100.4.3 - Seated Inner-Thigh Stretch
Description
This article is from the Stretching FAQ, by Brad Appleton Brad_Appleton@ivhs.mot.com with numerous contributions by others.
100.4.3 - Seated Inner-Thigh Stretch
You should still be sitting on the bench with your outstretched leg in
front of you. Now turn on the bench so that your leg is outstretched to
your side, and you are facing the leg that is bent. You may perform this
next stretch with either your toe pointing up toward the ceiling or with
the inside edge of your foot flat on the bench with your toe pointing
forward (but flexed), or you may try this stretch both ways since you will
stretch some slightly different (but many of the same) muscles either way.
I prefer to keep my toe pointed towards the ceiling because I personally
feel that the other way applies to much stress to my knee, but you can do
whatever feels comfortable to you.
*Note:* If you are using two chairs instead of a bench, the first thing you
need to do is to make sure that one of the chairs supports your
outstretched leg somewhere between the knee and the hip. If the support is
being provided below the knee and you try to perform this stretch, there is
a good chance that you will injure ligaments and/or cartilage.
Place your hands underneath the bench directly under you (or you may keep
one hand under the portion of the bench that is below the knee of your
outstretched leg) and pull yourself down and forward (keeping your back
straight) as if you were trying to touch your chest to the floor. You
should be able to feel the stretch in your inner-thigh. Hold this for
about 20 seconds.
For the isometric stretch, do the same thing you did with the hamstring
stretch: keep both hands underneath you as before and try to force your
foot downward "through" the bench.
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