I regularly talk to people who experience lower back and knee pain due to tight hips or glutes (butt muscles). There any many different ways to stretch the outer muscles of the hip joint – but this variation of a lunge is a great one to ease in to and accessible to most people.
- Start in a lunge with your left foot in front. Make sure your left heel is under your knee and your back right heel is over the top of your toes.
- Move your hands or finger tips back. Hands can be either side of your foot or inside your left foot if more comfortable.
- Lift up your left toes and rock back over your left heel pushing your back right heel down towards the floor (it probably won’t go all the way down to the floor!).
- Keep your front knee slightly bent by pushing down into your left heel.
- Relax your head down towards your left leg.
- To deepen the stretch, pull your hips back and up. Try to keep your hips symmetrical.
- If you aren’t finding a deep stretch in the back of the front left leg and outer hip, try pulling your left hip back a little bit more.
- To deepen the stretch further, try tipping your tailbone upwards.
- After a few breaths, rock forward to a regular lunge. Try moving in and out of the stretch, followed by holding it for 3 to 5 breaths.
- Remember to switch sides.
Lunge variations to stretch the hamstrings and hips
