Why Stretching Your Hip Flexors Is Not Working
The Neurological Reason Your Hip Flexors Stay Tight No Matter What You Do
That tight hip flexor you have been stretching for years is not tight. It is overworking. And stretching it is making the problem worse. This is the most counterintuitive concept in movement science, and understanding it will save you years of wasted effort.
Why Hip Flexor Stretching Fails
When a muscle is neurologically inhibited (meaning the brain cannot send a full contraction signal to it), adjacent muscles tighten as a protective response. The brain is protecting the joint. If your glute cannot stabilize your hip, something else has to. Your hip flexor volunteers. It tightens up not because it is short, but because the joint it crosses needs stability that your glute is not providing.
Tightness Is Secondary To Weakness
This is the foundational principle of Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT), developed by Greg Roskopf: tightness is always secondary to weakness. Every time you stretch that hip flexor, you are temporarily overriding the brain's protective mechanism. It feels better for 20 minutes. Then the brain tightens it right back up because the underlying problem, glute inhibition, has not been addressed.
What Is Neurological Inhibition
Neurological inhibition occurs when the brain reduces the contraction signal to a muscle, usually because the joint that muscle crosses is in a position where full contraction would be inefficient or potentially destabilizing. In the Left AIC pattern identified by PRI, the pelvis rotates forward, placing the glute max in a lengthened, mechanically disadvantaged position. The brain reduces neural drive to the glute as a protective measure.
The MAT Approach To Hip Flexor Tightness
MAT uses specific isometric contractions at targeted joint angles to restore the brain's ability to communicate with the inhibited muscle. For hip flexor tightness, the corrective is not a hip flexor stretch. It is a glute activation drill. Once the brain can fire the glute on demand, the hip flexor no longer needs to guard the joint. The tightness resolves on its own.
What To Do Instead Of Stretching
This same principle applies everywhere in the body. Tight hamstrings are often caused by inhibited glute max or deep hip rotators. Tight upper traps are often caused by inhibited lower traps or serratus anterior. Tight calves are often caused by inhibited anterior tibialis. The pattern is always the same: find the weak muscle, activate it, and the tight muscle relaxes. MOVECHECK identifies these patterns by testing both sides of each joint and prescribing targeted activation, not stretching.
See This In Your Own Body
Every concept in this article is tested in the MOVECHECK assessment. Find out which patterns apply to you.
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