For a year and a half much of the population has been living very different lives compared to what they were doing prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The two biggest changes are where people are working from and what they are doing with the added time available because there is no longer a commute.
Many of our clients are telling us they are working for the entire day, and this is creating an issue. The kitchen table seems to be a favorite followed by the couch and some even sitting cross legged in bed. So many have left proper work stations in the office that provide proper seating, monitors and keyboards only to be scrunched over a laptop on seats that are meant for maybe an hour. This has led to more clients than ever before showing up in the clinic with pain in the front of the hips. Poor work setups are causing a shortening of the hip flexor muscles, the group of muscles that pull the knee to the chest.
The second hip pain causing issue is a positive one if managed correctly. Many are using the added time they have during the day due to no commuting by adding exercise to their day. The most popular being walking. The problem is that walking and other exercises strengthen the hip flexor muscle group, which is a good thing, but after the exercise everyone is going back to sitting incorrectly. This creates the frustrating “catch 22” of exercising but hurting afterwards.
Both of these scenarios can be resolved with the same prescription. Firstly during the sitting working part of the day force yourself to get up and move about. Our attention spans are maximum 40 minutes and sitting longer than that at one time is not good. Secondly, perform hip flexor stretches 2 or 3 times throughout the day and definitely do them after your walk or other exercise.
The Core website has some video demonstrations of hip flexor stretches and if the hip pain persists the doctors and therapists at The Core are there to fix it !
