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Over half of all New Year’s resolutions involve the goal of living healthier or getting in better shape. For many people, this commitment includes getting into the habit of regular exercise, often by starting up a new gym membership. While several things can make your exercise regimen more effective and help you meet your New Year’s resolutions, there is one habit that can make or break your new gym membership.

How exercise causes muscle growth

To get the most out of your new gym membership, you need to know the basics of how muscles grow. It’s actually a complex physiological process that happens in two main phases.

First, muscle tissue is broken down through strenuous activity. When you exercise, you work muscles by applying stress and tension greater than in your normal daily activities. As a result, your workout session causes localized muscle damage.

While having sore muscles is common after a good gym session, muscle pain is not a requirement for causing minor muscle damage. Typically, as the muscle grows over time, the muscle soreness you experience with a new workout routine lessens. The “no pain, no gain” attitude can sometimes do more harm than good.

The second phase of muscle growth is the recovery stage. The localized muscle damage caused by strenuous exercise provokes a response from your body, activating your immune system. Inflammatory and immune system cells respond to the muscle trauma, repairing the damage and enabling the muscles to heal, lengthen, and grow stronger to compensate for the damage.

For these phases to happen, the muscle needs to move. A moving muscle lengthens and shortens as we work out in the gym. However, a muscle that is tight and holds excess tension isn’t able to move appropriately, which in turn impairs your ability to move properly. For instance, if the hip flexors are tight, they can prevent everything from your lower back to your legs from moving correctly.

A stretching habit isn’t enough

We have all been taught that stretching is a vital part of exercising. Stretching increases blood flow to the muscles, improving flexibility, helping them warm up prior to exercising, and preparing that muscle to be moved through a range of motion. While stretching is vital to prepare a muscle to be repaired correctly, a stretching habit isn’t a cure-all solution for every muscle problem you can develop at the gym, especially not knots or muscle tightness.

To keep muscles moving correctly, you need to relieve tension, and stretching alone can’t do this. You need to add something else to your routine: massage and prolonged direct pressure.

Massage (even self-massage!) is a way of increasing circulation while calming and relaxing the muscle. Massage involves rubbing the muscle and physically moving and manipulating it to relieve tension, triggering your nervous system to calm and relax your muscle.

An even more effective way of eliminating and even preventing tension is to relax a muscle with direct, prolonged pressure. Applying this type of pressure at just the right angle and for just the right amount of time is essential for releasing muscle tension. This informs your brain that the muscle under pressure needs to relax, and the brain responds with a neurological signal that gets the muscle to do just that.

Muscle tension and running on the treadmill

Running is an excellent way to stay healthy in body and mind. A treadmill can lessen the impact of running, but it can still be hard on your body, causing muscle tightness and even pain. Long periods of running on the treadmill require the hip flexors to be in motion constantly. Every step causes the hip flexors to stretch and contract as your leg continually moves forward and backward, and if those flexors are tight, each step will be a struggle.

The risk of hip pain from running is most significant for people who generally spend most of their time sitting. This position keeps the hip flexors tight and short, training them to stay in that position even when they need to relax and lengthen.

Developing an at-home routine to help release muscle tension (especially the iliopsoas) can help prevent injuries and discomfort while running, as well as aid in the recovery process. In addition to a cool-down period, massage and direct pressure during the recovery period can help the muscles relax and release.

Lifting weights with tight muscles

Hip and core muscles keep our bodies stable. So, naturally, most types of weightlifting will put them to the test, especially whole-body movements like squatting.

We all have different shapes, sizes, and bone structures that affect the hip’s ability to rotate, flex, and stabilize. Weightlifting is an effective method of building strength and improving athletic performance, but it also exerts tremendous force and stress on the hip joints.

Weightlifting routines are designed to primarily affect specific muscles or muscle groups. For instance, while squats mainly work the glutes, quads, calves, and back muscles, the hips, and hip flexors are responsible for ensuring your muscles work together properly. In other words, relaxing and lengthening the muscles in the hip region can improve the results of your weightlifting routine.

Of course, lifting heavy objects with tight muscles isn’t recommended. As you know, stretching isn’t quite enough to get these muscles moving freely again, which is why muscle release with direct, prolonged pressure is needed.

Better gym workouts with the Hip Hook

Preventing and relieving hip pain is vital to ensuring that you get the most from your new gym membership. After all, if the pain and discomfort of starting your new workout routine are too severe, it’s unlikely that you will stick to your resolution and meet your goal.

It’s vital to address and release tension from both the front and back of the hips. However, this can be challenging because of the location of these muscles.

One of the most effective solutions to release tension and allow the hip muscles to relax is applying direct pressure on them with the Hip Hook. The Hip Hook is the first patented product designed specifically to eliminate tightness and tension in your psoas and iliacus muscles (those are your main hip flexors).

The Hip Hook enables you to apply prolonged direct pressure precisely where it is needed. When integrated as part of your recovery routine, the Hip Hook can quickly provide long-term release of the muscles and increase your mobility. You’ll get better workouts at the gym, and you’ll stick with this new habit for longer as a result.

 

What’s a muscle knot?

A muscle knot is a spot in your muscle where the muscle fibers are contracted. While you could previously contract and relax that muscle, some of the muscle fibers are now outside your conscious control. It’s like the “on” button at the control center gets flipped and the controller goes out to lunch. This makes these muscles very difficult to relax, and they can stay contracted for years – even decades – if left untreated.

After you develop these muscle knots, the body will tend to guard this area and protect it from further damage. This causes a compensation pattern, which can lead to even more problems.

What causes muscle knots?

Muscle knots often develop as a result of a muscle being overused or unable to relax and forced to hold tension for a long time. Imagine holding a child in your arms for a few hours, or your arms out in front of you typing or driving. Once that muscle stays contracted for too long, part or all of the muscle simply decides: “Okay, I guess I’m supposed to stay contracted.” (And it does).

What are trigger points?

Trigger points are muscle knots that refer pain to a different spot. Referred pain from trigger points is often felt in multiple locations. There are two types of trigger points: latent and active.

What are latent trigger points?

A latent trigger point can be described as a tight area within the muscle tissue that is “hidden” beneath the surface. You don’t know it exists until it accidentally or purposefully gets pressed on. Because of this, it’s possible that one of these trigger points has existed in your body and has remained unaddressed for a long period of time.

Latent trigger points in the neck

Latent trigger points in the neck have been associated with tension headaches and migraine pain. When pressed on by a practitioner or muscle release tool, these points can feel extremely sensitive and refer pain to the sides of the head, temples, or jaw.

What are active trigger points?

Active trigger points cause localized and referred pain patterns without being pressed on. A latent trigger point can become an active trigger point if it’s rubbed, contracted, overstretched, or during periods of stress or dehydration.

Active trigger points in the neck

You may have pain in your temples or other spots on your head caused by active trigger points in the muscles at the base of your skull (the suboccipital muscles). No outside stimulus needed; it hurts all on its own. But the cause of the pain is in a different location than where you’re feeling the pain. So even though it may feel good to rub your temples, for example, it doesn’t address the root cause.

Trigger points in the upper trapezius

Another problem area related to headaches may be muscle knots in the upper trapezius muscles. The more time you spend in front of a computer with your shoulders rounded forward or looking down at your smartphone, the greater the likelihood of having a latent or active trigger point in your upper trap muscles. These trigger points can refer pain into the head and neck area that mimic that of a headache.

What are common symptoms of trigger points?

Common trigger point symptoms may include (but are not limited to):

• Dull aching or muscle tenderness
• Muscle stiffness and reduced range of motion
• Muscle weakness or fatigue
• Involuntary muscle contractions (or twitches)
• Inability to get a muscle to relax
• Affected area feels “warm” to the touch
• Burning or tingling sensations

Because of latent and active myofascial trigger points, another tell-tale sign and common symptom of having a trigger point is experiencing local and/or referred pain patterns when having pressure applied to that area of your body.

Trigger points may mimic other conditions

Due to possible referred pain patterns, trigger point symptoms may mimic the symptoms of other conditions, such as:

• Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain
• Neck pain and tension headaches
• Arm pain (incl. numbness and tingling down the arm)
• Shoulder pain
• Shoulder blade (scapular) pain
• Tooth pain
• Eye pain

What happens if a muscle knot or trigger point goes untreated?

Over time, muscle knots begin squeezing the blood vessels that go through the muscle. Like squeezing a hose to stop the flow, when you cut off the blood flow to a muscle, it prevents healthy circulation. When you cut off circulation, oxygen and nutrients can no longer effectively reach the tissue, preventing it from proper function and healing.

Additionally, cutting off circulation doesn’t allow for toxins to be carried away from the muscle. Then it becomes a kind of swamp, thick with no movement, and it just gets stuck. One thing that can accrue in the tissue is calcium. Too much calcium can cause a contracted muscle to contract even harder which solidifies the problem even further.

Leaving muscle knots and trigger points in your neck and upper traps untreated increases the likelihood of experiencing a headache in the future. Even if you are not currently experiencing any pain, there may be latent trigger points waiting to be activated that will cause a headache.

How do I get rid of muscle knots?

The best technique is to apply prolonged pressure to the muscle knot or trigger point.

Simply rubbing or pushing on a knot for a few seconds is not enough. In fact, it can do damage: latent trigger points can become active and chronically painful trigger points if they are rubbed, pressed for less time than it takes for them to release, or overstretched. Sometimes trigger points may need prolonged pressure from anywhere between 3-5 mins. This amount of time will actually tell receptors on the muscle to relax and stop holding tension.

At first, the pressure may cause increased pain where you’re pressing. But if you have genuinely found the trigger point, that pain will start to manifest in the area that is causing you problems. Trigger points can also refer pain to several places; there are certain patterns that practitioners typically see, and we’re able to predict or make an educated guess about the source of the pain. For example, a knot in the trap muscle causing a headache or a pain down into the arm.

Prolonged pressure sends a signal to the brain to relax the knot and stop holding tension or protecting the area. Whatever the cause of the tension, prolonged pressure is the key to releasing it. If you don’t change that pattern of tension, the pain can’t improve.

Muscle knots and migraines

If you suffer from migraines, it can be helpful to apply ice to the back of the neck for 5-10 minutes after releasing trigger points. Apply ice, a cold pack, or cool cloth for 5-10 min at the base of the skull and around the jaw after applying pressure to trigger points.

Direct, prolonged pressure to release the trigger points responsible for migraine pain creates muscular relaxation which allows for increased circulation to the area. It also creates a biochemical effect that causes vasodilation systemically. This vasodilation enhances blood flow to areas of the body that are lacking oxygen and/or nutrients.

It’s important to know that direct pressure on these trigger points may temporarily increase the symptoms of migraines. However, over the long run, these muscle knots release and provide long term relief. One of the best practices is to release these muscles regularly, when you’re not experiencing symptoms, to change the pattern of the muscles and prevent future headaches.

Use a muscle release tool like the Range to apply pressure to knots in your suboccipitals and upper traps. It was designed specifically to put precise pressure on the trigger points in your neck and shoulder muscles causing your headaches.

Neck trigger points make you vulnerable to headaches and migraines

If you experience migraines, you likely know some of the behavioral culprits: wine, lack of sleep, high altitude, etc. If you have muscle knots at the base of your skull, it is much more likely you will experience symptoms when you add any of your known instigators. You may find that after releasing these muscles, you are no longer negatively affected by an occasional glass of wine or hike up the mountain.

Muscle knots and tension headaches

There have been clinical studies associating muscle knots in the suboccipital muscles (at the base of the skull) with tension headaches. When releasing muscle knots in this area, it is extremely important to continue pressure on the muscle until it releases. If you stop pressure before the muscle relaxes, it can increase the headache.

It’s also important to stay on one spot in the muscle until it releases. Don’t rub back and forth, or rub over the knot: this can activate trigger points and increase pain. Keep continuous pressure in one spot to relax the muscle; then, move on to any other sore areas of the muscle and repeat.

Be patient: stay on one spot and breathe

Remember that these muscle knots may have been building in your body for years. They may not release on the 3rd or the 30th pressure session. Stick with it; we’re aiming to correct the root cause of the problem and finally discover long term, natural relief. It’s so worth it.

Keep your suboccipitals relaxed, improve your posture, and move more

For long-term relief and improvement with headaches or migraines, consider using the Range as part of your weekly routine to help you continue to make progress in releasing tension in your suboccipitals, especially if you are someone who sits down a lot and works on a computer.

The Range (formerly the Nuckle) can also be used to release tension around your chest and shoulders, targeting the pecs and upper traps. Releasing all of these areas can help you use the proper muscles to improve your posture and reduce the stress that builds up in your upper traps and neck.

Ensuring that all 3 of these muscles remain happy and free of tension will keep your Secondary Core functioning at its best. To make it easy for you, here’s a simple 3-step sequence we recommend you follow:

1. Release the suboccipital muscles at the base of your skull.
2. Release the pec minor muscles in your chest.
3. Release the upper trap muscles between your neck and shoulders.

Spend at least 90-120 seconds on each muscle and feel free to explore a couple of different tighter spots within the same muscle.

Lastly, get up and move your body more. Even when sitting at your desk in “perfect posture” for 8+ hours, your muscles can still become tight. Your suboccipitals are working hard all day long to stabilize your head.

Take some breaks throughout the work day to move your body, stretch, and get some motion into your head, neck, and shoulders. This should help reduce the frequency that you experience knots and pain in your neck that lead to headaches or migraines.

 

You’re likely to be sitting at your desk when it strikes: a slow, throbbing neck pain that feels like a kink at the base of your skull. Sometimes, the pain might feel like a sharp electric shock. At this point, you’re likely to perform a couple of neck stretches for pain relief.

The pain is likely to radiate up your head, making your temples tender. It may spread to your shoulders and travel down your back, causing tingling and numbness in your arms.

The pain is caused by tension headaches which result from trigger points, and muscle tension builds up in the muscles surrounding the head and the neck. Simply put: you have tight shoulders and a stiff neck.

Why are my back of the neck muscles so tight?

Technology is neck pain’s primary culprit. Our reliance on technology puts enormous strain on our necks. We usually tend to move our heads out of alignment when using a cellphone or a laptop by rounding forward.

Keeping your arms in front of you contracts the muscles in your chest – the pec minor muscles, which round your shoulders forward. Tightening pec pulls your shoulders forward, and the body compensates for this development by pulling your head forward.

As your head leans forward, your bones are no longer doing the work of keeping you upright: it’s all on your neck muscles. Your new forward head posture throws off your head and spine alignment. Your neck muscles now carry the bulk of the weight of your head. The additional load places undue stress on the suboccipital muscles at the back of neck, resulting in pain and tightness.

How to relieve pain at the base of the skull

There’s a group of muscles, the suboccipital muscles at the base of your skull, and muscle knots in these muscles can be responsible for tension headaches. These are four pairs of muscles that facilitate the subtle movements between your head and the neck.

They provide postural support and allow the neck’s rotational and extension movements. The muscles are innervated by occipital nerves, a series of nerves running from the spinal cord to your scalp.

Poor posturing such as slouching and forward head posture builds tension in the suboccipital muscles. Sore and tender suboccipital muscles irritate and inflame the occipital nerves, leading to a condition known as occipital neuralgia. The condition manifests as pain at the base of the skull or in the back of the neck. Most people turn to neck stretches for pain relief, with only temporary results.

Direct, prolonged pressure on the suboccipital muscles is the best way to relieve pain at the base of the skull. Press into the muscles and hold for 30 to 90 seconds.

Deep pressure massage for the neck

Sore suboccipital muscles feel like wearing a painful crown or band wrapping around your head. When tense, these muscles may compress the nerve that exits at the base of your skull, triggering tensional headaches. Prolonged deep pressure, specifically on these spots, helps to relieve muscle tension and the resultant headache.

Relieving sore and tense suboccipital muscle requires consistent pressure. Rubbing on trigger points in the neck can actually activate them, creating increased pain in the long run.

Applying mild to moderate pressure on the muscles produces a “hurts so good” sensation. The intensity of this sensation decreases as the muscles soften and relax, taking away your headache and your pain.

Trigger points in the neck and traps can cause tension headaches

Working on your laptop for a lengthy period may be the norm. But an hour of typing on the computer may cause a tensional headache. Hunching over the computer creates trigger points in the neck and upper traps, leading to tension headaches.

Trigger points are knotted muscles that trigger pain in another part of the body. If you have muscle knots in your neck or upper trap muscles from hunching or poor posture, they might refer pain to your head, giving you a headache. Pain medication might help relieve the headache (symptom) but does little to solve the actual problem.

Tight chest muscles and rounded shoulders can cause neck pain

The pectoralis minor (pec minor) is a tiny muscle that connects your shoulder to the rib cage. It helps to stabilize, rotate, and support all your shoulder movements. Poor posture causes the pec muscles to become tight and shortened.

Tight and short pec muscles pull your shoulders in towards your chest. Besides rounding your shoulders, shortened pec muscles lead to the upper crossed syndrome, a condition characterized by deformed neck, shoulder, and chest muscles.

When the pecs are tight and short, they pull the shoulders in toward the chest and can also contribute to forward head posture. This turns on the upper trap resulting in the creation of tension knots and trigger points in the upper trap muscles. Naturally, most people opt for a shoulder rub to soften and relax the tight muscles. However, pressing and massaging the knots in the shoulder muscle amounts to treating the symptoms.

Your real problem is the tension in the pec minor and the suboccipital muscles. Remember, the suboccipital muscles are close to the spine and buried underneath the upper traps. Releasing the pec minor (with pressure and not just chest stretches) and the muscles at the base of your skulls is critical to eliminating muscle knots in your traps. If the upper traps still need attention after addressing the neck and chest, then release them third in the sequence.

Massage or chest stretches?

Stretching is a popular way to relieve muscle tension, but it may not help tension tightness. Stretches help to lengthen the muscle, which improves blood circulation, muscle repair, and increases the range of motion.

However, stretching doesn’t work well on knotted muscles. The muscles might elongate just a tiny bit but retain the tension as soon as you stop. Typically, your brain holds muscle tension to protect you from pain and injuries.

Likewise, rubbing or massaging a muscle produces short-lived effects. Rubbing improves the muscle’s pliability and circulation to ease some of the tension.

After a while, the effects will wear off, and the fibers retract to their original state. It might feel good to rub or stretch a muscle holding tension, but it won’t help to release and relax tension longterm.

Neck massage or neck stretches for pain

While stretching may feel good, pressing on muscle is the most effective way to release muscle knots. Applying prolonged pressure, about 30 to 90 seconds, with your fingers or a tool produces the best result.

Initially, pressing on a muscle elicits some pain, but after 30 seconds, the pain dissipates as the muscles relax. Your brain instructs the muscle fibers to stop contracting and relax, producing long-term results. The effects can last for hours, days, or even months to allow you to lead a pain-free existence.

After you’ve released tension using pressure, you may find that your neck feels less tight and can stretch into a greater range of motion more easily. These effects will last longer compared to stretching alone.

A rotated pelvis may be causing neck and shoulder pain

Anterior pelvis rotation refers to a pelvis pulled forward due to tension at the front of the hips. Tight hip flexors pull the pelvic bone forward and throw the tailbone and pelvic bone joint out of alignment. As a result, the joint creates tension, gets irritated, and becomes painful.

Anterior hip rotation changes the way the ball fits in the hip joint socket to alter the entire trajectory of your leg. More importantly, a twisted hip limits the rotation of the spinal column and affects alignment higher up the spine. It leads to lower back pain and nerve irritation that affects your entire back and shoulders.

Our bodies have a primary core (hips/abdomen) and a secondary cores (neck/shoulders). Tension in either of these cores can create pain in other areas of the body. Therefore, it’s critical to keep our cores strong, properly aligned, and relaxed to ensure our spines, limbs, and nervous systems work properly.

Hip flexors are a crucial part of our primary core. The primary core comprises the abdominal muscles, back muscles, and hip flexors. If your body is under stress or traumatized, it holds tension in the primary core around your pelvis. Unfortunately, tension and pulling in the primary core irritate the nervous system.

Your neck and shoulders form the secondary core to support the upper part of the body. If you’re stressed, you’re likely to have tension in the pec minor, the tiny muscle connecting your shoulders to your chest.

Tight pec minor pulls you forward, resulting in rounded shoulders. Rounding shoulders pull your head forward and misalign your spine, which twists and irritates your nervous system. The nervous system irritation is more pronounced if you have more tension on one side than the other.

Misalignment in the head and neck junction creates tension at the base of the skull. Carrying tension at the bottom of the head and in pec minor severely irritates the brain, brain stem, spinal cord.

As a result, your nervous system is in a constant state of fight or flight mode. Any efforts to release muscle tension won’t work when your nervous system is in this state constantly.

Releasing and aligning the primary core is an important first step before issues in the upper body, neck, and shoulders can be resolved for good.

Stress and neck pain

There’s a direct connection between stress and neck pain. When you’re stressed, you’re likely to curl up into a fetal position with your head jutted forward, shoulders rounded, and knees tucked into your chest. This position activates the muscles at the base of your skull, your chest (pec minor), and your hip flexors.

Even if you don’t actually go into the fetal position, these are the most common areas where people develop muscle tension as a result of stress.

Unfortunately, all these positions produce muscle tension and irritate the nervous system. Stress creates muscle tension at the back of the neck leading to neck pain. Absolutely use additional relaxation efforts such as warm baths, meditation, or a walk in nature to affect your stress level. But don’t forget about also releasing the patterns that have formed in your muscles!

How to relax tight neck and shoulder muscles

Addressing muscle tension in the primary and secondary core is the most effective way to relax tight neck and shoulder muscles. In the primary core, you need to release the iliacus and psoas muscles at the front of the hips with a specialized tool like the the Mark (formerly the Hip Hook). At the back of the hip, you should release the piriformis and deep hip rotators with a massage ball, such as the Orbit.

In the secondary core, you release tension in the base of the skull and pec minor. Some people try to do this with tennis balls, but this is ineffective because it is too soft and not shaped properly to deliver precise pressure where you need it. We highly recommend using a specific tool, such as the Range, that is anatomically-shaped to access these small but mighty muscles.

Applying direct, prolonged pressure is the most effective way to release muscle tension. Prolonged pressure on a muscle knot causes the muscle to soften and relax, which signals the brain it’s safe to release tension in those muscles. You can apply direct, prolonged pressure with your fingers or a dedicated tool.

Eliminate tension headaches today

Tools designed to apply pressure like hands and fingers work best when releasing muscle tension. It provides the specific angular pressure you need to reach and release the sore spots. The best tension release tools allow you to apply prolonged pressure without sliding or rolling, and are angled to provide precise, targeted pressure. They can handle the pressure, adapt to your body, and isolate the small yet critical muscles.

We recommend a product called the Range (formerly the Nuckle): it’s designed by a physical therapist to release, relax, and realign these specific muscles that become tight and affect your head, neck, and shoulders (these are the suboccipitals, pec minor, and upper traps). With three widths and six angles, it can adjust to every body and apply clinically effective specific pressure to relax tight muscles and reduce pain.

Commonly asked questions about how to fix forward head posture and tech neck

Why is the back of the neck tight?

The back of the neck is often tight because of over-activation of those muscles caused from forward head posture, looking down, and tension due to stress. Rounded shoulders due to shortened and tight pec minor muscles can place additional strain on these muscles at the base of the skull.

How do I fix nerd neck?

You can fix nerd neck by releasing muscle tension at the base of your skull and in the pec minor. Applying direct, prolonged pressure with your fingers or a specialized tool to these areas helps to relieve muscle tension and improve posture.

How to correct forward head posture?

You can correct forward head posture by first releasing muscle tension in your pec minor and the suboccipital muscles at the base of the skull. This gives you a better opportunity to get into a good posture and, over time, strengthen your postural muscles to maintain proper spinal alignment. Without releasing these key areas first, you’ll always feel like you’re fighting against tension and forcing your posture.

 

Do you experience hip pain running? If so, you’re not alone.

While knee pain may be reported more commonly by runners, the answer to that pain may lie in the hips.

Hip pain can get in the way of a lot of your daily activities from going up and down the stairs, sitting at your desk while you work, and doing activities that you love – like running.

So what are you supposed to do? Just stop running?

Depending on the specific issue, you may need to take some time off doing high impact activities like running. But, more often than not, the cause of your hip pain while running boils down to one simple culprit: tight muscles.

Specifically, tight iliopsoas or hip flexor muscles.

Now, this isn’t the only reason for hip pain running, but your hips influence a lot of other areas of your body, so getting to the bottom of your hip pain should be a top priority.

Before we get into the causes of hip pain when running, it’s important to understand how exactly your body moves when you run.

Anatomy of running

When you run, your body primarily uses sagittal movements as your arms and legs propel you forward. Sagittal movements are joint movements that occur on the longitudinal plane that divides your body into left or right parts. These movements are a flexion or extension.

While running primarily utilizes sagittal movements, there will also be rotation of your leg joints to support your body weight as you move. An additional counter pelvic rotation will occur as your chest moves forward on the opposite side from your leg.

That’s all good to know, but what exactly does that mean? To break it down, let’s look a bit deeper at your running gait cycle.

The running gait cycle is characterized by having both of your feet off of the ground, versus walking where both of your feet are on the ground.

In this instance, we are defining a cycle as the period of time between one foot making contact with the ground until the same foot reconnects with the ground.

There are two phases in a runner’s gait cycle: the stance phase (sometimes called support) and the swing phase.

When you are in the stance phase, and your foot makes its initial contact with the ground, you have a foot strike. This will occur mid-stance through your toe-off and takeoff.

Your swing phase starts with a float that moves forward into a swing or swing reversal, and then finishes with a foot landing. Once your foot has moved through these motions, the cycle begins again.

Your running stride length, form, and a few other physiological factors can impact the length of your running gait cycle.

Through all of these movements, several parts of your body are engaged. They are the:

• Plantar fascia
• Subtalar joint
• Achilles tendon
• Soleus
• Gastrocnemius
• Hamstring
• Glutes
• Rectus femoris
• Pelvis
• Abdominals

How much strain is on a particular area of your body while you run has a lot to do with your running form and the distribution of stress. If you have improper form, or something in your body is off balance, you are much more likely to develop hip pain running.

Why do I have hip pain from running?

While you engage several areas of your lower body while running, one of the primary motions is happening in your pelvis with your iliopsoas. The iliopsoas is made up of your iliacus and psoas muscles which are responsible for hip flexion, and are therefore also referred to as “hip flexors.”

Running utilizes the iliopsoas to swing the leg forward in the running pattern described above while simultaneously stabilizing your spine and your hips.

Your leg strides forward by using your iliopsoas. Then, when your leg extends behind you, the muscle stretches out. You are repeatedly contracting and stretching while your muscles work to stabilize your hip and spine which can quickly lead to overuse and muscle fatigue.

Because of this constant engagement of the iliopsoas as you move through the cyclical running gait cycle, there is a good chance one or both of your iliopsoas muscles will develop tightness.

When you have tight hip flexors, you may experience hip pain running, but many runners also experience pain in their knees, glutes, ankles, and lower back because of this muscle tension.

Some of these additional pain points along with hip pain while running can be signs of a tight iliacus.

What is really surprising to most runners is that your hip flexors never really get a break, even when you’re done running. When you are doing other things like sitting at your desk, laying on your couch, or simply doing household chores, your iliopsoas is still engaged.

That means these muscles could be why you continue to have hip pain after running or when you haven’t been running for a few days.

Since these are stabilizer muscles that control the flexion of your leg and any hip extension when running, they have a lot of pull in the surrounding muscles, joint structures, and bone alignment.

Tightness in the iliacus and psoas is so important to take note of as a runner because it can create a domino effect in your body.

Other common running pain points

If left untreated, overly tight hip flexor muscles can lead to a rotated pelvis, general body misalignment, poor posture, nerve pinching, hip joint pain, knee pain, ankle pain, SI joint pain, and lower back pain.

Not to mention, tight hip flexor muscles can impact your running gait and form – which can lead to further overuse injuries.

Not all running related pain points are directly associated with tight iliopsoas muscles, but many of them are. Here are some of the most commonly reported pain points for runners other than hip pain while running:

Knee pain after running

Have you ever heard of runner’s knee? Plantar tinnitus? IT band syndrome? All of these are common injuries that cause knee pain after running. Their causes vary but often knee pain and tight hip flexors go hand in hand.

Other causes of knee pain while running include overuse, improper form, or a muscular imbalance.

Ankle pain after running

If your ankles hurt during or after your run, it could be a matter of biomechanics or running form impacting the joint. Other causes of ankle pain associated with running include ankle tendonitis, arthritis, stress fractures, ankle instability, or sprains and strains.

Getting running shoes for overpronation can also help eliminate some ankle pain while running.

Hamstring strain

Much like your iliopsoas, your hamstrings are under a lot of stress and being continuously contracted as you run. When they are used for such repetitive movements, they may become strained.

If you’ve started to feel a sudden, sharp pain in the back of your thigh, swelling, bruising, or a popping sensation during or after your run, then you may have a hamstring strain. These symptoms may occur within 24 hours after the activity and may inhibit your ability to walk.

A hamstring strain can also cause hip pain while running.

Plantar fasciitis

Sometimes referred to as runner’s foot or running feet, plantar fasciitis is when the thick band of tissue that connects your heel bone to your toes becomes inflamed. This is a commonly reported pain point for many runners, especially long distance runners.

The most common symptom of plantar fasciitis when running or walking is a stabbing pain near your hee. This pain may be worse in the morning or during activity.

Piriformis syndrome

Your piriformis muscle is a small, stabilizing muscle in your hip joint under your glute. It is used to externally rotate your hips and stabilize your pelvis. The repetitive action of running can cause irritation of the piriformis muscle, especially if you have tight hip flexors.

When the piriformis is inflamed, it can irritate your sciatic nerve – causing symptoms in your thigh like weakness, numbness, or pain. Symptoms of piriformis syndrome often increase in severity when engaging in activities like running, squatting, lunging, or going up stairs.

Piriformis syndrome can also cause hip pain while running. Piriformis stretches can help.

Root causes of common running injuries

As we’ve mentioned, hip pain from running isn’t always due to tight muscles, and you can often narrow down the cause by identifying the area of the hip pain and visiting a medical professional.

For instance, if you have lateral hip pain, you may only have pain on your left hip. This hip pain may be associated with tight hip muscles and a rotated pelvis.

However, lateral hip pain can also be due to bone damage like a stress fracture which is why it is important to seek guidance from a medical professional.

Since tight muscles isn’t always the root cause of running injuries, we want you to be aware of three other common causes of hip pain while running:

Strength imbalance

Strength training is often recommended to runners as a cross training exercise. This is primarily to avoid strength imbalances that cause injury. If you have hip pain running, it could be due to a strength imbalance in your hips.

Muscle imbalances can also contribute to muscle tightness as stronger muscles overcompensate for weaker ones.

Having proper running form, performing regular counter muscle exercises, and engaging in cross training like yoga and swimming can help prevent muscular imbalance. You can also get regular muscle massages and practice muscle tension release.

Overuse

As the avid runners reading this know, running can be fun, amazing, and somewhat addictive.

What you also know is that it can be really hard on your body. That’s probably why you’re reading this article!

Overuse of your joints like your hips or your knees can lead to issues in muscle tightness, muscle strain, or even long-lasting disorders like bursitis. Overuse can also lead to more serious issues like stress fractures or cartilage tears if you continue to run on an already injured joint.

Most overuse injuries are noticeable while you are running and will cause inflammation after you’ve completed the run. If you feel hip pain running, running fewer miles and taking a few days off may help with mild overuse injuries.

Fractures or tears

Stress fractures and cartilage tears are also common causes of hip pain while running.

If you have a sharp pain on the inside of your hip when running, then it could be a stress fracture. This is especially true for road runners or long distance runners.

A cartilage or labral tear is often noticed by the clicking or catching feeling in your hip when you run, especially if it causes pain. If you’ve recently fallen or twisted your hip, a labral tear is even more likely.

Both fractures and cartilage tears will get worse if you keep running on them. So, if you suspect you have either of these, visit a doctor as soon as possible for treatment.

Running recovery

If you have hip pain running, one of the best treatment options is to visit a physical therapist. A physical therapist can help you determine the root cause of your pain, give you direction on treatment, and provide advice on running recovery to prevent future pain.

Physical therapy can easily answer some of your common questions like:

“Why do my ankles hurt when I run?”

“How can I learn how to run longer without causing hip pain?”

And “are there ways I can heal my hip pain at home?”

Delving into the causes of hip pain while running is just the start. From there, you can start to address the issue head on and hopefully get rid of your hip pain for good.

One of the most amazing discoveries I’ve made with my patients is how to release the iliacus muscle to prevent hip pain while running. To do this, you need to have a tool like the Hip Hook that can reach the iliacus muscle properly to perform a muscle tension release.

Muscle tension release appies prolonged pressure to release the tension. When tension is released, the muscle can finally relax and quit pulling on the surrounding area.

While stretching is a necessary and often recommended practice for runners, when it comes to releasing muscle tension, you do not want to stretch muscle knots.

Other trigger points to release that can help relieve running pain points include:

• November 8, 2021

Does hip extension impact your running efficiency? What about running injuries and pain points?

Yes, yes, and yes! Hip extension matters in all of those cases.

Hip extension in running begins as your leg passes behind your center of gravity in your running stride. It is essential to producing the power phase that propels you forward.

It can make or break your running stride.

This article will help you better understand how your hip extends while running – so you can improve your efficiency and prevent unnecessary running injuries.

Hip biomechanics when running

As discussed in the guide to handling hip pain from running, the anatomy of running has a lot to do with hip positioning.

There are a lot of variables at play in the biomechanics of running, but the easiest way to understand them is to look at the running gait cycle and why hip extension is so important throughout.

Running involves a lot of propulsion. These actions create extension throughout your body, including your hips.

When you are in the mid stance of your running gait, your foot passes beneath your hips. Here you need to create a strong and stable propulsive drive to move into the next stride. You do this by pushing the ground away and moving your body forward.

This propulsive extension is essential to effective running and involves continuous and repetitive hip extension. Running athletes with a powerful stride and large extension range are likely to store extra energy in their hip flexors and tendons due to an efficient recovery or elastic recoil.

Hip extension opens up your stride for the elastic recoil of your hip tendons. If you stretch your tendons quickly, they should spring back to their original length. This motion pushes your knee forward again so you can start your next stride.

Your hip is not the only part of your body going through extension while you run though. Many runners may be familiar with the term “triple extension.” This term applies to your running gait and the extension of your hip, knee, and ankle since they happen concurrently.

Understanding the hip flexor motion during extension is necessary because triple extension is driven top-down, meaning it starts at your hip. This extension involves your iliopsoas muscles, glutes, and hamstrings as they drive your leg back, stabilize your pelvis, and flex forward once more.

While each of these muscles has a role to play, the iliopsoas is the major player.

Hip extension for efficient and pain-free running

Since your running stride moves in a top-down motion, your hip positioning and extension dramatically influence your running efficiency.

During hip extension, your push-off leg moves behind your body and your gluteus maximus and hamstrings perform the brunt of the work. In order to reach an efficient triple extension, you need to be able to reach far back enough in your stride to engage your glutes fully.

What would prevent full glute or hamstring engagement during hip extension?

Tight and imbalanced muscles are largely to blame.

You could also be dealing with a rotated pelvis, IT band syndrome, foot pronation, piriformis syndrome, lateral hip pain, or a multitude of other pain points. But did you know that all these issues could be related to tight muscles?

Specifically, tight iliopsoas muscles.

Tight muscles in your pelvic region, especially the hip flexor muscles, can cause a domino effect that impacts other major muscle groups and joint structures.

The extension of your hips can also be impacted.

Your iliopsoas is responsible for hip flexion, or moving your legs forward and up. When your leg goes into extension, you are no longer engaging the iliopsoas, you are stretching it.

If these muscles are too tight, they are “frozen” in a shortened position, limiting your backward movement during extension.

Limited extension of your hip while running means your body is less likely to achieve the most efficient mode of triple extension. You may notice your body begin to compensate, such as by arching your lower back to “achieve” a similar motion. It also means you are exposing your body to higher impact.

A combined muscle strength in the glute and hamstrings and flexibility in the iliopsoas is necessary to reach triple extension or efficient hip extension. Improving both can create harmonious balance in your running stride and improve your range of motion and speed.

Poor hip extension and running injuries

Limitations in your body can impact the extension of your hips and increase the potential forrunning injuries. The three main limitations include:

1. Tight hip flexor muscles
2. Poor glute activation and strength
3. Weak hamstring muscles

Any one of these things can cause the other, meaning once you experience limitations in your hip extension, be on the lookout for weak glutes and hamstrings as well.

If poor extension is allowed to continue as you push more running miles, it is also possible you’ll begin to experience hip pain after running.

Tight hip flexor muscles

Muscle tension in the hips and even weak hip muscles may be associated with an imbalance in running biomechanics that disrupt your running gait and hip extension.

Nearly all runners I’ve seen have tight hip flexor muscles, not just because they engage these muscles as they run, but because they live a sedentary lifestyle outside of running.

When you sit, your hip flexors are engaged and pushed into a shortened position for extended periods. Over time, your muscles can become frozen in this shortened position. This is bad, especially for runners, because when you run, you not only need hip flexion, but extension too.

Your hip flexor muscles need to be flexible and strong enough to fully stretch, propel, and lengthen as you move through your gait cycle.

As your running form gets out of whack from an inability to perform a proper gait and extension, other parts of your body may start to suffer. If these muscles are allowed to stay shortened and tight, they can even cause a rotated pelvis – leading to running posture and form issues.

Do you have knee pain after running? Well, that might be from tight hip flexors!

Have you ever asked yourself: why do my ankles hurt when I run? Well, you guessed it, it could be from tight hip flexors.

Once the kinetic chain is disrupted in your pelvic region, you can guarantee a domino effect will move down your body until you fix the imbalance, muscle tightness, and alignment.

Muscular imbalance and weakness

Poor muscle activation, weak muscles, or muscular imbalances can all impact your hip extension effectiveness – and even cause some running injuries.

If you are a runner that doesn’t do enough cross training or strength training, it is easy to develop muscular imbalances that lead to poor muscle activation or strain.

When one muscle is not strong enough to keep up with the rest, the surrounding muscles end up putting in the hard work, increasing muscle fatigue and the likelihood of injury.

Running recovery exercises for injury prevention

In order to have full mobility and efficient extension in your hips while running, you need a solid foundation of optimal joint and muscular biomechanics. Then, you can start focusing on things like your overall strength, power, coordination, and synchronization while you run.

In order to achieve balanced biomechanics while running, you need to build healthy habits and running recovery routines that include practices like:

• Strength training
• Cross training
• Mild stretching
• Muscle activation activities
• Joint mobility exercises
• Muscle tension release

You might not know how to implement all of these things on your own, and that’s okay. It is best to seek professional help from a physical therapist to make certain you use proper form and the appropriate exercises for your needs.

As you perfect your biomechanics, you can move into coordination that focuses more on running form and achieving triple extension.

In order to get there, you need happy, aligned joints and relaxed muscles. While you may be able to tackle your glutes and hamstrings with a foam roller or massage ball, the iliacus and psoas muscles that make up your hip flexors are much harder to reach.

That’s why I invented the Hip Hook and the Hip Release Ball.

The Hip Hook is specially designed to reach behind your pelvic bone and apply prolonged pressure to the hard to reach iliacus muscle.

The Hip Release Ball can then be used to reach the psoas muscle. The size and firmness of the ball make it possible to target the psoas without the ball getting lost in your abdomen. Plus, this ball can be used to release the back of your hip and your glute muscles.

Forming healthy habits that include muscle tension release and the above practices can help you achieve a healthy hip extension while you run. This will not only shield you from running injuries, it can even improve your performance.

FAQs about hip extension and running

How much hip extension does a runner need?

An average runner extends their hip around 10-15 degrees from toe off. Hip extension can be limited by factors such as a tight iliacus and psoas muscle.

How can I improve my hip extension for running?

Improving your hip extension involves improving your hip mobility, hip flexor release, and a consistent running recovery routine. Make sure you focus on both the psoas and iliacus muscles, the primary hip flexors.

How do tight hips impact my running?

Tight hip flexors can pull your body out of alignment, imparting your running gait and many other parts of your body. All of these factors influence your running form, hip extension, hip flexion, and how your foot hits the ground when you run

 

It doesn’t matter how seasoned of a runner you are, you need a healthy running recovery routine at any level.

For many runners, hip, knee, and ankle pain can make an activity they once loved turn into a painful endeavor. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

You can make recovery a part of your healthy routine, which could lead to running longer and/or faster with little to no discomfort.

While things like diet and sleep certainly play a huge role in running recovery, the main focus needs to be on relieving muscle tension, soothing muscle knots, and encouraging muscle recovery. Building a personalized program is a great way to reverse some of these painful byproducts of running – and even prevent them in the first place.

Why you need a running recovery routine

Running is an excellent way to stay healthy in body and mind, but it can also be hard on your body!

If you’re looking into how to run longer or more frequently, knowing how to run with proper form, doing plenty of cross-training, and implementing a running recovery routine are all measures needed to prevent running injuries.

Many running injuries are due to overuse. These overuse injuries can also come from muscular imbalances and tightness, which can be avoided with the right post-running routine and by implementing intentional rest days between hard runs.

Now, if you’re someone that has hip pain after running, then these types of recovery practices become even more essential. Hip pain or knee pain from running usually means one thing: your hip flexors are tight.

Your hips are a vital part of your running stride. They provide your hip flexion and allow proper hip extension when running as well. Unfortunately, they’re also prone to fatigue from running, which causes muscle tightness and knots.

Runners that also have an office job and live a relatively sedentary lifestyle outside of their daily run are even more likely to have tight iliopsoas muscles.

How can you hurt your muscles by sitting, though? Aren’t you resting them?

Well, not exactly. In fact, excessive sitting is one of the easiest ways to get tight hip flexors. You see, when you are in the seated position, your iliacus is continually in a shortened position. If you leave it here for too long, it can start to “freeze” and develop knots.

By the time you get to this “frozen” muscle stage, you start to lose flexibility that allows for proper flexion and extension while you are running.

As tightness builds, both your iliacus and psoas muscles begin to pull on all their nearby muscles and joints which creates a domino effect from your hip out.

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “why do my ankles hurt when I run?” it might not have to do with your ankles at all. Having tight iliopsoas can effectively cause lower back pain, knee pain, and even ankle pain.

The domino effect from tight hip flexors is so dramatic because of its location and ability to pull your pelvis out of alignment. Anatomically, if your pelvis is out of alignment, then it becomes difficult for you to properly perform certain movements like running.

The best way to address issues like tight muscles is to employ preventive measures in your running recovery routine.

Your 3 running recovery commandments

There are three practices I recommend for every runner in their running recovery routine. How often you do these running recovery commandments will depend on your running regiment and knowing your body and personal needs.

There are several other things you can do before and during running that will help as well. For example, there are running shoes for over-pronation and many warm up routines to try before your run.

Working with a medical professional like a physical therapist is a great way to build an effective running recovery program that helps you reach your individual health goals. For everyone, however, these are the three running recovery commandments I recommend.

1. Implement a proper cool down

Doing a proper warm up is important, but it may be even more important to do an effective cool down. When you think of a cool down for running, most people think of walking for a few minutes and stretching.

Both of these can be effective cool down tools, but should be done so with caution and with the right timing.

While the cooldown is arguably the best time to stretch your muscles because they are warm and pliable, if you have muscle knots, are hyper mobile, or have tight hip flexors, be careful how much and how deeply you stretch.

First, don’t stretch muscle knots.

Stretching is great for muscle to brain communication, blood flow, and helping the muscles repair after exercise, but it does have its limitations.

One major limitation occurs if you have a muscle that is holding muscle tension, meaning it is contracted and in a shortened position (much like when sitting). When you stretch with muscle tension, the muscle may elongate some, but the muscle tension will still exist.

You’ll likely notice this muscle tension in the form of muscle knots. So, if you notice you have muscle knots in certain areas after running, you can stretch them but do so very carefully.

If you go on a really long run (more than 90 minutes), acute muscle damage is actually possible if you jump right into stretching from the run. So, before you stretch it out, walk for a while to let the muscles begin to relax and engage in a new way.

Part of your cool down period (20 minutes post run) should also focus on things like refueling through nutrition and hydrating.

During the cool down activities, like stretching and walking, start hydrating right away. Having proper hydration can help your muscles stretch more effectively and prevent injury caused by overstretching.

2. Use foam rolling and massage

When your muscles are holding tension, stretching, massage, and foam rolling will all feel good.

Massage and foam rolling help you stimulate more blood flow throughout your muscles and can encourage faster muscle recovery.

However, these activities may not get rid of the muscle tension, nor allow you to reach all of the muscles you want to massage.

This is especially true when it comes to IT band tightness. If anyone has ever told you to foam roll your IT band, I’m sorry to break the news to you – your IT band isn’t a muscle and foam rolling is a waste of time (not to mention really painful).

Using a foam roller or other massage tools can be effective with the right applications. Foam rollers are also great additions to certain stretches and have the potential to help stave off delayed onset muscle soreness.

3. Practice muscle pressure release

When you have muscle tension in your body, it can cause issues like hip pain from running, lateral hip pain, or even ankle pain from running.

You can hold muscle tension anywhere in your body, and muscle pressure release is the most effective way to release that tension. Since we are focusing on running, we are also going to focus on ankle, hip, and knee pain and tight hip flexors.

Not only are your hip flexors required for flexion and extension, they are also primary stabilizing muscles and are used to move your trunk from side to side. The constant engagement of these muscles make it easy to see how running can fatigue them and cause muscle knots.

The issue with getting muscle knots out of these two specific muscles is that they are very hard to reach and stretching has its limitations. Most runners will integrate hip flexor stretching into their cool down but, to prevent overstretching, muscle tension also needs to be removed.

You cannot reach the iliacus or the psoas with a standard foam roller, and most massage balls are too small or too hard to reach the psoas. So, how can you put prolonged pressure on those muscles on your own?

First, you can have someone help you, like a running partner or physical therapist. Unfortunately, those options aren’t always available when you need them, and if you’re an avid runner, you may need muscle release every day!

That’s why I invented the Hip Hook.

The Hip Hook is specially designed for tight iliacus muscle release and allows you to perform prolonged muscle release on your own. The manual gives you a map of how to locate your psoas and iliacus muscles.

Once you’ve found the right location, roll onto your stomach and use your body weight to apply pressure for 30-90 seconds. The first few times you use it, depending on how tight your muscles are, it may be a “hurts so good” sensation.

It’s likely you’ve had this muscle tension for a long time, so it will take patience and practice to train it to relax once again.

If you know your hip flexors are extremely tight, or you’re not accustomed to pressure in this area, you may choose to start with the Hip Release Ball. The size and firmness of the ball are perfect for warming up this area for more direct pressure with the Hip Hook. While the ball won’t be able to access your iliacus, it provides broad pressure to the psoas muscle: the size and density ensures that it doesn’t get lost in your abdomen and will be able to help release this muscle. It can also be used to release the back of your hip and the piriformis muscle.

With the proper tools, and a regular running recovery routine, you’ll be able to focus on your running goals instead of your aches and pains.

FAQs about running recovery

Is it bad to run every day?

Yes and no– running every day can increase your risk of overuse injuries, but if you build up to running daily gradually, your risk can go down. If you follow proper running recovery steps (including releasing your hip flexors), cross train, and listen to your body when it needs a break, running daily is feasible with little to no issue.

What does a running recovery day look like?

When you are taking a total rest day from running, you should also avoid doing other activities that stress the same parts of your body. However, you can participate in recovery exercises like recovery yoga or a walk around your neighborhood. Running recovery days will look a little different for everyone, but the main theme should be rest.

How many recovery days should I take after a long run?

Many physical therapists will recommend at least 2-3 recovery days per week for runners pending their level of fitness and physical health. However, after a long run, it can be beneficial to have one full recovery day with no activity and then 1-2 other recovery days with light activity unrelated to running (i.e., swimming, yoga, etc.).

After a really long run, younger runners can usually benefit from 2 full days off of activity, and older runners can benefit from 3 full days off.