Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo. Today I'm gonna show you some stretches and strengthening
exercises for a hip flexor strain. Let's get started. So the first stretch is gonna be
a combination between you hip flexors and your quad. You can use something sturdy to
hold on to and if you have enough balance just standing, bring your leg back and grab
onto your ankle. Make sure your body is in an upright vertical position because it you're
leaning forward, you're taking away from the stretch. So just make sure this top part is
actually going back and not going forward. So almost push back into your hand so your
foot goes out. So you're getting a stretch in your quad and your hip flexors. Holding
it there for 30 seconds, and repeat that 3 times. So the next stretch, you want to get
almost into a lunge position. The hip flexor that you want to stretch, that leg is gonna
be down on the ground. If you only have a hard surface, you might want to put something
under your knee so it doesn't get a lot of pressure on it. But usually carpet is ok.
Put your other leg out in front of you at about a 90 degree angle. Keep your whole body
in an upright position, and keep your upper body in a vertical position. So again if you
lean forward, then you're taking the stretch out of it. So just go forward, keeping your
body upright, and you'll feel the stretch right through there in that hip flexor. Hold
that there for 30 seconds and then come back and do that 3 times. Now if you want to get
a little bit on the inside, you can move your leg out a little bit and go at a 45 degree
angle the other way, and that will still kind of get the stretch of the hip flexor and a
little bit more inside in the groin area. Holding that for 30 seconds and doing it 3
times. So to start off with the strengthening, you can do a simple heel slide. Bringing your
heel all the way down, and then pulling it back up. Nice and controlled. Pull it as hard
as you can and going back down. Again just starting off with about 10 of these, working
your way up to 15 - 20 doing 2 - 3 sets. This might be really easy for some people, so if
this is easy, then you can put your leg all the way out, and lock out that knee pulling
your toes up, and do a straight leg raise. Just bring it up to about equal to the other
side and control it coming back down. So don't let gravity just drop it down, but control
it the whole time. Going up and down. Starting off with 10, working your way up from there.
If this becomes too easy, then you can do some standing exercises with resistive bands.
To strengthen your hip flexor muscle, you can use a resistive band. Make sure you tie
it on to something tight so it's not gonna snap off and hit you. Just put it around your
ankle, and step out to where it's tight so you can get some resistance. You want to keep
your leg as straight as you can. Lock out that knee, pull up your toes a little bit
to help lock out the knee, and just bring your leg forward. It doesn't have to be high,
you just have to get that work in there. Some people might need to hold on to something,
if you need to hold on to something, that's fine, but eventually you want to be able to
do this without holding on. Bailey's even so excited to see it. So those were some stretches
and strengthening exercises for a hip flexor strain. If you have any questions, leave them
in the comments section. If you'd like to check out some other videos, go to AskDoctorJo.com.
Don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and remember, be safe, have fun,
and I hope you feel better soon!