Hip flexors are a skeletal muscle group that affect standing, walking, sitting up, stretching and running. The hip flexors are made up of two muscles: Iliacus and the Psoas Major. Their purpose is to flex the femur, which pulls the knee upward. The flexibility of your hip flexors determine the depth to which you can take stretches such as splits and straddles. You can improve the flexibility of your hip flexors over time by exercising and stretching them regularly.
Understanding the Muscles
Together, the Iliacus and the Psoas Major muscles are known as the Iliopsoas. The Iliacus begins in the pelvic crest and attaches to the femur; the Psoas Major, which is the longer of the two, begins in the lumbar vertebrae and also attaches to the femur. When you lift your knee, the Iliopsoas work in tandem to draw your thigh up to your torso. These muscles are also engaged when you bring your torso down to your thigh, such as when doing a situp.
Purpose
The purpose of hip flexors is to flex the femur, bringing the knee and and torso closer together. Hip flexors are responsible for having good posture and being able to walk or run easily with proper form. The Iliopsoas is one of the muscles that evolved over time to allow humans to walk upright -- and the effect of an underdeveloped Iliopsoas can be seen in mammals that walk on all fours. In athletics, the purpose of training your hip flexors is to improve your hip flexibility, stride length and running power.
Training
The hip flexors are an often under-trained muscle group. They are more deep-seated than other muscles and relatively few exercises exist to strengthen them, compared to other muscle groups. However, with focused training, improving your hip flexor strength can lead to improvements in running, sprinting, cycling, rowing and mountain climbing. Another reason to train the hip flexors is for injury prevention. Neglected hip flexors can lead to groin and hamstring injuries, as the hip flexors are responsible for applying the "brakes" for forward motion. In general, neglecting your hip flexors will lead to bad posture and contribute to lower back pain.
Stretches and Exercises
Exercises that strengthen the hip flexors include situps, leg raises, hanging leg raises and resisted hip flexion. There are resistance machines that work the hip flexors by having you sit with your thighs inside of padded rollers, then pressing your thighs together against weighted resistance. Stretches that work the hip flexors include straddles, splits and lunges. Other movements that exercise and stretch the hip flexors include side lying front and back kicks and leg circles with your back flat on the floor and leg extended into the air.
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