Oh my gosh, if only I had a dollar for every time a back pain patient told me their hip flexors were tight - and they have been stretching them to try and help their pain!!
I hear you. And unfortunately as you have already figured out, no amount of stretching of those tight hip flexors seems to make any difference.
Here is the reason why...
Although your hip flexors are designed to move your hips, they also play another significant role. Because of where they insert into your lumbar spine they can actually play a stabilising role. Meaning, if your back is a little weak and needing extra support, they can turn on and stay on making you feel tight in the front of your hip. The double whammy is that when a muscle stays on for too long it also becomes weak! Aghhhh! What you have left then is a tight AND WEAK hip flexor.
But never fear. There is an answer. By improving the strength of some very important muscles around your lower back - AND INCREASING THE STRENGTH OF YOUR HIP FLEXORS - you can naturally reduce the tension of your hip flexors without even stretching (and of course sitting on a Captain Chair puts your hips in just the right position to unload your lower back).
There are other factors that may increase your chance of tight hip flexors and that's why it's important to always have your back pain and tight hips assessed by an experienced physiotherapist.
But for now, why don't you stop trying to stretch our your tight hip flexors and instead focus on strengthening.
Lizzy and the Captain Chair team xx