Guide

Tight hips, in plain terms

Hips that feel locked are rarely one muscle. They are a front that has shortened from sitting, a back that stopped moving, and a body that learned to work around both. The first step is finding which of the three is doing the pulling.

What tight usually means

Sitting keeps the front of the hip short for hours at a time, so the hip flexors adapt to that length. The deep rotators at the back stiffen when the hip stops moving through its full range. The hamstrings pick up what the hip stops doing, and the lower back compensates for all of it. Tight, in most people, is that whole arrangement, not a single spot. It is why a stretch aimed at one muscle often changes little.

Why the floor stretch stops working

Alone, a stretch asks the muscle to lengthen against its own guard. You reach the first resistance, hold, and stop there, because nothing tells the body it is safe to go further. Do that for years and you own the same range you started with. Assisted stretching adds two things you cannot give yourself: a second pair of hands to hold the rest of the body still, and a moment when the muscle has just worked and lets go more easily.

What assisted stretching changes

On the table, dressed, I take the hip in one direction at a time: the front, the deep rotators, the hamstrings, the inner thigh. Each one goes to the point of resistance, then, with PNF, you push gently for a few seconds, release, breathe out, and I take it a little further. Two or three rounds, then the next angle. Most people feel the difference standing up at the end, and notice the range is still there the next morning. When the sessions are weekly it builds. How PNF works.

What I look for first

How you get up from a chair. Whether the pelvis tips forward when you stand. Which leg you put your weight on. Where the movement stops when you bring a knee to your chest, and whether it stops at the front or at the back. That reading takes the first ten minutes of the Foundation visit and sets what we do with the other fifty. It is a practical read of how you move, not a medical assessment.

Tell me first

A hip that hurts sharply rather than pulls, a recent injury or operation, a hip replacement, or a pregnancy without your doctor's go-ahead: tell me before we begin, and I adapt or leave that area out. This is bodywork, not treatment: I do not diagnose, and a session does not replace care from a doctor or physiotherapist.

How a session runs

The Foundation visit is a full hour at $99: ten minutes to read how you move, fifty of stretching. After that, sessions run 60 to 120 minutes from $190, at home, in the garden, or on a hotel terrace. Clients who settle into a weekly rhythm join Le Rythme, sixty minutes a week at $150. Same practitioner each week, so the starting point is never guessed.

Book the Foundation visit Assisted stretching, the full page

Written by Farid, the practitioner. Last checked 10 September 2026. All guides.