we will aim to give you some ideas and activities that can be carried out either at home or in school. You may already have specific programmes that you're using or advice that has been given to you by your child's school or therapist. So please make sure that you're using any information I'm giving you alongside anything you already have. And if you do have any questions or would like help taping this to their needs, then please make sure you get in contact with your local therapy service. I would like us to do a recap of why extracting important. So let's think about stretching. Stretching is quite an instinctive action. Think about when you wake up this morning, did you have a full body stretch, maybe when you were still lying in bed or when you were sat on the edge of the bed before you got up for the day. And also have you yawned recently, maybe in the last hour where you've yawned and at the same time as you're learning, have you stretched at the same time? So that just shows you that stretching is quite automatic and it can just happen every day without us really realising it. And when we're spending time in static postures, this can lead to tight muscles and stiffness. So stretching can help release some of this tension and really regular stretching can just become part of your daily routine. If you build it into small parts of your day, you won't really realise you're doing it. So you don't need to spend a lot of time taking it into your day, you just need to be able to build it in slowly. And remember to think about your breathing when you're stretching, as this can really help calm your mind. So I will show you some ideas of how to use your breath in the structures, and it can almost help you take the stretch a little bit further, but also it can really help settle you and ground you into this stretch. So just remember to use your breath and don't hold it. Let's go through some points to remember for good stretching. So some important things to about. So please follow any advice from your physiotherapist. So if you do have a physiotherapist that has given you a programme or you've had any advice to them recently, then please make sure you're following that first. The stretches and advice I'm giving you is quite generic, and it's not specific to you, but if you do find the structures work for you and you'd like to give them a try, then you can, but remember if you have anything that you were meant to be following first, please do that. Okay. So let's think about the best position to be in. This is the best position so that you're comfortable for the stretch and say that you can relax into the stretch. You don't want to be tense before you even started stretching. So you need really need to relax first, and you need to think about the best position to be in, to support that joint or that area that you're stretching. And you need to think about your relaxed breathing. So we've spoken about that one and the last two here don't over force the stretch, take it slowly, avoid pain. You should only feel the stretch. So here, it's just pointing out that the stretches shouldn't be painful and you should be just taking them nice and gradually and nice and slowly, and don't force them. If you get to a point where you feel it's too much, you can just back off and then go back on again. I remember as a guide, I would start off by holding a stretch for between 20 to 30 seconds and see how you manage, and if it feels comfortable, you can hold it for longer. So again, it's individual to you and everybody will be different as to how long they can hold a stretch for. So the activity I'd like you to try is a kneeling hip flexor stretch. So it's for the muscles on the front of your flex, which can get quite tight if you've done that lot to say, so your starting position is in half kneeling, and you're going to put your left knee on the floor so you can support yourself to safety for balance. And I use a stool in a demonstration, or you can just be unsupported, it's up to you. So you're going to tighten your bottom and lean forward, and you'll feel a stretch down your left thigh. So the leg, the knee that's on the ground, you'll feel a stretch in that leg. You're going to hold the stretch. And I would try for between 20 to 30 seconds to begin with, and then you can swap sides. And perhaps as a starter, try five times on each side. So as you can see, I'm using the stool to help steady myself, but you can do it without, or you could do it against the sofa. And I just pointed that to my left leg, where I'm getting stretched on the front of my left thigh and you can then come back off and then you can go back into the stretch. So you've got your right foot planted on the floor. You can bring your hand away if you'd like to deepen the stretch a little bit more and you can just hold that stretch and then come back out and then you can go back in if it feels comfortable. And you'll see that I'm getting quite a good stretch down the front of my left thigh. And then I come back out and then I will show you on the other side. So I've just moved the store over to support me. So now I've got my left leg forward and I bend into that foot, but I'm still keeping my knee above my foot. And then I get stretched on my right thigh. So you'll see there, I'm getting a good stretch and my hip flexors, which can be quite tight if you've done a lot of sitting. So again, you can hold that same stretch for between 20 to 30 seconds at the start. And if you enjoy the stretch and you want more, you can hold it for a little bit longer and then you can come back after that stretch. So this is now an option to take the stretch a little bit further. And it's a standing launch stretch for your hip flexor. So, here I'm stepping my right leg forward. And my left leg back and my left leg is getting a stretch on the front of my thigh. And then I can come back to the middle and then I've swapped my legs over. And I have got my left leg bent and my right knee is getting stretched on the front of my thigh. And you may need to hold on, I think I'm holding on that to the cupboards, just to steady myself so that I can get into the structure a little bit more. So for a way to simplify the stretch, you can do a position on your back where you're lying, and then you take one of your legs in towards your chest. So I'm hugging my knee with my hands and I am pushing my heel into the floor. So I'm really giving a stretch down the straight leg. So you can see that my left leg wants to pop up slightly. So if I push my heel down and I'm straightening that leg, then that can give a nice stretch. So now I'd like you to pause the video and have a go at that stretch. If you rejoin me afterwards, I'll talk you through some of the ways to extend and simplify as I demonstrated in the video. So as you saw me demonstrating, I showed you some ways to extend and simplify, Oh, I just talk them through a little further now. And then you could pause on this page and then you've got them written down. So the option to extend was a standing launch. That's a similar stretch, but you're up on your feet. So starting left side, standing lunge, and you can support yourself at the wall for this balance. I use the cupboards on my side because I felt a little bit wobbly. So you're going to tighten your bottoms. You squeeze those muscles in your bottom, and then you drop your left knee towards the ground and lean forward. So just like you're doing a launch and you'll feel quite a big stretch down your left thigh. So hold the stretch for perhaps 20 to 30 seconds to start with, and then repeat on the other side. And you can always try to do that one about five times as a starter in a way to make it easier, is as I demonstrated, you can lie on your back and you bring one knee to your chest and you pushing your heel away on your straight leg, because what you want to do is stretch the top of your thigh and your straight edge. And if your leg lifts off the floor a little bit, this is where you might need a parent or carer to just gently hold that fight down so that you're getting a stretch down that leg. And they just need to do this supporting above your knee joint and just making sure they're being nice and gentle when they do it. And with the leg that you're holding, you're going to hug that knee into your chest. And I would say, stay there for between 30 seconds to a minute. And then you can repeat on the other side. So see how you get on with those. If you'd like to pause the video and have a go, now you can, and then rejoin me afterwards. I wonder how you got to them at those stretches. I hope you found one that worked for you. So we have no we're at the end of our lesson. So I'd like to thank you for joining me today. Please join me next time for less than 12, where will you be continuing with stretching and that lesson, we will look at some strategies for your hamstrings. So sometimes these muscles on the back of our legs can get quite tight. So I will show you some options of how to do some structures for those muscles. So to have a great rest of your day, take care, and I'll see you soon. Goodbye.

Stretches for your hips

Stretches for your hips

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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