Tight Hips & Desk Jobs

[mydogs]

I work a desk job and have relatively tight hips. Due to an injury, I now have tight hip muscles, which makes stretching/relaxing my leg and pointing my toes forward in the saddle much more difficult than it used to be before the injury.

At the moment, it is easier to stretch/relax my leg and point my toes forward on horses with a smaller barrel than a horse with a larger barrel, but at the moment, I only have access to the larger horses to ride.

To help loosen my hips, I walk as much as possible at work, I try to stretch during lunch and/or after work, and try to stand at my desk since I know sitting doesn’t help.

Are there any other suggestions I can try to help loosen my hips during the day?

[kashmere]

Pigeon pose! It is THE BEST for hips, even if you’re not a regular yoga practitioner. I use it alllll the time at my desk job (my employees think I’m insane, but hey - they’re not wrong). Incredible for opening and strengthening hips. Also helps if you’re on a long car ride and your butt gets sore

This is a good explanation of how to do pigeon (it looks wacky, but it’s awesome)

http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/stretching/stretch-your-hips-with-kitchen-yoga

[Countrywood]

use a foam roller ( sports authority around $30), online videos on you tube show a few great stretches for hips, also yoga

[Dress]

yoga!

I do have a very flexible back, but tight psoas muscles. I found a yoga session for dressage riders on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZveGs7Udaw

[Grasshopper]

Can you replace your desk chair at work with an exercise ball? Make sure you get one that will put your hips higher than your knees when you have a 90’ angle behind your knee. I did this and my hips are much better (and therefore my back is too–my hip flexors tend to get so tight they pull my back out of whack).

PS–Pilates and yoga help tremendously, but if you’re sitting in a typical desk chair for 8 hours/day, improvement will take longer.

[Backstage]

Have you been to physio? I have tight hip flexors, and physio made a huge difference. Not just because of the sessions, but also because I have exercises that target the specific issues that I have. I know its expensive, but if you have coverage it is totally worthwhile.

I’m also changing to a standing desk shortly. Its adjustable so I don’t need to stand all the time, but I am hoping it makes a big difference.

[mydogs]

[QUOTE=Backstage;8349799]
Have you been to physio? I have tight hip flexors, and physio made a huge difference. Not just because of the sessions, but also because I have exercises that target the specific issues that I have. I know its expensive, but if you have coverage it is totally worthwhile.

I’m also changing to a standing desk shortly. Its adjustable so I don’t need to stand all the time, but I am hoping it makes a big difference.[/QUOTE]

I am actually going next week for both my ankles and am hoping to work on my hips as well. Thanks for confirming

[mydogs]

[QUOTE=Grasshopper;8349768]
Can you replace your desk chair at work with an exercise ball? Make sure you get one that will put your hips higher than your knees when you have a 90’ angle behind your knee. I did this and my hips are much better (and therefore my back is too–my hip flexors tend to get so tight they pull my back out of whack).

PS–Pilates and yoga help tremendously, but if you’re sitting in a typical desk chair for 8 hours/day, improvement will take longer.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! I will see if I can get one of those and hopefully no one will steal it from me

[Scandias]

I ride an XW horse and also work a desk job so I can totally relate.

Do you stretch in the saddle? At the beginning of each ride, I halt, take feet out of stirrup, grab one foot with my hand and pull it up/back as far as I can. Repeat on the other side.

Then, I lift both legs away from the saddle (like I’m trying to make room for an even wider horse) and then gently lay them back on the saddle. It really helps.

[atlatl]

Sports massage working on your hip flexors, IT band and glutes; until you cry…

[myhorsefaith]

In addition to the stretching, there is also the aspect of strengthening the weaker muscles. One day I stumbled upon a thread where a woman was talking about her tight/painful hips and a particular exercise that helped. basically, her problem was that yes there was tightness, but it was in part because her inner muscles were stronger than the outer ones - so part of her therapy was strengthening the outer muscles. This was one of the exercises her physio had her doing:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/hip-groin-exercises/clam

I, too, am a sufferer of tight hips, the left more so than the right. Out of experimentation I tried doing this exercise and realized how bloody difficult it was just to do even a few!! but I will say, it did/does help a ton!

In the saddle, I do the stretches listed above, in addition to spending some time pointing my toes down - which stretches all the inner leg muscles. I also have another saddle that has a bit of a wider twist - not painfully so, but just a touch wider than I like. If i am hacking about or just walking and know I will be riding for a short spurt, I will sometimes use that saddle as it seems to help a bit with the stretch, without causing blatant pain. I absolutely cannot do anything more than walk in it, though! Then, when i switch to my normal saddle with the better twist the next day, I feel much looser and better overall.

[outerbanks77]

This Ido Portal squat routine is great and you can do it anywhere. I made leaps in my hip mobility just by doing it daily for like a week - I should get back to it, but the improvements seem to really stick without any maintenance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbozu0DPcYI

Ditto on the strength work. My hips seem to be more flexible since I’ve been working on the strength of my posterior chain. Sitting has us constantly closing up front, so it makes sense to train the hamstrings/glutes/low back/psoas to straighten the body and hence keep the upper leg back more easily I like doing single-leg dead lifts with a kettlebell, really focusing on using the glutes to stabilize my body and stay balanced without putting a foot down in the “up” part of the exercise.

I’ll also stand on one leg and stretch the other one back while staying strong/upright through the core at random times during the day. This is something you can do at your desk, waiting for the microwave, etc.

I actually got my employer to buy me a Balimo Chair instead of a balance ball and really like it. The height is adjustable and it’s more a firm but tippy surface instead of a big squishy ball. They’re pricey, but still cheaper than the Aeron chairs everyone else has, so I was able justify the purchase (~$300).

Side lunges are also a good stretch.

[Willesdon]

Kashmere, thank you for the pigeon pose. I have just tried it out in the kitchen and Man! one stretch and I can still feel it. That will be great for stretching and strengthening my rubbish hip.

Back to the subject: beyond the balance ball, find a really GOOD chair and perhaps ask an expert for advice on which one to get. Cheap chairs are murder. Check out how you sit at the desk and make the necessary adjustments to your work space. That definitely helped me. http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/workplacehealth/pages/howtositcorrectly.aspx

[kashmere]

[QUOTE=Willesdon;8351015]
Kashmere, thank you for the pigeon pose. I have just tried it out in the kitchen and Man! one stretch and I can still feel it. That will be great for stretching and strengthening my rubbish hip.[/QUOTE]

I will proselytize about that thing all the livelong day! It’s MARVELOUS! Glad it helped you I recently drove for 14 hours just about back to back to go see (and buy!!) a new horse, and I was pigeon posing like a madwoman at every single gas station pee break. I got some pretty funny looks, but my bum and hips were not sore even a little bit.

[MMavin]

This has worked for me http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003SG5KF8/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1444414677&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&keywords=saddle+stool&dpPl=1&dpID=41LyQfXs8gL&ref=plSrch

The balance ball didn’t allow me to open my hips enough, and a Balimo chair was too firm all day. The lack of wheels was a problem, too.

[Knubbsy]

Definitely agree with the balance ball recommendation. I’m 5’0" and use a well inflated 55 cm ball. Now I’m in a federal office so I needed to have my safety officer approve it (she recommended I stretch out my back every few hours to start and then use a stand for stability. I do neither since I use one at home too.) I roll around on mine so I’m not just static, so hip circles and the ilk to keep mobile even when on calls.

(Lots of hip opening yoga too. Not just pigeon but warm up a lot too before stretching with yogi squat, runner’s lunge, etc.)

[Daisyesq]

For sure, yoga and stretching helps me a little. But thanks for posting this, it’s an important problem.

But in addition to yoga and stretching, I recently added this - http://www.varidesk.com/ Now I stand a couple of hours a day, returning emails and talking on the phone. I lower the desk around lunchtime, and sit to read/eat…