How to Do a Figure 4 Stretch

Tight hips generally is a actual ache within the behind, however the determine 4 stretch can enhance flexibility and mobility in your hips, glutes, and piriformis—a small muscle that may grow to be infected when your hips are tight.

This hip stretch could be useful any time you are feeling sore and tight. Ideally, the determine 4 stretch needs to be carried out after a dynamic warm-up or throughout a post-workout stretch, says Tom Biggart, a bodily therapist and energy coach within the larger Boston space.

Right here’s the right way to carry out the determine 4 stretch — and the right way to work it in your routine.

Tips on how to Do the Determine 4 Stretch

• Lie in your again along with your ft flat on the ground.
• Cross your proper ankle over your left knee and hold your proper foot flexed.
• Carry your left knee towards your chest. Attain your proper hand by your legs and interlace your fingers slightly below the crease of your left knee.
• Utilizing your arms, pull your left knee towards your chest, pausing if you really feel a stretch in your proper glute and hip.
• Maintain there for a minimum of 5 breaths (although you possibly can maintain the stretch for as much as two minutes) then launch and repeat in your left facet.

Wish to change the depth of the determine 4 stretch? One of many best methods is to vary the angle at which you bend the knee on the leg you’re stretching. “Extra knee bend will improve the stretch, and fewer knee bend will lower the stretch,” Biggart says. It’s also possible to interlace your fingers in entrance of your shin as a substitute of behind the knee for a deeper stretch.

How Does the Determine 4 Stretch Assist?

Positive, it feels good, however what’s the determine 4 stretch truly doing for you?

The determine 4 stretch may help hold your hips and glutes wholesome and cell. There are six totally different muscular tissues which are stretched when performing it, Biggart says — the piriformis, gemellus superior, obturator internus, gemellus inferior, obturator externus, and quadratus femoris. This group of muscular tissues helps to rotate the thigh outward on the hip joint. “One stretch plus six muscular tissues equals heat and fuzzy emotions,” Biggart provides.

Particularly, the stretch you are feeling deep in your glutes is a muscle known as the piriformis, which runs from the bottom of the backbone to the highest of the femur and helps with hip rotation and stability.

Due to its close proximity to the sciatic nerve, issues with the piriformis muscle (like swelling, tightening, or muscle spasms) can irritate the sciatic nerve and trigger ache and discomfort within the hip and buttocks — a painful situation known as piriformis syndrome. “Maintaining the piriformis cell can cut back irritation or compression of the sciatic nerve,” Biggart says.

Determine 4 Stretch Variations

Wish to get much more out of the determine 4 stretch? Attempt one among these variations.

Seated Determine 4 Stretch

• Sit on the ground along with your knees bent and ft flat on the ground.
• Place your palms on the ground barely behind your hips, that can assist you keep balanced.
• Cross your proper ankle over your left knee and hold your proper foot flexed.
• Maintaining your decrease again in its pure arch, press your palms into the ground and lean your chest towards your knees, stopping when your proper glute and hip begin to really feel a stretch.
• Maintain for a minimum of 5 breaths, then launch the stretch and repeat on the alternative facet.

Determine 4 Pose on the Wall

• Lie in your again close to a wall, along with your legs up the wall.
• Bend your knees so your ft are flat towards the wall.
• Cross your proper ankle over your left knee and hold your proper foot flexed. Press your left foot firmly into the wall. Interlace your palms behind your left knee, or allow them to relaxation on the ground beside you.
• Maintaining your sacrum (the bony space on the again of your pelvis) on the ground, slowly transfer your left foot down the wall. As you do, your left knee ought to naturally transfer towards your chest. Pause if you really feel a stretch in your hips and glutes.
• Maintain for a minimum of 5 breaths (or work as much as two minutes per facet). Launch the stretch and repeat in your left facet.

(Searching for much more selection? This checklist of glute stretches contains two extra determine 4 stretch variations!)