Hack the Iliacus

"Iliacus muscle01" by Anatomography - en:Anatomography (setting page of this image). Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.1 jp via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iliacus_muscle01.png#/media/File:Iliacus_muscle01.png

By now, you may have gathered that so very many of our daily habits have us in hip flexion, where the thigh is coming forward in front of the pelvis. Habits like positive-heeled shoes and sitting while we do EVERYTHING are central to this flexed position. But even a lot of the exercise paradigms we choose, like running, using a treadmill, biking...these all have us bringing that leg forward using our "hip flexors."

The iliacus is one of these hip flexing muscles, connecting the femur and the pelvis and enabling this flexing movement. And in most of us, our iliacus muscles tend to be tight, short, unyielding.

Even when we stand up, many of us are still in some amount of hip flexion (I am one such person), so it becomes imperative that we not only change the habits that reinforce this position, but we also exercise our way out of hip flexion.

In Restorative Exercise(tm), we teach a great iliacus release, to help open up the front of the hips and enable us to get OUT of hip flexion and move toward being truly upright. In the following video, I show the many ways I modify this exercise, depending on what I or my clients need.