Hip and Back Pain

Have you been stretching your hamstrings like there is no tomorrow in order to get rid of some of that nagging back and are not seeing any changes???? A common misconception many individuals make is that our hamstrings are tight causing back pain, which in fact might not be the case.   So let s talk about the Iliopsoas muscles, which is the main hip flexor in our body. This muscle originates from the lumbar spine and attaches at the femur. In many cases we can develop overactive muscles depending on which activities we perform, one of them being the hip flexors, which can cause our pelvis to rotate forward. This in turn causes the hamstring to be in a lengthened position and our lumbar spine to be in extension. So how can we stretch a muscle that is already lengthened? The answer is we cannot! We must place the pelvis in a neutral position and the way we do this is by stretching out the Iliopsoas.

Signs and symptoms may include:

• Pain in the front of the hip with squatting activities
• Low back pain in standing
• Low back pain when squatting
• Decreased hamstring flexibility

What to do about it?