[Tango-L] Milonga Aftermath - Sore hips

[reklame]

Hi Caroline,

It is difficult to know which muscle is the problem based on your description.  However, the way you describe the stretch it sounds like you are stretching mainly the front of your thigh, instead of muscles in your hip.  I would suggest an other stretch that is more connected to reaching out backwards (i.e. walking backwards and trying to reach far back on every step).   I believe that quite many beginning dancers would benefit from this, as their bodies are not prepared for walking backwards yet.  If this particular spot is tight, it will also affect your walk forward.  If these small muscles are tight and have not been streched in years, it will take several weeks with very gentle streching to get them elongated enought for those gracious long backsteps.

The difference between this stretch and the one you described is that know the knee should go far back. 

There are several variations on this:  

1) stand on the side of a bed.  put one knee and foot on the bed, and move as far forward on the floor with your other foot as you can.  Keep your hips upright. Do not bend your torso forward.  See how far back you can let your knee go.   This is stretching the small muscles in your hip that control the position of the knee.

2) On the floor. I have seen runners do it this way.  It is basically the same thing. Put your weight on one knee, and move the other foot (forward knee bent in a 90 degree angle) as far forward as you can.  You can start with leaning over the forward knee, but you want to try to come up with your torso, and get your hips upright, even if the other knee is far back behind you.  The more advanced stretchers put more distance between their knees, and go even further down while keeping hips upright.  Bending forward is cheating. Get your head, torso and hips upright. 



Best,
Eero

> 
> Hi,
> 
> each time I return from a Milonga, my hips tend to be very stiff and sore 
> and that feeling would last for a couple of days. Every day I try to stretch 
> out the hip tendons by standing and holding one foot behind me (like runners 
> do) and tilt my hips forward in order to really elongate the stretch but 
> other than minor relief, it's not helping much. Anyone have suggestions for 
> alleviation of hip pain?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Caroline
> 
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