When it comes to sitting all day long, unfortunately, there are quite a few negative impacts this has on the body. The most popular negative impact people seem to pay attention to the most is how sitting can cause tight hips.
If you don’t have the luxury to counteract sitting’s negative impacts while at work, then don’t neglect this muscle group.
This is actually the tightest muscle from sitting all day –
The hips and the IT bands get all the attention for being extra tight, but there is actually a muscle group that can get even tighter than your hips–the groin. The groin is the area between the abdominals and the part of your thigh around the pubic bone, which is an area that is called the adductor muscles.
If your groin becomes tight it can affect the way you walk. Allowing the groin muscles to become tight will decrease the movement of the hip and legs, which ultimately can increase the tension on the joints and significantly increase your chance of injury (particularly in your low back and knees).
A great stretch to elongate the groin is one that can be performed on your back with a towel or yoga strap.
Groin Side Sweep
- Lie on the floor and loop your yoga band or towel around one of your feet. For instructional purposes, let’s start with the right foot.
- Grab the end of the yoga strap or towel with your right hand to create tension.
- Keeping your shoulders on the ground, gently lower the right leg out to the side, while keeping it as straight as you can and towards the floor until you feel a stretch in the inner thigh.
- Hold for 15-30 seconds before bringing it back to your neutral starting position.
- Then switch sides.
- Hold this stretch for a few times on each leg, alternating back and forth.
Here are more stretches you can do to relieve a tight groin.
