Its that time of year again.
Patients are locking to gyms to lose weight and get their beach bodies ready.
With that, people are doing tons and tons of leg raises to tighten their abs.
The problem is, when you do leg raises in a ballistic fashion,
and don’t go through the full range of motion,
you cause your hip flexors to tighten and shorten,
I am talking the psoas/ iliopsoas group.
Add to this, most patient work at sedentary jobs,
which means they sit 6-9 hours a day.
This causes the psoas to shorten even more,
causing a tugging on the lumbar discs every time you try to stand from a seated position,
or just try to use your hip flexors at all.
Of course, coming in to the office and getting checked out is a good first step.
Even more important is taking the time at home and work,
to stretch, strengthen, and perform myofascial release.
So, next time you’re sitting in your office,
or just at the gym performing leg raises,
or even taking a kickboxing class,
take the time to think about what you are doing to your body,
and take the time to help prevent the next episode.
Foam roll to help relieve adhesions in the muscle.
Take the time to stretch, using standard static stretching or even a yoga pose.