I actually can’t believe that I haven’t posted anything about stretching pelvic muscles, specifically the gluteus maximus, minimus, medius and external rotator muscles of the hip. I show this stretch to my clients all of the time and find it extremely useful when I have muscle tightness in my pelvic muscles and low back. Often these muscles get ignored and people spend time stretching their low back muscles, aka errector spinae, with little relief from muscle tension and pain.
1. Sit tall with both ankles and knees at 90 degrees. Do NOT slouch!
2. Cross one leg over the other. Make sure your ankle is supported. Apply slight pressure to your knee (right hand) until you feel a stretch in your gluteal muscles.
Left side view. Hold the stretch for at least 15 seconds. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Relax.
3. Try bending your torso away from the gluteal muscles you are stretching. This will stretch different muscle fibres (gluteus medius, minimus).
4. Try leaning to the same side. This will stretch your gluteal and external rotator muscles differently. Remember to stay tall and avoid slouching.
Remember that you need to stretch both sides. Repeat with the left leg.
One last thing, this stretch is great to use with my lazy hip flexor/quadriceps stretch. Using these regularly have allowed me to achieve better muscle length between my hip flexors/quadriceps and hip extensor muscles and avoid nagging back pain and keeps me playing Slo-pitch, snowboarding, mountain biking and working out!
Recent Comments