Tag Archives: hip stretches

Move better, feel better: the power of myofascial release

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Our bodies are built to handle incredible forces thanks to bones, muscles, tendons and fascia working in harmony. But when pain or recurring injuries strike, we often overlook one key player: fascia. This dense, connective tissue weaves throughout the body like an intricate network, influencing how we move and feel.

Ever peeled the skin off a chicken before cooking it? That slippery, white film you see is fascia—it’s the same tissue that wraps around your muscles, organs and bones. In fact, the fascia that lines your bones is what gives structure and support to the entire body.

Justin Price, a leading corrective exercise specialist, compares fascia to a spider’s web: When a fly gets caught in one part of the web, the spider senses the change in tension throughout the entire structure. Similarly, when something’s off in your body, the entire system feels it. A tight calf, for example, might affect not only your ankle but your knee’s alignment and even the way you walk.

When fascia becomes restricted due to injury, repetitive stress or tension, it forms adhesions. These adhesions can limit range of motion and cause compensations in other muscles and joints, explains Price. Learning effective self-myofascial release techniques can help you target these adhesions, rejuvenating the soft tissue and restoring your body’s natural movement patterns.

So how do you keep your fascia healthy and flexible? Self-myofascial release. These simple techniques help relieve tension, break up adhesions and restore mobility—no fancy gear required. A few basic tools, like tennis balls, a baseball, a golf ball or a foam roller can work wonders to release tension in restricted areas. Combined with specific stretches right after rolling, you’ll effectively target tight spots.

Tennis or golf ball foot roll

Tennis or golf ball foot roll

Target: Plantar fascia and lower leg

Tools: Tennis ball, golf ball or any small ball

How to:

  • Place the ball under your foot.
  • Roll back and forth to find tender spots.
  • Pause and apply pressure on sore areas.
  • Roll for 30 seconds to 1 minute per foot.

Pro tip: Keep a ball near your desk or couch as a reminder to roll daily.

Foot and toe wall stretch

Target: Foot and ankle flexibility

Foot and toe wall stretch

How to:

  • Keep the ball of your foot and base of your toes on the floor.
  • Press your toes and knee gently against a wall.
  • Slowly roll your foot and ankle inward toward the wall.
  • Hold for 15-20 seconds.
  • Repeat twice daily.

Target: Psoas and hip flexors

nis ball hip flexor release
Tennis ball hip flexor release

Target: Psoas and hip flexors

How to:

  • Lie face-down.
  • Place the tennis ball just to the side of your belly button.

Gently roll to find tender spots between your belly button and hip.

  • Pause on sore spots for 20-30 seconds.
  • Total time: 2-3 minutes per side

Pro tip: Internally rotate your leg to deepen the stretch.

Follow with a hip flexor stretch

Target: Hip flexors

Kneeling hip flexor stretch

How to:

  • Kneel down, with one foot forward. Pad your knee if needed.
  • Keep your hips tucked in and under.
  • Tighten the glutes and abs isometrically during the stretch.
  • Gently change arm angles to further target hip flexors.
  • Hold for 15-20 seconds, 2-3 cycles.

Taking just a few minutes a day to release and stretch tight fascia can dramatically improve your mobility, reduce pain and even boost performance. Small, consistent actions lead to big changes—so grab a tennis ball and start rolling your way to better movement. 

Published in the Idaho Mountain Express September 26, 2025 https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-move-better-feel-better/article_0b114c31-3afd-47c9-bacc-1f9ec9ec9b6f.html

Do it right: How to stretch the external rotators of the hip

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Hips move, as they are mobile joints just as your neck, shoulders and ankles are. All muscle helps us move and maintain our posture, especially the hip complex.

For many of us, we don’t stretch them enough and end up with tight hips, specifically the external rotators. If you do stretch regularly, you know that Pigeon Pose is an excellent hip and buttock stretch that can help you restore movement to these areas. But it can hurt sensitive knees, or be impeded by a current injury, as it requires the shinbone to be at a 45 degree angle beneath the front hipbone.

Hips need both good mobility and strength in every activity from walking to skiing. The main job of the external rotators of the hips is to stabilize the pelvis during the swing phase of walking. For example, when you step out on your right foot, as you transfer the weight into that foot, there is a moment in which you are standing on one leg.

As your foot and leg absorb your body weight, the hip internally rotates as you step. At the same time, the external rotators of the right hip tighten to keep the pelvis level to the ground as you swing your left foot through to step on it. This action slows down the knee as it moves toward the midline of the body, so your knees don’t collapse inward.

Good hip mobility and strength allow you to have better biomechanics from the hip down to the foot. Tight or weak hips affect not only a normal gait, but every activity that you enjoy doing.

A woman is stretching on the floor with another person.

Pigeon Pose

When your hips are too tight, you may feel crooked, sore, or admit to yourself that you really need to do some yoga. When your hips aren’t tight—particularly the posterior muscles of the rear—walking, getting out of the car, climbing stairs, or skiing can feel effortless.

Here are two variations to Pigeon Pose that you might like to add to your daily stretching routine.

A woman is stretching on the floor with another person.

1. Figure 4 stretch using the wall

Figure 4 is an excellent stretch for the external and internal hip rotators, including the piriformis and glutes.

Tip: The piriformis is one of the six external rotators of the hip. (The sciatic nerve runs over, under or through the piriformis muscle and can be responsible for sciatica pain.)

Lie on the floor, place your left foot on a wall, and place your right ankle over your left knee.

Let the right side of your pelvis drop away from your right shoulder until your pelvis becomes level.

Hold the stretch to release your hip rotators.

Stretch each side for 20-30 seconds, at least once a day.

A woman is stretching on the floor with another person.

2. Figure 4 stretch using a physio ball

  • all photos by Connie Aronson

Instructions are the same as the above stretch, ( stretch 1 ) except that you place one foot on a physio ball.

Using a physio ball allows you to create a deeper stretch by gently rolling the ball toward you with the foot that is placed on the ball.

As seen in The Idaho Mountain Express March 24, 2024

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/do-it-right-how-to-stretch-the-external-rotators-of-the-hip/article_96d925c4-dc97-11ee-9afc-cb569b10a505.html

3 Top Hip and Back Stretches- You don’t have to be sore after a workout

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These 3 moves will help you recover and realign after a big day on a bike, 1/2 marathon, or strenuous hike. All target the hips, to help extend the body upwards and undo much of the tightness of not only the hips, as well as the back, shoulders and calf muscles.

A woman is stretching on the floor with another person.

Foam rolling, or self-myofascial release can help with athletic recovery

1.Foam Roll Quads
 
Foam Rolling is a self-myofascial release stretching technique that regenerates and rejuvenates muscles and other soft tissue affected by an overzealous day on a bike, or on the trails.There are 4 quad muscles in the upper leg, and the outer most one, the rectus femoris, when tight, pulls the spine towards the top of the leg, causing hip or back pain, or  hyper-extention of the spine in an effort to stand up straight.Place the roller perpendicular to your thigh and lie over it. Find any sore spot and hold your body weight there for a few seconds until the tissue releases. Roll each leg for one minute. ( If rolling hurts your shoulder, lie on the floor with a tennis ball )
 
A woman is stretching on the floor with another person.
2. Step Back with Arm Reach
 
This integrated exercise helps realign the entire body by combining a calf and hip flexor stretch, while strengthening the muscles of the upper back and shoulders. Stand with you feet hip-width apart and take a big step back with your right leg. Simultaneously reach the right arm upward.Keep the back leg straight, heel down. Push your hip forward without arching the lower back. Instead, extend from the upper back. Hold for 2-3 seconds. 6-10 reps on both sides.
 
3. Spine Extension The majority of the muscles in the hips originate at the lumbar spine, cross the pelvis, and attach to the top of the femur. This exercise stretches the whole front body,, and spine extensors, undoing much of the forward bending of many activities, plus feels great. Place your hands, fingers pointed down, firmly on your lower back. Inhale, and extend the spine as you lift your chest. Exhale, as you return to neutral posture. Repeat 6-8 times. 
 

A woman is stretching on the floor with another person.

Stretch your low back with this standing stretch.

 
Photos by Hallie MacPherson
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