Tight Hips? Sit Too Much?

If you sit a lot or even run a lot over long periods of time, your hips can get tight and end up creating tingling, numbing or pain in your lower back, your bum or sometimes down your legs.

This happens because a small muscle near the top of the hip called the 'piraformis' tightens up and puts pressure on the 'sciatic nerve'.  

The sciatic nerve is a thick, long nerve that passes alongside or through the piriformis muscle

and down the back of the leg. It eventually branches off into smaller nerves that end in the feet. 

 The job of the piriformis is to stabilize the hip joint and lift and rotate the thigh outward, enabling you to walk, shift your weight and maintain your balance.  

An over-tight piriformis muscle can wreak havoc with your lower back and hips creating numbing and pain. When it runs down the leg it is called, 'sciatica'.

 Here is a very simple exercise to stretch the piraformis muscle and loosen those areas:

Lay on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Cross one ankle over your other knee. Reach around behind the lower leg and gently pull the thigh towards you. Keep your upper body and shoulders relaxed.

 Try to keep you tailbone on the ground for a deeper stretch.  If this is too much of a stretch, then don't lift the lower leg, just keep that foot on the ground to stretch your hip and bum.

Do this for about one minute and then switch sides. Even if the other hip doesn't hurt, do both sides to help balance the hips.  Do this daily.