Instantly Better Hip and Quadriceps Stretch
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Healthline
The purpose of the quadriceps stretch is to lengthen the front hip muscles. It is often done in ways that do not stretch the front muscles. The standing quadriceps is done by bending one knee to clasp the foot in your hand behind you (or rest it on a chair if you can't reach). If you increase the lower back arch and keep the leg bent forward at the front of the hip (top drawing at left), not much stretch occurs, and the purpose of the stretch is lost.
Instead of "doing" a stretch, get the purpose of the stretch. Try this:
- Look at the top drawing, then the second drawing at left.
- Stand and begin the stretch.
- Tuck your hip under to reduce the lower back arch, as if you are starting an "abdominal crunch."
- Don't curl your upper body forward; just tuck the lower body at the hip.
- When you tuck the hip correctly, you will immediately feel the stretch move to your thigh.
- Straighten your arm away from your body and push your knee downward and backward.
- Allow your lower back to arch again, and you will immediately notice the stretch will lesson or stop.
- Tuck your hip under again and you will feel the stretch return to the front of your thigh.
Many people start this stretch by lifting their leg forward at the hip, bending over forward to reach their foot, then pulling the foot behind them. The point of the stretch is to lengthen the front of your hip, not bend it. Instead of bending forward to reach your foot, stand straight, lift your foot behind you, and reach back. If you are too tight to reach your foot, place it on a chair or bench behind you. Work up from there. If your balance is too poor to do this stretch, stand near something for safety, but do not hold on. You will quickly improve balance by simply practicing it. You will not improve balance by holding on.
Remember - don't "do a stretch" - do the purpose of the stretch. Use this stretch with your upper body upright and straight. Keep your hip tucked under, your shoulders down, and get a nice stretch and balance exercise in one.
Related Fitness Fixer:
- What Does Stretching Do?
- Hamstring to Quadriceps Ratios Not the Answer in Knee Injury
- Common Exercises Teach Hip Tightness When Kicking, Stretching, and on the Stairs
- Fast Fitness - Straighten and Stretch Hip While Strengthening Core, Arms, Legs, and Balance
- Fast Fitness - Don't Shorten Hip When Stretching Hamstring
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I make posts from fun mail and success stories. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Click labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and the Fitness Fixer Index.
Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail" (under trumpet) upper right.
See Dr. Bookspan's Books, take a Class, get certified DrBookspan.com/Academy.
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Drawings of Backman!™ © copyright Dr. Jolie Bookspan
More on this stretch and others in the book Stretching Smarter Stretching Healthier
More on this stretch and others in the book Stretching Smarter Stretching Healthier
Labels: abdominal muscles, balance, hip stretch, leg stretch, lower back, neutral spine, stretch
6 Comments:
At Sunday, December 24, 2006 2:42:00 PM,
Janie, Wheeling OH said…
This change really works the stretch. I never felt this stretch much before. Thanks.
At Sunday, December 24, 2006 2:43:00 PM,
Rennie, Dalhart Texas said…
We have that poster in our fitness center. I always believed it without thinking about it Now after reading all your other posts I see it is wrong in several exercises - it shows rounding the back to touch toes and do all the listed exercises as the "right" way to fix some other trivial point. You really are waking fitness up in a good way.
At Saturday, August 02, 2008 6:52:00 PM,
Davide said…
When I move the hips to tuck them under the thigh move automatically with them so the knee end up at the same level of the other knee and not backward. If I move the knee and thigh backward the hips move backward as well and are not anymore tucked under. Any thought?
At Monday, September 01, 2008 12:42:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Why is it that everyone else on the internet tells you to pull your foot into your buttocks? Is that movement unimportant? Could it even be harmful?
At Thursday, August 20, 2009 1:58:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Try doing this exercise while laying flat on the floor. It will force you to keep your hips from bending forward.
At Friday, August 21, 2009 12:12:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Janie and Rennie, excellent work.
Davide, good that you noticed that you do not get the motion from the intended area - the thigh, but by bending the hip. Learn how to mobilize your hip (pelvis) standing on two feet first. Once you feel the motion needed, "graduate" to one foot. Use the many posts on neutral spine and hyperlordosis for descriptions, photos, and videos, for example . Friday Fast Fitness - Neutral Spine in 5 Seconds Remember you need this skill for one footed movement - walking and other ordinary life skills and to prevent a major form of back pain.
Anonymous#1, Keeping the foot further away is a more functional stretch - more the way you use your leg in real action like running. Why do other people say things? J
Anonymous#2, Sadly no, lying flat on the floor does not prevent many people from bending the hip - they keep the bad habit of bending the hip, and they hike the backside up in the air. They hyperextend their lower spine, keeping the same tight anterior hip. That bad habit is a common enough site in many gyms and fitness videos.
The point of this post is to understand the purpose of a stretch then understand what accomplishes it. Not to blindly follow arbitrary gestures or rules that claim to promote or "force" a posture. They don't.
If you want to lie face down for this stretch, notice if you are returning to the same habit of keeping the hip and thigh comfortably shorter by arching the lower spine. Instead, extend at the hip for a helpful smarter stretch.
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