Tight Hips? Try out these Quad Stretches on your Stairs!

by westcoastsciJul 5, 2022Exercises

How do you stretch your quads?

If you have tight hips and thigh muscle tightness, doing these stretches can help ease the tightness. These exercises are all done on a staircase, one with a sturdy railing would be great!

Follow along with these 6 stretches for relieving tightness in your hips and thighs lead by a physiotherapist.

Standing Quad Stretch

30 seconds each leg

Holding onto the handrail of the stair, grab your ankle
Pull your knees together
Pull your heel up to your butt
Try to stay nice and straight, slightly pushing your hip forward a little bit to get a nice stretch through the thigh

Hip Flexor

30 seconds each leg

Place one foot up on the step and one on the ground
Do a pelvic tilt, pretend as if you had a tail, you’ll want to position yourself as if you’re tucking in your tail
Lean forward into the stair
You should feel a really nice stretch along the top of your thigh on the ground
The more you tilt, the more you should feel the stretch

Glute / Hip

30 seconds each leg

Sitting down on the 2nd step, bring one of your legs over the top of your thigh, creating a ‘figure 4’
Your ankle should be resting on your thigh
Lean forward, chest toward your thighs

Hamstring

30 seconds each leg

Place the heel of your foot on the 2nd or 1st step, toe pointing up, straight ahead
Slightly stick your hips back and lean forwards towards your foot
Key thing is to drive your hips back before you lean forward

Hip Abductor

30 seconds each leg

Put one leg on the step
Lean/Squat down slightly until you feel a stretch in your inner thigh of the leg that’s up on the step

Calf

30 seconds each leg

Stand up on the step with both feet
Move one foot slightly behind the other, resting the ball of your foot on the edge of the step
With that foot balancing on the edge of the step, drive your heel towards the ground
The more you push down through the heel, the more of a stretch you’ll get

Check out the video below to follow along with the exercises in real time.