Be Careful Stretching Your Hip Flexors

The anterior region of the hip or the primary hip flexors are often seen as “tight,” consequently, we tend to program stretches, mobility exercises, and single leg strength exercises to apply a dynamic stretch to the back leg.  However, there are a few considerations I have to address first before believing someone’s hip flexors are tight.
The primary hip flexors are the psoas, iliacus, tensor fascia latae (TFL), and rectus femoris.  We also have adductors (groins) that help flex and extend the hip.  Most competitive athletes tend to have an anterior tilted pelvis (pelvis rolled forward) because the demands of the sport (sprinting, cutting).  The hip flexors have a significant degree of leverage to generate the forward motion.  Also, besides the 7-8 hours of sitting in school, most people in general spend too much time sitting which reinforces this position.  Another important consideration: when the pelvis is tipped forward, it creates a force couple (stiffness) of the lumbar extensors and hip flexors that we typically see in Janda’s Lower Crossed Syndrome.

So what can do to address the hip flexors to make sure we aren’t causing issues?

1) Assess:  We use PRI’s adduction drop test and extension drop test to see if the pelvis is in alignment and if not, have we actually blown through some ligaments in the anterior hip (hopefully not!)?

Adduction Drop Test : is the pelvis neutral?

Finding: Typically the left side will not adduct.  In the video you can see how tough it is for David to simply get my leg back into extension and in no way does it adduct (come down to table).  This would be a “positive” test.

Extension Drop Test: testing the integrity of the anterior hip

Finding: If someone is positive on the Left and negative on the Right, then we expect the left side to be unable extend down to table. If it does, than that means we have blown through some ligaments.

Confused?  Just think if someone can’t adduct and extend their hips (adduction drop) but their leg fully extends in the extension drop test (leg to table), they have probably blown through some ligaments in the front side of that hip!
I  have seen quite a bit of high-schoolers who cannot adduct their hip but can easily drop to the table, namely females.  When we see this, we have to take careful consideration of how they perform single leg work by preventing excess extension of the back hip and try to improve their hamstring, glutes, and adductor strength/control.

An easy place to start would be to make sure to prevent over extension on single leg exercises and during stretches.  Here are some examples of bad and good ways of stretching or single leg work.

Not the best

Better (More neutral)

These are a few simple suggestions on where to start and maybe how to prevent more anterior hip laxity after assessment.

Cheers,

Matt

Assessment Using Single Leg Deadlift Pattern

For many of the coaches out there, we see many comepensations during various movements that we prescribe athletes and one of our jobs is to correct these as best as possible.  To correct comepensations may mean prescribing “homework” for the athlete to do at home, simple cueing, or creating a program around the issue that will help the issue go away (make the program based off assessment).  It could also mean simply practicing the movement correctly (sets and reps can be viewed as practice).  Remember, bad habits or patterns occur over time and sometimes it takes practice to get the patterns right, similar to improving one’s skill on the field or court.  One of the coaching lessons I am slowly trying to engrain is to see how athletes move with everything, whether it be the warm-up, the actual training program,  or what postures they tend to fall in when they rest.  Of the possible compensations, one that stands out (also a good assessment) is the overuse or excessive contribution of the lumbar erectors during hip dominant or single leg lifts. 

Overuse of the lumbar erectors (low back) is one way to get a cranky back.  We know that the sequencing of power production in athletes is generated from the hips first–>trasmitted through a stable core–>and if required, finished through the upper torso or shoulders (overhead athletes: baseball, lacrosse).  Soccer players: need powerful, stable hips.  The below videos demonstrate what I mean from excessive use of the lumbar erectors while trying to move through the hips.

Incorrectpower

Better

The first video really isn’t that bad, but hopefully it gets the point across of something you may have seen.  The second video keeps the spine more neutral and I can hinge back into my hips a bit better.  Static posture (anterior pelvic tilt) is also a good indicator if someone overuses their lumbar erectors.  Being stuck into this posit will put constant tension (contraction) on the lumbar spine and weaken the glutes.  Sometimes, we can even notice that during single leg lifts or hip dominant athletes may tend to pull with the upper back to finish the movement instead of with their hips.  Noticing the bodyweight inverted reach pattern (videos above) can be a great assessment tool so that as coaches we know how to program accordingly and help prevent feeding into the problem.

Cheers,
Matt

Producing Power without the Hang Clean

As a quick aside from my last post, I wanted to provide alternative power exercies from the hang clean before I get into preventative groin strategies for soccer players (by the way, this will significantly help soccer players!).

I cannot think of many team sports where power isn’t a desireable quality.  Baseball, hockey, soccer, football, lacrosse, tennis, and any other that I am leaving out, needs to be explosive at some point in the game.  Some, such as baseball, need to be express “more” power in a shorter amount of time throughout pitches or swings, whereas in soccer it is dispersed throughout the entire 90 minutes. 

Hang Cleans are a staple lift in our programming and typically the first phase (even the second) can be geared towards technique and grooving such a complex lift (jump & catch portions). 

However, in many cases hang cleans may not be the best choice.  Sometimes athletes may not ”understand” the lift, not be ready to perform it, or have previous injuries (low back, shoulder) that makes this exercise selection not the optimal one.  Even their body type may make it very difficult to perform well.  Here are some other alternatives that work on acceleration and deceleration…

Drop Squats w Stick (we use for a lot of our younger athletes)

Box Jumps

Broad Jumps

1-Arm DB Hang Snatch

KB Swings

Vertimax Jumps (Stick landing, w/ Rebound, and Continuous): the Endeavor guys did a great top putting that together.

Not to mention, we can do single leg variations of jumps as well as hops and bounds (lateral or linear).  For soccer we like to start with box, broad, and vertical jump variations before hang cleaning.  Ultimately, we want to get to the hang clean but there is no shortage of power movements (I am probably leaving out a bunch).

Cheers,

Matt