Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:11] Welcome to Deep in your yoga practice. I am Lauren Leduc, the owner and founder of True Love Yoga in Kansas City, Missouri. And in today's episode, we're going to deepen our yoga practices by talking about the hips. So this is understanding the hips, anatomy, mobility and stability in yoga. Hips are one of the most talked about areas in yoga and many students feel tight or stuck or uncomfortable in this area.
[00:00:37] The hips influence posture, low back health, our knees, our pelvis, walking and running, balance and stability. So when it comes to yoga, the hips are not just about stretching or what we might say opening.
[00:00:53] They are about stability and strength and adaptability.
[00:00:57] So today we'll explore the anatomy of the hips, the the bones, joints, muscles, ligaments and fascia. How the hips are designed to function, common restrictions and imbalances. Also the difference between mobility and flexibility and strength versus stretch in hip health. Also, how yoga can support functional hips and why opening the hips is a lot more complex than it sounds. If you enjoy this episode, I have a very similar one on the shoulders from just a few weeks ago. So if you'd like to deep dive into the shoulders after this, please, please go in and do that. There's a lot of great information there. But for now, we will dive into the hips. So let's go first, let's talk about hip anatomy and first we'll talk about the structural foundation of the hips.
[00:01:42] So first the bones of the hip. It's important to know that the hip is a ball and socket joint. So there is a socket and then a ball that fits directly within it, which allows for all kinds of movements.
[00:01:57] So the joint consists of the pelvis, and the pelvis consists of the ilium, ischium and pubis. Those are fused together as adults and into one pelvis. And then also the femur. And the femur is the thigh bone. It's the longest bone of the body. And the head of the femur is the ball.
[00:02:18] And it fits into the acetabulum, which is the the socket that is formed by the pelvis. It's important to know that hip socket depth varies a lot between people and this is going to affect how the ball moves within the socket and it's going to affect the mobility potential from person to person. So there is a lot of variation within hip anatomy. So sometimes if a yoga posture feels easy for you or if it feels quite difficult, it might simply be your bones structure and it's not really something that you can work with on a soft tissue level. So know that some students are anatomically built for deep external rotation, for instance, and others are not the hip joint. So the pelvis and femur is one of the most stable joints in the body. It's designed for stability, for load bearing and for multi directional movement. Just think about all the different ways that you move on your feet. The hips are designed to support that. Different movements of the hip are going to include flexion. So bringing the thigh toward the belly, also extension. So bringing the thigh away from the belly toward the back. Or thinking of bringing your hips forward, perhaps also abduction. So taking the leg away from the body, adduction, bringing the leg toward the body. Finally we have internal rotation that's taking the femur, being able to roll it inward. So if your knee was bent, that means your foot would go out laterally to the side, knee in. And then external rotation is. Which is what we work with quite a bit in yoga. Think things like pigeon pose or supine pigeon. We're bringing the femur and therefore the hip into external rotation, so opening up through the thigh bone. So the hip is meant to move in a lot of different directions. What does open even really mean? So it's not just about opening the hip. It is about free movement in many different directions as well as stabilization.
[00:04:33] Speaking of which, let's get into the muscles of the hips. We have lots of different groups of muscles within the hips. It's actually quite complex. So the first you've probably heard are called the hip flexors. So those help bring your thigh toward your belly. This is also what helps with like the hinging of the hips.
[00:04:54] So the muscles included within this group are the psoas and the iliacus. You might have heard these grouped together as the iliopsoas. Also the rectus femoris, which is one of the quadriceps muscles. So on the front of the thigh. So that's the first group. The second group are called the hip extensors.
[00:05:13] So that's going to help draw your pelvis forward or think of really any like back, butt bending postures. That's when you're extending the hips. So those are gluteus maximus, so the big muscles in your butt, the hamstrings as well. So the muscles that run along the back of the thigh and these move the leg behind the body. And they're great for powerful and explosive movements as well. The third group of muscles are the abductors.
[00:05:43] So these muscles will help take the leg away from the body, typically in a lateral sense. So from the side.
[00:05:51] So if you stood up, stood on one leg and then take the other leg out to the side. The muscles that are responsible for that are going to be your gluteus medius and also your gluteus minimus. And these abductors help stabilize your pelvis when you're walking. The fourth group of muscles are the adductors, and these are what bring your legs toward your midline. So those are typically your inner thigh muscles, your adductor, longus, brevis, and magnus. They're all adductor muscles, and they're named for their length, basically longus, brevis and magnus, and these help draw the legs together, and they are stabilizers as well. The fifth group of muscles are the external rotators, so that rotate your femur outward. These are your piriformis, your gumelli obturators as well, and these help turn the leg outward. It's important to note, too, that your glute max, which is a hip extensor, is also a powerful external rotator. And then the other ones that I named are actually quite deep. And then lastly, the sixth group are the internal rotators, which are the TFL or tensor fasciae latae, which are also adductors, and the glute med, which are also abductors. So same muscles that internally rotate also abduct the leg. So you don't need to memorize all of these muscles or groups, but do know that balanced hip function requires strength and mobility across all of these muscle groups and the actions that they produce. The hip is also made of connective tissue ligaments, and labrum and fascia ligaments connect bone to bone, and they provide stability to the joint, so they help prevent excessive movement. And typically, ligaments are going to be brakes for your movement, so again, they stabilize the joint and keep you within safe range of motion. We also have the labrum, which is a ring of cartilage that deepens the hip socket. So it's not like there's bone on bone from your ball and socket. There is this very strong and slippery cartilage that helps absorb shock and helps create a sense of stability. It's important to note that when we overstretch the hip, that it can irritate the labrum and that tears in it can cause pain and stiffness and clicking. So to keep this area nice and safe, it's really important to keep the core nice and strong to stabilize around the hip with all of its stabilizing muscles. We talked about to make sure we're properly warming up and that we're avoiding Extreme deep hip flexion or sudden pivoting movements. We also have fascia all over the body, of course, but in the hip, this is the connective tissue surrounding and that is also within the muscles and also surrounds the bone. Sometimes the fascia, when it is dehydrated, can create sensations of tightness through the hips, and it responds really nicely to slow, mindful movement rather than like super aggressive stretching. It's important to note too, that within the hip, there are lines of fascia that connect the hip to different parts of the body. So within the anatomy train system by Tom Meyers, the deep front line, the lateral line, and the spiral lines all run through the hips. So they're highly connected to many areas of the body just through the fascia. So. So there are some common hip issues that we see in yoga students. The first is when someone says they have tight hips. So this can mean a few different things. It can often mean weak glutes. It can mean limited neuromuscular control. Maybe it's the nervous system protecting the body. It might even be a lack of internal rotation that's available to the student. Another common complaint or issue we might see is from overstretching.
[00:09:48] So that might mean too much deep pigeon or aggressively holding postures like hanumanasana or splits at end range for a long time. Maybe it's a lot of passive holds without support in end range. And this can lead to joint instability and labral stress. And that's why in practices like Yin yoga, which are inherently passive, you'll hear great teachers always say to not go as deeply as you can into postures. Yes, you're holding them. Yes, sometimes it can be a little bit uncomfortable, but typically we're not going to be at our edge for that amount of time. It's simply not the safe or smart thing to do, and it makes the practice less effective. Another common thing we'll see is hip impingement. I actually have one in my right hip, and this is a condition where the hips, ball and socket bones might be a little misshapen and it might cause them to rub abnormally and create some friction. So this might be felt as compression in the front of the hip. This can commonly be felt in deep flexion postures.
[00:10:52] And again, this is simply influenced by the bone structure. I'll say for me personally, lengthening around the hip has been extremely helpful where I almost never feel pain anymore in that area. But it's also at times going to limit range of motion. Know that not all bodies are meant for extreme Ranges of motion. That's why they're extreme. So when we're working with yoga students, we're really wanting to work with individuals, knowing there's a lot of variation amongst individuals and help people find what is right for their particular bodies. Now we'll talk a little bit about mobility versus flexibility and how we'll define it within the context of this conversation. Flexibility is our passive range of motion. So thinking of getting into a shape, letting gravity really do the work, versus mobility, which is active range of motion. So this is your active and controlled range of motion. We can think of mobility that is flexibility that's actually useful for us in daily life, and that is functional. So when we're talking about this in regards to hips, I'd say mobility is more important than flexibility. Mobility requires strength and control and awareness, and that is also what healthy hips require as well. So we use our hips in many ways during a yoga practice. Some are great for building strength and some for mobility, and some for both. Some great strength building postures are things like our warrior poses. So warrior one or two, also chair pose, bridge pose, lunges, stabilizing postures like Half Moon or warrior three, maybe even things like Goddess pose where you're holding a wide squat. And when we practice these, whether through dynamic movement, so like moving with the breath or through something that is longer held and isometric, meaning we're engaging our muscles to stay in posture, like Hatha yoga, we're going to develop more stability, more control, more resilience through our hips by practicing these. We can also develop more mobility and functional range through yoga. We might do this through more dynamic movement rather than isometric, and that could be through dynamic lunges. Maybe things like hip circles. Think like coming to tabletop and drawing some circles with your knee one way or the other, we might find these through slow transitions from posture to posture. So we're moving in an eccentric way. I always encourage my students to move as though they're moving through honey. And that recruits so many muscles as you're transitioning from posture to posture, which is going to help build strength and mobility at the same time. So increasing this mobility and this functional range of motion is so great for joint health and nervous system safety. There are also postures that can be so nice for stretching. This might be for fascia release, for letting go of tension in the muscles. So that might be when we're using things like pigeon figure four, lizard frog pose. And all these stretches should be supported and intentional rather than forced. We're typically going to do These type of postures also toward the end of a practice, not beginning, because they can temporarily weaken your muscles, but they can create this really nice sense of release.
[00:14:17] Also know there are so many different types of ways to access the hip. So are we stretching in external rotation like pigeon, or internal rotation like Virasana or Hero's pose, in extension like a supported bridge or inflection? Maybe that's drawing knees to chest or finding a seated forward fold? Are we abducting like in frog pose or are we adducting like with any posture where legs are together?
[00:14:46] It's important to move through all these different ranges so that you're not just addressing like external rotators, for instance. We'll talk a little bit now about nervous system and hip sensations. Hips can often feel intense because there's a high concentration of nerve endings here. They're also proximal to the pelvis and core and there's an emotional association with the hips. If you're interested in this. I have an entire episode about whether or not emotions or trauma are stored in the hips. It has a lot of interesting information about the brain and the nervous system. So working with the hips can bring up sensation, physical, emotional, etc. So it's important to know that sensation doesn't have to equal danger. So we really need to bring our awareness into hip stretching and strengthening as well. And to never seek pain or get to the point of pain as we're working with them, but to find what we might call in Yoga, teaching our edge, which is a place of challenge and then drawing back a little bit. So we don't want to stay at that end range or place of challenge where it could transition into pain. We want to ease off that a little bit. So it's okay to be with sensation. If you practice Yin Yoga, it's a great practice of being able to distinguish these sensations and to work with them and to befriend them because you have the time to work with them there. Also note that intensity does not equal effectiveness.
[00:16:20] So we're not trying to move in this way that is super intense. That is not going to quote, unquote, open you up any faster. In fact, it's probably going to impede any progress in your flexibility or mobility or strength goals. So we want to be moderate. We want to be okay at times with a little bit of discomfort, of course, and that takes discernment as a student. So how can we improve our hip health? Here are some practical tips. First is to build strength, especially through the glutes and Anything stabilizing the hip. We also want to move our hips through all planes of motion. So not just forward and back, but side to side and through rotations.
[00:17:05] The third tip is to include internal rotation work. This is often neglected in yoga. We don't see it in a ton of postures, but we can work with it through things like wide leg forward fold. There can be a slight internal rotation and we're drawing the femurs in toward each other. Or we can find internal rotation in downward facing dog. We can find slight internal rotation in bridge pose. The fourth tip is to use dynamic warm ups before deep stretching. So that might be moving with the breath. That might mean things like leg swings or hip circles or walking lunges. Or maybe there's sun salutations, like classical sun salutation A that has lunges in it that help warm up the hips in a dynamic way. The fifth tip is to respect your anatomy. Not all hips are going to move the same. Hips come in different widths, they come in different socket depths and socket sizes. There's variation between male and female hips, between the hips of children and adults, and then beyond that we have our individual patterns and history and injuries, etc. So just respect your individual anatomy. Of course, explore safely within that. But what you're doing with your hips doesn't need to look like what the person on the mat next to you looks like. Also, the sixth tip is to pair stretching with strength. So balance is key.
[00:18:34] Sometimes as yogis, especially if we tend to be more flexible, we can really neglect strengthening. So I really recommend both. Both are so important. I have a great episode. If you're interested in it, I can link it in the show. Notes about why yogis need strength training and how to incorporate more strength based practices into your yoga practice.
[00:18:55] That's something I come back to over and over again. I also want to talk straight to the yoga teachers right now. I want to point out some key takeaways for you from this conversation as you're guiding your students.
[00:19:06] So one is to avoid forcing alignment. I've talked about reasons why, but everyone is different. They have different levels of mobility and range, different levels of strength. So we never need to force. We need to work with individuals instead. And that being said, it's important to offer options for our students and to offer them in a way that is not hierarchical. They are simply options that are all variations of some kind of form. We want to avoid saying directly or even implying that deeper is better. So it's not about forcing or comparing. It's about finding a sense of depth that is safe for the student, that is good for their nervous system, and that allows them to stabilize if that's what they're needing, or to continue developing their personal mobility. Also, as teachers, we can watch for compensation in knees and back. They're both highly connected to the hips, so you might notice things like knees caving inward during squats or things like chair pose, which might mean their adductors are weak. And then things like lower back pain or stiffness or an exaggerated curve in the low back, also known as hyperlordosis, might be from things like tight hip flexors. Or there might even be a sciatic like pain. If the piriformis is tight, maybe the hip flexors are weak, which makes the low back unstable. So we're walking, watching for these compensations, and we can cue to the hips to help them feel more strength and ease in their body. We can also teach active engagement within stretches. So while this might not be appropriate for like a yin yoga practice, maybe instead of just going right into pigeon, we're pressing into the ground in pigeon pose. Maybe if we're in something like a forward fold, it's not just folding over the legs and maybe extending or hyperextending the knees. Maybe we're bending the knees slightly and pressing the feet down and away from each other. And then suddenly we feel our abductors light up. And finally, we can encourage curiosity over achievement. Always, always, always in yoga practice. Curiosity, awareness, these are the keys. Achievement is sometimes just a bonus. It's more of a product of the practice. It's not the goal. So before we close, I'll invite you to reflect on a few questions. First, do I push my hips beyond what feels stable?
[00:21:34] Next, do I avoid strengthening work? And finally, am I chasing shapes or am I building function? The goal of hip work is not extreme openness. It's balanced, resilient movement that supports you for life. So thank you so much for listening today. If you'd like me to go more into specific joints or different aspects of yoga anatomy, I love doing the research for these episodes and delivering them, and I'm happy to chat about it some more. So thank you so much for joining me today. See you next week. Om Shanti Om. Peace.
