Happy Hips: Yoga for Adductors (inner thighs) and Abductors (outer hips)

From the second in our Happy Hips Series Class...

Marisa's Notes:

Adductors – muscles of the inner thigh. Some are short, some are long. All connect sequentially to thigh bone or lower leg bones. All connect to pubic bone (and one also connects to SITZ). These muscles bring your legs together (ADD them together!)  Need a visual?  Check here and look for the inner thigh muscles.

Find them - Lie down, use a strap to help find your adductors. Be sure they are all inner thigh, not the inside back of your thigh (the inner hamstring often stretches with the adductors). Reasonable ROM here is supine, 90 degrees at hips, take leg to the side. Each side should be able to achieve 45 degree angle or more without lifting opposite hip or changing hip crease angle. Bear in mind, this assumes normal ROM in hams. When strengthened in asana, these muscles are major stabilizers, bringing in your center of gravity and taking excess work from surrounding muscles.

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Abductors – Outer hip. These guys really hold your leg in the hip socket and help with everyday activities like walking. Tensor Fascia Latae TFL (talked about last week), gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.  Need a visual?  Look here.

Find your abductors – lie on your side, hand on hip between the top of your pelvis and the head of your thigh bone. Lift leg with knee pointing straight ahead (no rotation) and no movement of pelvis, you should feel those muscles engage. This is also a great way to strengthen. Good ROM varies, mostly due to the restriction of other muscles and the shape of your acetabulum.

These are also stabilizers and worked against one another, the adds and abs can help you gain more space in your hip and better balance. See if you can activate these muscles in the standing leg of you tree pose. While working against each other, you can also gain greater ROM in flexion and extension as they seat the hip. In other words, its worth playing with these muscles isometically in most yoga poses, even (maybe especially as it will increase your proprioception) when they are being stretched.

In the accompanying practice, you may wish to do Yin Half Frog if your adductors are a great deal tighter on one side than the other.  Spend more time on the side that is tighter and do the looser side first (this sends signals to the tighter side to begin to let go).  To do half frog, lie on your belly and take one leg out to the side, right angles in ankle, knee and hip.

For the Trikonasana (Triangle pose)  be sure to work to keep the back abductors (outer hip) engaged as you move.   This is not easy but will greatly develop your awareness.

This adductor/abductor practice can be integrated with the flexor extensor practice.  Do all the yin, then all the Slow Flow asana, and don't forget your Savasana.