Complex joint – Femur head into the
acetabulum of pelvis.
Ligaments hold the bone in the socket
and allow it range of motion in every direction.
Muscularly very complex. Muscles to
move the femur in all those directions, many performing more than one
action. All these muscles attach to other aspects of the body,
creating a variety of tug of wars up into the back and belly, down
into the knees.
So, if your hips aren't happy, chances
are something else isn't happy either. And chances are good that
that something else made itself known before the hips became obvious.
Common ailments of the hips..
Osteo-Arthritis – inflammation of the
joint
Osteoporosis – loss of bone density
Bursitis – inflammation of the bursa
(the fluid filled cushions within the joint)
Sciatica/Piriformis Syndrome –
Sciatica comes from the vertabra, not a hip condition tho it sure
feels like it! Piriformis Syndrone is the compression of the sciatic
nerve.
Stand up and try all movements...
Hips can flex, extend, internally
rotate, externally rotate, abduct, adduct.
We will focus on flexion and extension
today.
Hip Flexors = quads, iliopsoas, tfl,
with a little help from your adductors
Are you tight or loose in the flexors?
Lie down and draw one knee in toward
your chest, allowing the extended leg to be completely relaxed. If
that extended leg pops up, you've got tight flexors.
Normal range of motion is 125 degrees
for flexion.
Now, if you don't have normal range of
motion, that may not be the fault of your flexors, but of your
extensors that are the antagonists to flexion.
Extensors = Hams, Gluteous Maximus
If you had trouble drawing your knee
toward your chest, you may have a tight gluteous maximus. It may
also be about your low back
How do you know if your hams are tight?
Stand up in Mountain Pose and put your hands on your low back,
notice the lumbar curve. With your knees straight but not locked,
begin to fold at the hip crease (what is this?). Stop when it feels
like you can go no further without bending your knees or rounding
your low back. Your flexors just made that happen! If your hams are
tight you will not have achieved the normal range of motion of 80
degrees flexion that your hams should allow for. As for extension,
normal extension for the hip is 10-15 degrees. If you are not able
to achieve this, its possible that your flexors are tight or your
extensors are weak (they are notorious for this).
In order to truly strengthen muscles,
they need a certain amount of flexibility. If they are too tight,
there won't be reasonable communication to the muscle fibers, as well
the muscle fibers will not be able to contract as they are already
tight. This is why the stretch is as important as the strength. We
will be starting our practices with yin yoga to provide this stretch.
Yin affects the ligaments, tendons, and fascia that surrounds the
muscles, as well as the muscles themselves. We begin with this
passive stretch before moving into stretch AND strengthen to build
strength and greater flexibility.
Practice
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