At Home Stretches For Tight Quadriceps Muscles
Video Transcript
Dr. Alibhai here from Stuart Chiropractic. I’m going to show you a stretch for your quadriceps muscle here; it’s the front of the thigh. This muscle attaches all the way in through your knee, it comes in through the front of the hip, and blends in with your hip flexor which travels from your hip all the way through your abdomen and into your back. The tightness that you experience here is responsible for a lot of pain that we get in our lower back because we’re so tight in the front. I want you to do this stretch; this is the key part in the morning, afternoon, and evening, you’re sprinkling it throughout the day.
Now, we’ve all seen the stretch—and I hope so—that where you grab the front top part of your foot with your hand and you bring your heel towards your bum, okay, just like that. I want you to stand nice and tall. I’ll show you a modification if you’re having difficulty actually reaching your foot. And you’re going to stand nice and tall, don’t arch your back too much, I’m going to tuck my tailbone down, okay, so that I get a more effective stretch in the front. If you’re maybe only here, then push your foot into your hand and relax, and then take the stretch further as you breathe out, okay. We’re not looking for any cramps to happen; we want the stretch to feel more in the front. You’re going to hold that for a longer period of time, between 20 and 30 seconds. You can alternate on both sides and do that twice.
Next thing I’m going to show you is, you can actually rest your hand, both hands if you need to; what you need one hand free, so rest one hand there, and then you’re going to pull your heel towards your bum. This allows you to get some strength and stability while you’re not compromising your balance, and you can stay strong on your other leg, okay. If you need to lean forward, that’s totally fine. Sometimes I’ll rest my head on my hand like this and hold the stretch for a longer period of time. Make sure you do both sides. Let me know how this stretch works for your at home; I think it’s really going to help you. Take care.
