Why Your Hip Flexors Ache After Long Runs (and How to Heal Up Before Your Marathon)
- Marie Whitt
- Sep 1
- 6 min read
Let's talk about all the things you've already tried:
Yoga
dynamic stretches
leg swings
static 1/2 kneeling stretches
twisting yourself into a pretzel until you're more than mildly concerned you can't untwist yourself.
But that deep, dull, soreness and ache persists.
Because here's the scenario: You're 2-3 weeks out from your marathon and the long runs are finally getting shorter and your taper is just over the horizon.
You're partly hoping this taper will save you because during your last couple really long runs, the 16-20 milers, you started to notice a lingering soreness in the front of your hip.
Is it left over from that hip flexor strain earlier in the season that didn't completely clear up? Or is this a result of stress and load of your current peak week?
Even with your easier runs recently, it's been talking. Sometimes forcing you to cut your runs short, maybe walk more because the dull ache starts to become painful.
You've stretched before and after.
You've done the standard hip openers the internet says should work.
But so far, it doesn't seem to matter.
The big question becomes:
Do you push through, keep running, and potentially risk your race? Or do you immediately throw yourself into hard core rest and just brace yourself for the inevitable itch to "just for a short run?"
How about we tackle that hip flexor soreness and deep, dull ache together??
In this blog, let me show you how to loosen up tight hip flexors, manage the ache, and protect your marathon finish line.
Let's hop in.
Your Solution: Hip Flexor Exercises for Runners With Front of Hip Pain
Circuit:
3-4 sets each // LIGHT & medium weights
Supine Banded High Knee Pulses
2x to fatigue each side (suggestion: 15-30 seconds each leg)
World's Greatest Stretch
2x ea side
Slow Banded Mountain Climber
10 reps ea side (fast rep of knee to chest with 3 sec slow return to starting position)
Split Squat Hip Flexor Iso Hold
2x ea leg hold to fatigue
Beat Hip Flexor Soreness from Marathon Training and Long Runs
Supine Banded High Knee Pulses
What I need you to learn: your hip flexors and your core are friends.
TOP TIP: really, I need you to grab a heavy looped band. Because this light-band stuff is NOT enough.
Yes, your hip flexors and core and closely linked muscle teammates, often performing similar actions, not to mention they're anatomically neighbors. I've had the MOST success with runners and patients in the past with front-of-hip tightness when we get these muscles communicating and supporting each other again. You can choose to do this version with the straight leg either hovering above the ground for extra core, OR to have the heel of the straight leg pushing into the ground. I really like that second option from the perspective of your opposite glute is working while your pumping with your hip flexor, which is exactly what happens during your running stride.
World's Greatest Stretch: Variation
I know you've seen this before, but let me give you my secrets to making it better.
THE SECRET: when you're in the looong deep lunge position, let yourself sink down into it, both when you first come into the lunge, and then again as you begin to lean backwards.
As you repeat this stretch and re-sink into this position, your core and hip flexor will start to relax, release, and "let go". Not to mention, this position continues to encourage hip flexor + core synergy in a position that looks like running.
Hey, don't skip that little rotation I threw in there. You need that!
Slow Banded Mountain Climber
I highly suggest you DO NOT try a regular (fast-moving) banded mountain climber. It will only end poorly.
PRO EXPERIENCE: the band will just keep flying off. At least mine did. If yours sticks better and you want to do a regular mountain climber, have fun. But don't sleep on this version.
I love combining upper body push positions into running-rehab and strength exercises because it's one more piece of the stability puzzle that your body craves when it's trying to put itself back together. Believe it or not, your upper body does have a push moment and a pull moment during your running stride. This position helps support and strengthen that. But what you're going to feel the most is how your core and upper body are engaged immediately.
The hip flexor becomes involved with a FAST high knee (or knee to chest movement). But what comes after is the most important. I want a slow, controlled return to your starting position that takes 3 seconds. This is why you need a heavy band. I need you to work hard here, not "I can barely feel it".
Split Squat Hip Flexor Iso Hold
Oh lawd, my legs almost fell off. Spice level is HIGH.
THE KEY: I was inspired by one of my favorite PT's online to throw this one in. And YES, the back foot must be off the ground. Trust me, I tried without-it's not the same.
You will feel a TON Of quad burn here, but not all your work has to be in your "hip flexor" area, because believe it or not, your quad is still a hip flexor.
I like this exercise for obvious "it looks like running" reasons and you can do it with or without the alternating running arms. But I like how it re-integrates your hip flexor work into the rest of your body, because EVERY THING is working here. It's always important for us to treat the muscle or tissue that's hurts, but it's equally important to remind the entire body how to work together again.
WRAPPING UP
Let's get nerdy for a hot minute.
You'll see A LOT of exercises on the internet and instagram touting hip flexor strengthening. And they're not wrong; but they're not always 100% right.
When searching for research articles for this blog post, I was deliberately looking for newer ones between 2020 and 2025.
Um, and the evidence is....scant.
This is to say: your pain is real.
The deep dull soreness that just makes you want to stretch all day every day isn't in your head.
Especially because I've treated runners just like you in the clinic.
But I want you to be armed with more nuanced knowledge.
I'm struggling to find high-powered, running-specific research studies that say "WE NEED TO STRENGTHEN OUR HIP FLEXORS!!"
But I can find lots of studies on the benefits of hip strength for hips with actual pathologies (no, I'm not saying this is you. Your leg is not going to fall off).
But what I am saying is that very small studies do support hip flexor strengthening.
However, don't take these as an end-all-be-all. Studies like these are more like a suggestion. A glimmer saying, "hey maybe we should check this out more and see if it's solid and true."
What I want you to take away from this blog and these exercises are that these exercises I've given you are based on the overall body of evidence I can find of how we heal our hips and heavily influenced by how I've successfully treated in my own practice.
Hips that present just like yours, just like the starting scenario in the blog, tend to do best and recover with these elements:
an emphasis on overall hip girdle strengthening (meaning strong hips in every direction)
hip flexor work that integrates core (your hip flexors are a sneaky part of your core and they need to work as teammates)
hip mobility (specifically restoring hip extension and internal rotation)
It's important to me to explain this to you so you understand: not ONE exercise is always a quick fix. It could be for you, and that's great!
But if you need to pick a few exercises from the circuit I've written and combine them with your current favorites too, that's ok.
If doing the hip flexor strengthening exercises you find on the internet seems to be your missing piece: great!
But don't forget those key points I've mentioned above.
Because your hip is amazing piece of anatomy that moves in muliple different directions with the help of many, many muscles.
So don't forget about them.
And if you're looking for more hip strengthening exercises that are specifically designed for runners looking to go the distance and run stronger, I've got you covered with FREE strength guide for runners:
And until next time, running fit fam...
Dare to Train Differently,
Marie Whitt, PT, DPT //@dr.whitt.fit
REFERENCES:
please note, I'm not 100% satisfied with these, but they are what's currently available in the literature at the time this blog was published
DEANE, RUSSELL S.; CHOW, JOHN W.; TILLMAN, MARK D.; FOURNIER, KIM A.. EFFECTS OF HIP FLEXOR TRAINING ON SPRINT, SHUTTLE RUN, AND VERTICAL JUMP PERFORMANCE. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 19(3):p 615-621, August 2005.
Yamanaka, R., Wakasawa, S., Yamashiro, K., Kodama, N., & Sato, D. (2021). Effect of Resistance Training of Psoas Major in Combination With Regular Running Training on Performance in Long-Distance Runners. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 16(6), 906-909. Retrieved Aug 25, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0206
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