Hip Stretches
Flexopedia: Hips (General)
Jump To: Overview | Hamstring Stretches | Hip Flexor Stretches | Quad Stretches | Adductor Stretches | Glute Stretches | Hip Rotator Stretches
Our “hips” encompass a whole range of muscles that cross our hip joint, so when we think about “hip stretches” or “hip flexibility,” it’s helpful to break down stretches by the muscle groups responsible for supporting the different ranges of motion in our hip joint:
hip flexion - pulling your knee towards your chest, or hinging at the hips
the hamstrings and glutes are the main muscles needed to be stretched for this range of motion
hip extension - extending a leg behind you in space
the hip flexors are the main muscle group needing to be stretched for this range of motion (which include one of your quad muscles as well)
hip abduction - opening the hips out to the sides, like in a straddle or middle split
flexible adductors (inner thigh muscles) help with this range of motion
hip adduction - closing the legs towards (or across) your midline
This is rarely a limiting factor in flexibility, so I haven’t listed any stretches for this particular range of motion
hip external rotation - rotating our thigh towards the outside, away from our midline
Because the muscles involved in hip rotation vary depending on leg position, I’ve chosen to group them under the functional category of hip rotation (in general)
hip internal rotation - rotating our thigh towards our midline
(see above)
