Katie Leaver Pilates

 The short answer is yes!  In my first post I talked about the movement of hip flexion and listed the hip flexors.  We have already covered the iliopsoas the main flexor of the hip.  Today I am going to talk about the rectus femoris muscle which also assist with hip flexion.  The rectus femoris is the large muscles at the front of your upper thigh.  If you sit down with a tray on your lap, the tray would be resting on your rectus femoris. It is part of the quadriceps, four muscles on the front of the leg between the pelvis and the knee. Rectus femoris is the only quadricep that reaches over the hip joint as it originates on the front of the pelvis.   In class I often reference your ASIS ( A nterior S uperior I lliac S pine), you have two and they are the nobly bones you can feel through your skin at the front of your pelvis.  Well you also have two  AIIS ( A nterior I nferior I lliac S pine) this is another nobly part of the pelvic bone at the front of the body just below the ASIS an

At home there are a number of ways to release tight hip flexors.  Think about the main hip flexor the Iliopsoas for a moment. It originates in the lumbar spine attaching to the vertebra at the bottom of your back, it then attaches to the inside of the pelvis (illiac crest the bony bit you feel at your waist) and then passes through the pelvis and connects to a nobly bit of the leg bone your can't feel at the top of your inner thigh (the lesser trochanter of the femur).  Its helped by some other muscles, but to keep it simple we are going to only think about the Iliopsoas.  Now think about being sat down,  The front of your body is scrunched up.  Your legs are brought closer to your lumbar spine (the bottom of your back) and the Iliopsoas is contracted or squashed in size.  Now think about being sat for 3 hours.  Upon standing up you might feel tightness along the front of your legs/pelvis.  This tightness is from you hip flexors.  Humans are generally kinder to our bottom than to o

 For many years I attended group Pilates classes and was blissfully unaware of what my hip flexors were, what they do and why they are important.  However, I can guarantee that not a class went by without the great HIP FLEXOR being referenced by many different instructors.  If you don't know or are not sure, keep reading and I will explain.  Hip flexion is the movement the thigh makes when you raise it towards the body, just like my sporty friend is doing in the picture above. (She is also flexing at the knee joint).  You use hip flexion every day as you walk around, every time you lift your thigh towards you to take a step.  If you have spent a significant portion of your day sat down, you might feel tightness in the front of your pelvis or top of your thigh.  This could be your hip flexors where they have been stuck in flexion as you have been seated.  The main muscles responsible for this movement are Iliopsoas, (iliacas and psoas major together) and the rectus femoris, with som