Hips don't get much attention. Your hips can become disgruntled campers from verbal attacks to the long hours you spend sitting on your ass each day–and that may spell trouble along the way. Here is why and how to rectify it.

When you're long inactive — consider hours at the office or watch TV— your hips become tight. When not extended, big muscles called hip flexors can start in your low back and cross over your hip.

If this happens, you can develop low back pain, says Marty Matney, LAT, ATC, Seattle athletic trainer, and Chair of the NATC, adding that many other smaller muscles working on the hip can also become near from inactivity. When left unchecked and tightness gets worse, you can experience changes in your hip joint's function and motion, which can lead to painful hip arthritis during your walk. In the worst cases, you may need some surgery.

Then how do you know that your hips are tight? There are some disturbing signs, Matney says: having difficulty from sitting up to standing, followed by some hard moves, a little bent up or downstairs and feeling sorry before or behind your hip. Knee pain could even result, mostly because of your gait changes due to tightness.

The solution is simple: step down and move, improving the versatility of the hip. The advantages? "With greater hip flexibility, you'll have smoother transitions, better walking, and less hip or low back pain," Matney says.

To make the hips and the muscles around a little easier, do Matney's five-stretched routine. Keep the entire sequence for 20 to 30 seconds and repeat it two to three times every day (do not forget to breathe in-depth) two to three times a day.

The ideal time to do a hip stretch of the day:

• Before and after a practice: Do #2, #4 and #5
• Every 20 minutes you take a desk break:  Do #1 and #2
• Before sleep: Do all five stretching exercises (or at the very least, do #3 while getting ready for bed)

1. Lunges (for Hip Flexors)

Start by standing together with your feet. Bring the right leg back to the floor until the knee is flat, then raise the right foot onto the ball. Keep back straight and head up, slightly lower until you feel a right hip stretch. Hold. Hold. Clearing and switching sides.

2. Hamstring Stretch

Stand with your feet, position your right heel on the floor, and flex your right foot to you. Lean slowly from the hips (hands may go on hips if you prefer) until you have a stretch in the back of the right leg. Keep. Hold. Clearing and switching sides.

3. Figure 4 Stretch (for Glutes)

Bend your knees, Lie on your back, then feet on the ground. Put the right foot on the left thigh, the left knee above. Take the right knee with your left hand, lift it gently to the chest, then left shoulder. Hold. Hold. Clearing and switching sides.

4. Inner Thigh Stretch

Stand wider than the shoulder length with your feet. Holding left foot on the floor, shift weight to right foot until you feel stretched inside. If you don't feel it, extend your legs a bit. Hold. Hold. Clearing and switching sides.

5. Outer Thigh Stretch

Switch right leg from standing position to the left foot, left hand supported by wall or chair. Keep the right leg straight and back straight; move the right hip straight. If you have to bend left knee, that's all right. Hold. Hold. Clearing and switching sides.