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What About the Hips?

3/14/2017

3 Comments

 
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Yogis love to talk about the hips, so much that it has become a joke.

The hips are big joints with diverse movement, and they are central in the body. It is hard to consider any movement or yoga posture without considering the hips.

BACK PAIN
The main hip muscles that give us everyday problems are the hamstrings, in the back of the legs. They can get very tight from sitting, running, cycling or any number of activities. The problem comes because tight hamstrings can cause the pelvis to tilt backward and flatten out the curve in the lumbar (lower) spine. This will create weakness and seizing muscles in the low back. As such, back pain can be caused by tight hamstrings.

HIP FLEXORS
The muscles in the front of the hip that help us lift the leg forward are called the hip flexors. These get very tight when we sit a lot (which most of us do). Tight hip flexors can also prevent the pelvis from moving freely, causing problems in the spine. Pretty much all of us can benefit from stretching our hip flexors.

HIP ROTATION
This is the movement required for many advanced yoga postures, especially for long sitting that enables breathing and meditation. The hips externally rotate, requiring flexibility in the psoas and iliacus, the tensor fascia latae, the gluteus medius, the adductors (inner thigh), and the stabilizers like the piriformis. Hip rotation gets into a lot of small, tough muscles, so progress is often far slower than when we stretch longer muscles. Be patient.

SCIATIC PAIN
The sciatic nerve comes out of the low spine and weaves through the hips before running down the leg. Irritation of the sciatic nerve can result in hip pain and pain or tingling that radiates down the leg. This irritation can be difficult to heal, since the nerve is long and complex. A good place to start is with the piriformis, one of the externally rotating hip stabilizers. Postures like Pigeon that stretch the back of the hip may bring some relief.

OVERDOING IT
Once the pelvis is free to move forward and backward, and the spine is able to maintain its natural curves, the hamstrings are long enough. Sometimes there is a tendency in yoga to stretch the hamstrings as far as humanly possible, but that is rarely healthy. And it actually doesn't serve many advanced yoga positions, which generally require hip rotation instead of hamstring length.
3 Comments
Beau. Bikram yoga teacher
12/27/2018 11:17:20 am

Love it. This blog is good. Thank you

Reply
Jamie
12/27/2018 03:03:03 pm

I appreciate your blogposts, thank you. You mention pigeon, what other postures do you recommend for hip flexors and tight hamstrings? Or does pigeon take care of it all?

Reply
Scott (Ghosh Yoga)
12/28/2018 10:52:23 am

For the hip flexors, great postures are the Lunge, which is also called Salute to the Gods and Goddesses; and Locust, lying on the belly and lifting the legs.

For hamstrings, Balancing Stick (also called Warrior 3) is best. It combines strength and length in the hamstrings without overdoing either.

Pigeon won't address either of these muscle groups, so be sure to do a variety of movements in the hip.

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    Scott & Ida are Yoga Acharyas (Masters of Yoga). They are scholars as well as practitioners of yogic postures, breath control and meditation. They are the head teachers of Ghosh Yoga.

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