Ride Better 1-2-3: Online Rider Fitness Clinic Week 10- Stretches for Tight Thighs and Hamstrings

Hi,
Last week there was a great comment posted to the Ride Better blog, with some really good photos and questions about tight hips and hamstrings.

The Rider
Sarah's clinic submission is in the comment section of the Week 9 clinic if you are interested in reading it in her own words. In summary, she is a 21 year old rider who has just picked up riding again after a break. She would like to do Eventing, but she is working on the flat with her coach to establish a sound seat and good functional posture before taking it over fences again. She has been working without stirrups for about four months (see her photos below in the comments). She has mentioned a feeling of tightness in her hip flexors, thighs and left knee, and a tendency for her left thigh and lower leg to 'travel' around more than the right while she is trotting in particular. Sarah refers to her feet as 'duck feet' (sticking out), and said that it is painful to turn them in. She also said that she has extremely tight hamstrings which she notices when she gets off the horse. Due to a recent accident affecting her quadricep, she is not able to do strenuous exercise at this time, and has asked for some recommendations about stretches.

Posture & Biomechanic Analysis
Oh boy Sarah- I wish I weren't limited here to the three exercise suggestions for the blog! I'll get you started here, though correcting your tightness and strength imbalance issues completely involves a whole program of abdominal, thigh and leg work, both in stretching, strengthening and muscle memory work. The good news is, you really can make a difference in your riding with some dryland work, so I'm really glad you chose to submit your question to this online clinic. Within a few months you would see some significant changes, and would have fun comparing 'before and after' photos a year from now.

Even without reading your comment submission, it is clear to me from your photos that you have very tight inner thighs, particularly on the left side. The tell tale sign is the obvious pinching in of your upper thigh, with your feet being quite far out from the horse. In your rear-view photo, I also notice that you sit to the right of your horse, with a left spinal curve in compensation. Typically, I would expect your right leg to be more straight under you as a result, and your body to be using your left inner thigh to hold you on- creating more tension in the left than the right which is indeed the case. The one drawback of riding without stirrups CAN be that if you are losing your balance (which you are- not good for when you get to over fences work), your thighs can tend to clamp on for balance. You need to shove your left foot down while riding and get your two seatbones evenly on both sides of the horse's spine. Sit up straighter.

You are holding your legs fairly straight down, with your heel only slightly ahead of your hip in your side view pictures. However, this position looks 'forced' and it seems that your legs' natural tendency is to creep forward and want to be in a chair seat, and you are using force in your upper hamstring to keep them back. Without your comments, I would have said you had tight hip flexors. Your hamstrings are tightening as you ride, which you also point out.

Lack of ability to inwardly rotate your knee/foot is related to weakness in the inner thigh. It's counter-intuitive because you'd think that with the clamping that's going on, your inner thigh would be strong. Actually, the range of motion involved is so short that instead of strengthening the inner thigh, the clamping is having an effect of producing repetitive strain symptoms, in your case, in your left knee where the inner thigh muscles join with ligaments on the inside of your knee.

Recommendations

Here's what I would suggest as a most immediate, short program of exercises to target your key riding issues affecting your posture on the flat and safety over fences. If you would like a more complete program, I do have online coaching options which you can email me about on my website. Meantime, here's what I suggest:

1. Stretch daily before and after you ride, and on days you don't ride. Before you ride, flow in and out of the stretches to warm up the tight areas. Afterwards and on days you don't ride, TAKE 20 MINUTES to stretch. You have tightness issues that will not be resolved with a 30-second quick stretch here and there.

2. Areas to stretch: 1. Hip flexors (runners' lunge) 2. Hamstrings (foot on chair, toe touch and lying on your back) 3. Inner thigh (side lunges, side splits) .

3. Strengthen: inward rotating/inner thigh muscles by straddling an exercise ball with your feet in close and parallel to each other. Then rotate your knees in and out about 30 times, about 3-4x a week. Balance this exercise with outward rotations by lying on your side, lifting one leg up just above your hip, and turning your knee and toe up to the ceiling and back down again while keeping your leg raised.

Let us know how it goes!

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Comment by Barbara Ellin Fox on May 9, 2009 at 2:55am: Dear Heather,
Until I had written about my own issues in detail, I had no clue that my problems were so much like Sarah's , except of course, Sarah is not dealing with age. Well I guess the hip thing must be a fairly common problem. And we know that all of us will face the age thing eventually!

Comment by Barbara Ellin Fox on May 9, 2009 at 2:37am: Hi Heather,
I hope this is the place to add my questions.

First a little back ground description. I have ridden since I was a child. I have never been a pleasure rider but have always schooled horses and as a child rode hunter seat Medals, hunters etc. In my 30s I trained a lot of Arabians in all of the disciplines.
I took a break from riding when I had kids and when I started back I had extra weight to deal with and was very out of shape. Then had a couple of accidents that I don't think have much to do with the question I have.

I just turned 60 and am not finding it to be a thrilling experience. Over the past few years I have found myself getting stiffer and stiffer, particularly in the hips. When I came back to riding I began riding in a dressage with a long stirrup. I took a couple of dressage lessons on a warmblood and it turned out my thighs were too tight and kept him from going forward. MyArab mare was stiff one way and this didn't help her either.

Now I find that I'm particularly tight in the left thigh, so much so that I'm depending on the left stirrup for my balance. My thigh clamps onto the saddle so much that it makes it hard to lighten that leg and I find I really restrict the horse. Also when I ride a horse that spooks left I usually push myself right off the horse to the right because I bracing on the left foot. I lose my balance more easily on circles to the right. I know this sounds like I'm banging all over the horse but I'm not. It's just that I know what I feel.
My riding instructor daughter says that I'm too tight in the hips. I know that I am and it is not improving with age. I don't think my hamstrings are tight. I do exercises to strengthen and stretch for my heels use one of the half round styrofoam things to stand on and stretch my heels down. My daughter complains that my heels are too down when I ride. (I complain that her's are not down enough!)

If I try to do "legs away" when I ride I get severe charlie horses. When I'm not riding I do butterflies (sitting on the floor, feet together, pressing knees down) and I try to bend my body forward for more stretch. I also do lunges. I don't think these exercises reproduce the same action for my thigh as riding the horse produces. Is there another exercise I could do for my hips? Or do I need to work other muscles in order to help my hips?

Since my left thigh and hip is the worst it makes mounting hard (My TB is 16.3), even from the mounting block. I stretch both legs first by putting my foot as high as I can on the pipe fence panels and hold it for 15 seconds. But I always have to lengthen my stirrup considerably to mount up and I'm grateful that Bertie Boy is patient.

Interesting to me is that I went for physical therapy on my neck and upper back last year. (Too many falls- it was time for my body to have some help) The therapist also worked on my lower back a little bit. For months after word I felt 10 years younger and had much less trouble mounting my horse.
So I wonder if this is from a combination of stiffness in the hips and back,

To take this one step further, I intend to ride for many more years and I'm guessing that I will become generally more stiff as I age. I'm working to lose my excess weight but it will take awhile but I should put together a general stretching program so that I don't have to battle more body parts!

I hope this is enough information to explain my questions. I'm sorry that I don't have pictures of myself riding. I can't stand to see myself at this point! I don't have trouble keeping my seat over my legs and feet correctly. That was ingrained from childhood. I don't have difficulty wrapping my legs around the horse. I also don't have enough strength in my legs to ride without stirrups yet.

Thanks Heather. Let me know if you need more info
Barbara

Comment by Sarah Uecker on May 9, 2009 at 12:41am: Thanks Heather, that really helps! Sorry it's taken me so long to respond; it's the week before finals at school, so everything's a bit crazy.

You're definitely right about fighting the chair seat. I used to ride with a Wenglish instructor and tore around on barely broke horses hanging on with my knees. It was one of the first things I had to work on when I resumed riding. Because my hips are so tight, or when I'm fatigued, I often have to try to 'force' my legs in the correct position. My legs can't wrap cleanly around the horse because of my tightness, so I tighten up even more to try to get into the right position.

The good news is that I've been going to physical therapy for the quad injury and found out it's not only the quad but also the hip flexor that I strained. My PT also gave me some hamstring, quad, and soas exercises, so between the two of you, I should be very flexible in a few months!

Thanks for all the great insight and exercises.