Are Weak Hip Flexors the Hidden Cause of Your Lower Back Pain?
- Feb 5
- 4 min read
Lower back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints worldwide. If you’ve searched for answers, you’ve likely been told that tight hip flexors are to blame and that stretching them is the solution. While this explanation sounds convincing, it often fails to produce lasting results.
In many cases, the real issue isn’t tightness at all. Instead, weak and undertrained hip flexors can quietly overload the lower back, leading to chronic pain, stiffness, and recurring flare-ups.
Understanding this distinction is critical if you want to address the root cause rather than chase temporary relief.
In this blog, you’ll learn:
What muscles actually make up the hip flexors
Why hip flexors feel tight in the first place
Why stretching alone doesn’t solve back pain
The correct way to restore hip flexor function for lasting relief
What are hip flexor muscles?
The hip flexors are not a single muscle but a group of muscles that work together to lift the thigh and control hip motion.
The primary hip flexor muscles include:
Iliacus
Psoas major
Rectus femoris
Sartorius
Pectineus
The psoas muscle is often singled out because it connects the femur to the lumbar spine. This connection frequently leads people to assume it is the direct cause of back pain. However, anatomy alone does not determine pain, function does.
How Tight Hip Flexors Contribute to Low Back Pain
Hip flexors play a major role in controlling how your pelvis and spine move.
The psoas, in particular, connects directly to the lower spine.
When hip flexors are undertrained or overworked, they often become tight as a protective response, not because they are truly short.
When this happens:
The hip flexors lose strength
The pelvis loses control
The lower back compensates
Spinal stress increases
This compensation pattern is a common contributor to chronic low back pain.
Why Stretching Hip Flexors Doesn’t Fix the Problem
Most people never strengthen their hip flexors.
Instead, they stretch them repeatedly.
A muscle that feels tight is not always short. Very often, it is weak and overworked.
Hip flexor stretch may provide temporary relief, but it does not restore:
Strength
Control
Load tolerance
That’s why the hip flexor stretch alone rarely leads to lasting back pain relief.
Train Your Hip Flexors the Right Way
When hip flexors are trained correctly, the lower back no longer has to compensate.
Below are four simple steps to unlock and strengthen the hip flexors, helping reduce tightness and free up the low back.
Step 1: Active Hip Flexor Mobility (Couch Stretch Variation)
This variation transforms a passive stretch into active mobility.
By placing your hands behind you, extending your hips forward, and leaning back, you place the hips, spine, and shoulders into extension together.
Moving in and out of this position:
Improves hip extension mobility
Reduces stiffness
Prepares the hip flexors for strengthening
Improves tolerance to upright posture
This creates far more benefit than holding a static stretch.
Step 2: Strengthen the Hip Flexors in a Neutral Position
This exercise trains the hip flexors while maintaining a neutral spine.
Benefits include:
Improved hip flexor strength
Reduced spinal compensation
Better balance and control
Less strain on the lower back
Teaching the hip flexors to work without the spine compensating is essential for long-term relief.
Step 3: Strengthen the Hip Flexors in a Shortened Position
Training the hip flexors in a shortened range increases demand and control.
This exercise:
Improves hip flexor coordination
Builds strength where it’s often weakest
Enhances control during sitting and walking
Progression is achieved by increasing the height of the object while maintaining good posture.
Step 4: Strengthen the Hip Flexors in a Lengthened Position
This is one of the most effective ways to create lasting change.
By lifting the leg from a lengthened position and slowly lowering it, you apply eccentric loading to the hip flexors.
This:
Builds strength and flexibility simultaneously
Improves hip extension tolerance
Reduces chronic tightness
Encourages long-term adaptation
This is something stretching alone cannot achieve.
When You Need a Structured Plan
These exercises can significantly improve how your hips feel and reduce strain on your lower back.
However, many cases of low back pain, especially those involving sciatica or pain that radiates down the leg, are not caused by tight hip flexors alone.
In those situations, lasting relief requires a structured, symptom-guided plan rather than guessing with random exercises.
Our unique "Centralization Process" helps determine:
Exactly what is causing your pain
Which movements help
Which movements hurt
What needs to be addressed first and in what order
This approach has helped thousands recover and avoid injections or surgery.
✅ See on average a 37% reduction in symptoms in the very first session!
✅ Get a free demo with us following the link below!
Thanks for reading! -Dr. Grant Elliottr reading! -Dr. Grant Elliott
Comments