Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › One leg-standing to exhaustion causing pain in right leg › Re: One leg-standing to exhaustion causing pain in right leg

02/14/2014 at 10:46 pm #74146
AvatarNathan Richer
Participant

so as you have found out, a straight leg raise is not simply a physical issue, it can also be a neurological issue. if your body is braced correctly/strongly, your hams will release because the body perceives it doesn’t need to contract to protect itself.

proper form is to keep the other leg laying flat on the ground. it should not rise at all. this also shows you have proper control of your core, keeping it stable while the other leg is raised.
there are a few ways to practice for better active straight leg raise.  here are 3:

one of them is the turkish get up which fixes a whole bunch of problems if you do it right and often.

there are more, but for some reason those guys don’t do a good job of putting some behind a login wall and some not.

certainly smashing and mob of the posterior chains: glutes, hams, calves, heel cord will help. i would also look to smashing the psoas in front and quads for rectus femoris as they are hip flexors and help to lift the leg. if they are tight, then they are not a optimal muscle length for strength.