Why do I have tight hip flexors?
Today I wanted to address something that is super-common within our dance styles, whether you practice Raqs Sharqi, Belly Dance Fusion or FCBD Style - “tight hip flexors”!
It’s important to note first of all that the body is an integrated system, so I’ve put “tight hip flexors” in inverted commas as the sensation you are feeling in the front of the pelvis may be an indicator of imbalances elsewhere in the body. However, this is such a common issue amongst us, I thought I would discuss!
3 major factors causing this could be:
Our dance posture - holding a bent or “soft” knee position for a long time in order to execute beautiful juicy hip work can result in the muscles getting stuck in this shortened position as they are not being used in their full range of motion
Lots of repetitive contractions - i.e. shimmies - can again force the muscles into this “shortened” position if we are not giving them the opportunity to lengthen fully
Our posture outside of dance - if we spend a day sitting at a desk this also contributes to the flexors getting “stuck” in a shortened, over-contracted position whilst the extensors (glutes and hamstrings) can get “stuck” long and become weak.
If you put all of these together, spending a day at work followed by a dance class with lots of shimmies and hip work, it’s no wonder things might not be feeling great around your hips and pelvis if you don’t do some work to release and strengthen!
Does this sound like you but you’re not sure what to do about it?
Don’t miss next week’s blog, I’ll be sharing some of my favourite tips! If you have any specific questions in the meantime drop them in the comments or send me an email and I’ll try to address them in next week’s post. (Or I will cover them in another post if you are reading this in the future!)