If you’re a runner, you may warm up with some dynamic hamstring stretches and reward your glutes and quads with a little foam rolling action when you’re done. But how often are you stretching your hip flexors? Probably not very often, right?

Despite being a core group of muscles used when running, the hip flexors—a cluster of muscles in the front part of the hip—are a part of the body many people neglect to stretch. When they get tight, the stiffness can prevent you from running your best and can contribute to lower back pain. How can you prevent it? The hip flexor exercises rounded up here are the ones physical therapists recommend most to runners as well as people who cycle and row.

How to know if you have tight hip flexors—and what happens if you ignore them

“Hip flexors refer to a group of muscles around the hip joint that are responsible for lifting the leg or ‘flexing’ the hip,” says Duke Hasson, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at DISC Sports & Spine Center in Newport Beach, CA. He explains that since muscles can only pull, the hip flexors—located at the front of the hip—work to raise the leg and knee toward the chest or abdomen.

If you sit all day, Andy Fata-Chan, PT, DPT, a physical therapist and coach at Moment Physical Therapy & Performance, says you very likely have tight hip flexors because the knees are closer to the chest at about a 90-degree angle. “It’s like walking around with your biceps curled all day,” he says. But he says that certain forms of physical exercise can cause tight hip flexors too, like cycling and rowing. “Any exercise where the knees are closer to the chest in a flex angle can cause tight hip flexors,” he says.

Running can cause the hip flexors to become overworked and tight, says Jason Cherry, PT, DPT, an assistant professor of physical therapy at Binghamton University. If you ignore the tightness, those hip flexors can lead to increased strain on the knee, specifically the knee cap. “Tight hip flexors can also lead to increased strain on the lower back,” Dr. Cherry says.

How do you know if you have tight hip flexors? Dr. Hasson says the most common symptom is pain or discomfort in the front of the hip. “This pain may be noticeable when getting up from a seated position, during stretches or when leaning backward. Tightness across the hip is also a common sensation,” he says. When this happens, it’s going to limit your range of motion, which can impact your gait, making you run slower and increasing your risk of getting injured during your runs.

10 hip flexor exercises for runners

Whether you want to prevent tight hip flexors or already have them, regularly doing hip flexor exercises can help. The ones rounded up here are the experts’ favorites for runners.

You don’t have to do them all in one go. Instead, Dr. Fata-Chan says to integrate different ones into your routine at different times. For example, some of the dynamic hip flexor stretches are good to do before a workout, while the static stretches can be done after a workout or worked into your day as microbreaks. He adds that it’s important not to forget about stretching other parts of the body too, such as your lower back.

“If an individual has tight hip flexors, they can stretch these muscles for one minute once daily. One minute can be achieved by holding the stretch for a shorter duration for multiple bouts—for example, two sets of 30 seconds or three sets of 20 seconds,” Dr. Cherry says. He adds that stretching should not feel painful, and that if you do experience any pain while doing these stretches, that’s a sign to see a physical therapist.

1. Half-kneeling hip flexor stretch

This is a good static stretch to do after exercising or that can be done anytime during the day, and comes recommended by Dr. Cherry.