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Low Back Part 2: Relieving Pain Due to Tight Hip Flexors

 

On to Part 2!  I notice the majority of people’s back pain is due to excessive extension-or lordosis-which leads to facet joint compression and eventual inflammation.  Your facets are the joints that connect one vertebrae to the next.  The more extended your spine is, the more those facet joints get crunched.  To unload or take the weight off those joints, you want to reduce your lordosis to ‘open’ those facet joints and relieve the pressure.  As I discussed in the test video, a tight hip flexor muscle is a common culprit for this condition.  When your hip flexor is tight, it not only leads to increased compression in your back, it also leads to anterior hip impingement as well as reduced glute and core strength.  The bottom line is that you need to have this very important muscle appropriately flexible!  Here are two great stretches:

and this one will address your quad tightness too.