Knee Pain & Tight Hip Flexors - How a Tight Iliopsoas Can Cause Knee Pain

If you're experiencing knee pain, you might not think about how tight hip flexors could be related to your knee pain. However, tight hip flexors is actually a very common cause of knee pain because it affects the mechanics of the way the hip moves, which also affects the alignment of the femur (or thigh bone) all the way down to the knee joint. www.alethahealth.com/the-hip-...
When there's tension in the hip flexors, specifically in iliacus muscle, it will pull the pelvic bone forward into more of an anterior tilt position (relative to its natural alignment in a neutral position). This changes the orientation of the way the head of the femur fits into the hip socket, closing off the space and making it not move as well as it should.
What happens from there is that the hip and femur tend to internally rotate, which now causes misalignment down at the knee joint where the upper leg, lower leg, and kneecap come together. In an effort to stabilize and protect the knee, the surrounding muscles and tendons and ligaments will tighten up. This can create pain in the knee joint and increase the likelihood of injury to the area (like the MCL, ACL, PCL, meniscus, etc.).
As you can see, it is all about alignment. The knee pain is the symptom, yet the tight hip flexor was the cause that created the misalignment that ultimately led to the pain. To improve your knee pain, consider exploring your hip flexors and release the tension that they may be holding from too much sitting, running, cycling, squatting, stress, and much more.
Once these muscles are chronically shortened and contracted, hip flexor stretches may not be enough. Hip flexor muscles are most effectively released with direct, prolonged pressure with the use of a hip flexor muscle release tool like the Hip Hook (read more below). When combined with other corrective stretching, strengthening, and mobility exercises, the Hip Hook can help you improve the alignment of your pelvis, hips, and knee to improve your pain over time
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The Hip Hook is the world’s first muscle release tool designed specifically to release tension in the iliacus AND psoas muscles (your body’s main hip flexors). Using the Hip Hook just a few minutes a day can provide long-term pain relief to your hips, knees, and lower back.
If tightness in your hip flexors is at the root cause of your pain, the Hip Hook might just be the solution you’ve been looking for. Discover this for yourself in the book “Tight Hip, Twisted Core - The Key to Unresolved Pain” by Christine Koth, MPT.
Learn more about the Hip Hook throughout our KZbin channel and on our website.
Hip Hook - www.alethahealth.com/the-hip-...
Tight Hip Twisted Core Book - www.alethahealth.com/tight-hi...
Aletha Website - www.alethahealth.com/
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While there are many users of the Hip Hook with knee pain who have been successful and experienced positive results, it is recommended that you please consult with your healthcare practitioner before using this muscle release tool to assess your particular situation.

[@CarlaDeBouchet]

Thank you for this lovely explanation!

[@AlethaHealth]

You're welcome!

[@jotdhillon5365]

You literally took words out of my mouth took me months to actually find this cause so where it made most sense was whenever i sat and tried to rotate my knees outwards to open the hips my hip socket bone popped(more like rotated) and i also had pain near mcl you also mentioned that! Now im gonna check your channel for its solutions and if not please make a video on how to resolve it its been 4 years of pain while squatting now and its been really frustrating

[@AlethaHealth]

Our Hip Hook tool would be great for you to use to release tension in your hip flexors to improve this range of motion of the hip + have a positive impact on the mechanics of your leg/knee.

[@rodrigovalencia2764]

Awesome video! This video is so helpful and I appreciate you making this video. I had knee pain for 2 months and this finally explained everything to me. Thank you so much 🙏🏼

[@AlethaHealth]

Hi Rodrigo! We are so glad this video helped!! :)

[@srankuldeep]

I mean waiting for e hook hopefully it resolve my psoas illliospas released

[@srankuldeep]

Exactly it happened to me. My glute is inhibited no rehab or exercise help for either. Physio could not understand

[@alexanderryskiewich4694]

thank you for the helpful info, audio is a bit fuzzy

[@Swearengen1980]

I feel vindicated. I'm only 41, but have had a couple bad car accidents. For years I've dealt with lower back and knee pain, but when squatting, I described the pain "as if my hip was going to pop out of the socket". Terrible wording, I know. Not once did a Dr. or anyone simply break it down the way you did in this video. My hip flexors are insanely tight, injuries combined with a desk job (even though I'm quite active). But the femur not sitting in the socket properly and completely explains that pain I feel in certain positions when I'm squatting or sitting on my legs.

[@abbasali6890]

Yes madam I am some hip knee exercises performing every day and 50percent recovered hep knee pain

[@DonsHooplifesports]

Great video so how can we fix this ?

[@AlethaHealth]

Releasing the hip flexor muscles (like the iliacus and the psoas) can be a great first step to help improve the alignment and function of the hip and knee joints. Our favorite muscle release tool that has the ability to get to these muscles to reduce tightness is called the Hip Hook, which you can learn more about on our website. www.alethahealth.com/

[@masonnorvell2095]

So I’ve been dealing with knee issues for about 3 years now. My left knee has terrible knee cap pain. The right knee just feels as if the knee cap is very loose. The ortho doctors told me I have a lateral tilt in my patella. I’ve always had this catching sensation in my right hip flexor that is pretty bad. I wonder if the lateral patella is caused from what you mention about not being aligned. I purchased the hip hook so hopefully I see some results! I want to be able to live life again!

[@AlethaHealth]

Thanks for reaching out. Yes, it's possible that tension in the hips is ultimately affecting the alignment of the knee joint and causing some of the knee cap discomfort and instability. We hope that you start noticing a difference as you use the Hip Hook! Feel free to reach out to us at [e-mail] with any questions once you receive it and try it out.

[@james2450]

I’m kind of wondering if a lack of mobility in my hips is a significant factor in the ache which has plagued my right knee area for the past 1.5 years. I’ve dedicatedly purchased a program of rehabilitation exercises for months now and seen a string of different physical therapists, but it’s crazy how stubborn the problem is. I suspect tight iliacus because I can’t do pigeon pose at all with my left leg forward. My right side is much more mobile. But here’s the thing: my problem knee is the right hand one. I definitely recognise a lot of the symptoms you mention in my right leg; my foot tends to roll in and the front of my foot strays out.

[@AlethaHealth]

Absolutely, we wouldn't be surprised if by treating the hip flexor muscles with the Hip Hook, you'd see much more effective improvements with your knee pain. The exercises you're doing might help a little bit, but you may be missing a huge piece of the puzzle by failing to address the muscle tension issue that's causing the knee issue. This is the concept of treating a root cause vs treating a symptom. When the psoas and iliacus muscles are tight, they restrict motion from the hips and pelvis, which are supposed to be mobile areas of the body. When mobility here is limited, the body looks to make up for it elsewhere. Typically, this occurs in the areas above and below that restriction, which would be your knees and lower back in this case. Does that help and make sense?

[@james2450]

@@AlethaHealth thanks so much for your considered and detailed answer. Yes that does make sense. It couldn’t hurt to try and target and loosen up psoas and iliacus muscles. If this is the root cause then I of course want to focus on it, although I don’t know 100% that it is. The hip hook looks promising but I’m not really confident using on my own. I think I’d like to work with a physiotherapist who can help me increase suppleness and flexibility in my hips. Would you recommend a yoga or Pilates practitioner or someone else? I am based in Surrey in the Uk. Are there any practitioners you’d recommend? Thank you 🙏

[@AlethaHealth]

@@james2450 you're welcome. Unfortunately, we don't have any practitioners that we can specifically recommend. It would be great to search for a holistic physical therapist and have them press into your hip flexors to see what they discover and what that feels like. Chances are this area will be pretty sensitive and would benefit from being released.

[@leogrenier9488]

Finally found something that describes what im experiencing. Played football(soccer) for 10 years and after realised that my right leg is not quite aligned and was experiencing hip and inner knee pain. So my right knee is facing more inwards and my ankle is facing more outwards. Would you say that it could be due to tight hip flexors/misaligned hip?

[@AlethaHealth]

Yes, there is a strong chance that tension and imbalance in the hip flexors is contributing to this issue. The hip flexors directly impact the alignment of the pelvis, lower back, and hips (and therefore your legs). A tool like the Hip Hook could help with releasing this tension, supporting better alignment and movement of your body. shop.alethahealth.com/products/the-hip-hook

[@leogrenier9488]

@@AlethaHealth Thanks a lot!🤌

[@user-fo2cb8cp6q]

I’ve had this issue, way over year I’ve strengthen my glutes done resistant band work squats. You name it for months. Can’t seem to release right hip on left hand side. Don’t get pain in hip it’s just tight. But I get really bad pain in my knee on Outside off knee. Is there any specific Excerises to fix it? Feel like I’m going around in circles so frustrating. Even had swelling few times. I’ve had scan on my knee no ligament or cartilage damage. Just keep getting this pain

[@AlethaHealth]

If you haven't already been assessed by a PT for this, do that first. There is likely a piece of the puzzle that you are missing. From what we find, tension in the hips is a big contributor to knee pain. Releasing the tightness in the hips using our products like the Mark and Orbit, combined with your stretches and exercises, might be exactly what you need.

[@nolanhildebrand2453]

Can I release that hip at home with a ball and stretching? I noticed knee pain after hip hinging exercises, my hip mobility is pretty bad and I notice my knee/femur goes inward when I bend over

[@AlethaHealth]

If all you have is a ball right now, you can try and see how using it may help. It is important to note that you'd likely need a ball of about 4" in diameter to be able to reach the psoas muscle (which is one of your hip flexors). For the best results for releasing the hip flexors, you want to be addressing BOTH the psoas and iliacus muscles. Together, they make up the body's main hip flexor (the iliopsoas). Since the iliacus lines the inside surface of the pelvic bone (or ilium), a ball cannot angle in to press on that muscle directly for an effective release of tightness. That's where our Hip Hook tool comes into play. Its patented design enables it to apply precise and direct pressure to each of the psoas and iliacus muscles because of its ability to stay flat on the ground (to hit the psoas) and also rotate when pressing on the handle (to hit the iliacus). Releasing the tension in these muscles should help make your stretches more effective and also help you engage your glutes and other hip muscles that will keep your femur and knee tracking in a better position during your movements. We hope all of this helps! Please feel free to reach out to us at [e-mail] with any questions and we'd be happy to help.

[@nolanhildebrand2453]

@@AlethaHealth wow thanks so much! Very helpful

[@AlethaHealth]

@@nolanhildebrand2453 you're welcome!

[@TerriRobicheaux]

😮

[@abbasali6890]

Madam I also victim in same problem

[@AlethaHealth]

Have you considered getting our Hip Hook to help with this?

[@WillsM85]

Audio is very bad.

[@larryjackkelly]

audio is dreadful /

[@cherp5837]

The affectation in your voice is too much

[@user-fo2cb8cp6q]

I’ve had this issue, way over year I’ve strengthen my glutes done resistant band work squats. You name it for months. Can’t seem to release right hip on left hand side. Don’t get pain in hip it’s just tight. But I get really bad pain in my knee on Outside off knee. Is there any specific Excerises to fix it? Feel like I’m going around in circles so frustrating. Even had swelling few times. I’ve had scan on my knee no ligament or cartilage damage. Just keep getting this pain

[@AlethaHealth]

You can do all the strengthening and band work you want, but if you don't first release tension in the muscles that are very tight, your results are going to be limited. Areas like the psoas, iliacus, piriformis, and TFL would be areas to check in on and apply some pressure to help them relax. Then your stretches and exercises are going to be more effective.