The next group of muscles that we will cover are the hip rotators, abductors and adductors.
The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus are the major hip abductors and medial rotators.
Both of these muscles proximately attach at the posterior illium and distally attach at
the lateral aspect of the greater trochanter of the femur.
As you can see this means that as they contract or shorten they will abduct the thigh at the
hip.
The fibers of these muscles also twist slightly as they make their distal attachment, especially
that of gluteus medius.
This means that this muscle is also responsible for medial rotation of the thigh at the hip.
The piriformis and quadratus femoris are the only lateral rotators that we will discuss
in these videos.
The piriformis has its proximal attachment at the interior surface of the sacrum and
the distally attaches on the greater trochanter the femur.
Along the posterior aspect as you can see.
The quadratus femoris has its proximal attachment at the lateral aspect of the ischial tuberosity
and has its distal attachment along the proximal femur.
Just like that.
As you can see both of these muscles take a journey from a relatively more posterior
proximal attachment to a relatively more anterior distal attachment.
This enables them to enact lateral rotation as they contract or shorten.
These muscles act synergistically with the other lateral rotators including the obturator
internus and superior and inferior gemellus muscles.
The adductor muscle group consists of 4 muscles: the adductor longus, brevis, magnus and gracilis.
For the purposes of this content review we will cover the muscles as a single muscle
group.
All of these muscles proximately attach along the pubis and the ischium.
And they distally attach all along the linea aspera of the femur.
As you see they're making the journey from a relatively more medial proximal attachment
to a relatively more lateral distal attachment.
This means that as they shorten, they would draw the femur in medially causing adduction
of the thigh at the hip.[00:00:14] >> In this video we will be covering some
of the muscles of the thigh and the hip.
We will begin by reviewing the muscle attachments and their actions which will be visually represented
using our skeleton.
And then we'll move through a yoga flow that draws attention to these muscle groups.WEBVTT
Kind: captions Language: en
Let's move into our yoga flow with the help of our yoga model, Ariana.
We will
once again begin by doing poses that stretch the muscles we just talked about
in order to identify where they are in our body.
After that we will move through
poses that engage the muscles in order to find how they work in our body.
We
will begin in a seated bound angle pose.
You can move into this by drawing the
soles of your feet together and holding the feet bound together with the hands.
On the inhale, you can lengthen through the spine, letting the shoulders roll
back and on the exhale you can tip from the hips bringing the forehead down
closer to the toes.
You'll start to feel a stretching sensation along the inner
aspect of the hips and the thighs.
These are your adductor muscle group muscles stretching.
With the legs in an abducted position in this pose, there's an intense
adductor stretch.
The anterior tilt of the pelvis as you tip forward further
exaggerates the stretch.
From here on the next inhale you can take the gaze out a few
feet in front of you.
You can start rolling your way up with the
breath, letting the shoulders roll back.
From here you can extend your legs out
in front of you.
On the next inhale you can cross the right foot over the left
planting the foot beside the knee.
If it's comfortable for you,
you're even welcome to draw the left foot to tuck beside the right hip.
That
part is optional.
On the inhale you can draw the left hand up towards the sky
and on the exhale the left elbow can come to plant outside the right knee.
Go
ahead and plant the right hand behind the hip using the inhale you can
lengthen drawing the spine upwards and on the exhale you can twist and gaze
back behind you allowing the shoulders to open up.
Noticing the stretch that begins to open up along the posterior aspect of the
right hip.
Here you notice that the right leg is adducted and medially rotated.
The stretch we feel along the posterior aspect of the hip are the
lateral rotator muscles stretching.
There is an especially strong stretch
along the piriformis muscle.
On the next inhale you can lengthen and on the
exhale you can release the twist bringing both hands to plant beside the
hip and you can unwind the legs allowing the legs to extend back in front of you
once more.
Changing sides we can let the left foot cross over the right knee
perhaps tucking the right foot beside the left hip.
You can keep
both hands planted beside the hip and on the inhale let the right arm lift up to
the sky with the exhale the outer aspect of the right elbow comes to plant
against the outside of the left knee.
Let the left hand can plant beside the
hip and on the inhale you can draw a line through the spine and with the
exhale take the gaze back over the left shoulder
finding a full stretch and an opening along the left lateral rotator muscles.
Again here, we'll notice that the left leg is adducted and medially rotated
which is why we begin to have a stretch along the muscles that are responsible
for lateral rotation such as the piriformis.
On the next inhale lengthen
and with the exhale unwind from the pose bringing both hands to plant beside the
hip and go ahead and extend both legs out in front of you.
On the next breath
in you can draw your right foot into the left hip crease holding the foot in
place with the left hand.
With the right hand, gently press on the inner aspect of
the right thigh so that your knee points down towards the ground.
By doing this
you deepen the lateral rotation of the right
hip in this pose and you begin to feel a gentle stretch along the posterior
aspect of the right hip.
This is where the gluteus medius and minimus are.
In
this pose we notice that the muscles that are normally
responsible for medial rotation are stretched as we go into deep lateral
rotation of the hip.
On the next inhale you can draw length and with the exhale
you can release the hands and uncross the leg taking it over to the other side
bringing the left foot into the right
hip crease, holding the foot in place
with the right hand and pressing the left hand onto the inner aspect of the
thigh.
Gently pressing down and noticing how the lateral rotation at the hip
induces a stretch along the muscles that are responsible for medial rotation.
With the next inhale, lengthen and with the exhale release the pose bringing both
hands to plant beside the hips and letting the leg extend back out.
We'll
now move through a yoga flow that engages these muscles in their actions
We'll start by coming to a cross-legged pose and then transitioning to tabletop.
Drawing the shoulders over the wrists hips over the knees.
You can tuck the
toes under and let the hips lift up to the sky, shoulders pulling back and on
the inhale you can let the gaze go up towards the fingertips and on the exhale
you can tiptoe your feet up to meet the heads finding yourself in a forward fold.
On the next inhale, draw a line through the spine and on the exhale soften and
fold forward bringing the body a little bit closer to the legs.
On the
next inhale, the right leg can lift up keeping the toes pointed down towards
the ground and on the exhale let the right hip open up towards the side
noticing that the toes will point out towards the side of the room.
You can
keep the gaze down to the mat and if you'd like here you can let the right
hand lift up to the sky for a halfmoon pose.
If it's more comfortable to keep
both hands planted on the ground, that's also an option.
You'll notice here that
at the standing leg we have medial rotation of the hip as the gluteus
medius and minimus engage in order to keep us stable.
At the lifted hip, we have abduction of the leg which is also created by the gluteus medius
and
minimus as they work to keep the leg lifted in the position that it's at.
Inhale and lengthen, with the exhale close the pose bringing the right hand
back down to the ground and letting the right toes turn back
towards thegrouith the next exhale you can set the foot back down onto the
ground and on the inhale we'll take it to the other side letting the left leg
lift back behind you toes pointed down on the exhale left toes point out to the
side left hip opening up on the inhale left hand lifts up to the sky.
Finding your halfmoon pose noticing the abduction of the lifted leg, the gluteus
medius and minimus on the left leg working to keep it abducted
And the slight medial rotation at the standing leg that keeps you stable.
With the next inhale, draw length.
And with the exhale let the left hand come back
down towards the ground and on the exhale you can let the left toes touch
back towards the earth.
With the inhale you can lengthen and start to work your way up rolling up one backbone
at a time
letting the arms lift up and over the head and drawing the hands into heart
center on the exhale.
And then here you can just turn to face the front and we'll move into the next sequence.
on the next inhale you can draw the right knee
On the next inhale you can draw the right knee
up towards the chest, bringing the thigh parallel to the
ground and on the exhale you can bring the right hand to the inner aspect of
the right thigh and gently press the leg out towards the side keeping the
left hand on the hip.
Work to keep the standing leg stable, continuing to notice
the work of the gluteus medius and minimus in doing so and notice the
engagement of the lateral rotator muscles in allowing
the right knee to point out towards the side.
As you hold the pose especially
you'll notice that there's significant engagement of these muscles.
Work to keep
the length in your spine through the pose to keep the shoulders rolling back
and on the next exhale you can close the pose drawing the knee back in towards
Center and letting the right foot come back down to the ground moving to the
other side the left knee lifts up left hand on the inner aspect of the thigh
and the right hand on the hip.
Gently press the knee out towards the
side noticing the lateral rotation you experienced at the left hip.
You can hold the pose for as many breaths as is comfortable.
Maybe becoming more aware of the engagement of the lateral rotator muscles along the
posterior aspect of the hip, over the course of the breaths that you're in the pose.
On the next inhale lengthen with the exhale, draw the knee back towards
center and bring the left foot back down to plant onto the earth.
Our next pose
will also engage the lateral rotator muscles with Vrikshasana, tree pose.
On
the inhale you can draw the heel of the foot of the right foot into the ankle
calf or onto the inner thigh of the left leg.
Work to find a gaze that's
steady, finding something to look at that's not moving maybe a few feet in
front of you.
Again here you can draw your right hand onto the inner aspect of
the thigh and the left hand onto the hip.
Maybe gently pressing the right knee out
towards the side to exaggerate the lateral rotation of the right hip in
this pose.
You'll feel the lateral rotators muscles engage and when you're
ready you can even draw the hands into heart center.
If you'd like you can stay
here and if you feel comfortable you're welcome to circle the arms up over the
head for a full expression of tree pose.
You can hold the pose watching the breath for as long as it's comfortable
and on the inhale lengthen with the exhale draw the hands back in to heart center
And release the pose when your ready drawing the right foot back down onto the earth.
Taking it over to the other side, pulling the left heel into the left ankle,
to the left calf, or all the way up into the inner aspect of the left thigh.
You can draw the hands into hearts center, and draw length through the spine,
and maybe with or without the help of the hand you can focus on pointing the left knee out,
towards the side of the room engaging those lateral rotator muscles on the left side.
Keep the shoulders soft and if you'd like to add in the hands your welcome to lift the arms up and over to reach for the sky.
Make sure to continue breathing here, finding a steady rhythm of your breath moving in and out through the nose.
When your ready with the next inhale, find length through the body, and with the exhale, you can draw the hands back in through hearts center,
and release the pose bringing the foot back to plant on the ground once more.
On the next inhale you can let the arms lift up and over the head, and on the exhale you can hinge at the hips, folding foreward.
Allowing the hands to come down to the earth,
on the inhale you can lift up halfway, and on the exhale you can plant the hands back down on the ground,
now scooting the feet out to the edges of the mat, allowing the toes to point out away from each other.
Gently let the hips sink back into a yoga squat, allowing the triceps to press against the inside of the knees,
and letting the hips sink back deeply.
Work to keep the spine long, hands at hearts center eventually bringing the forearms parallel to the earth.
From here you can release the grip with the hands and let the hands come to plant on the mat, insides of the knees still pressing against the triceps.
We're going to move into a pose to set up for crow pose, which is an arm balancing pose, we won't move into the full expression but we will talk about
how engaging the adductor muscles makes this pose more available.
We'll start by thinking about drawing the inner aspects of the legs closer together, thinking about isometrically adducting as the legs press against the arms.
You'll notice that this begins to lift some of the weight off of the feet, and it becomes easier to lift up on maybe just the right toes, and then just the left toes.
If its in your practice you are welcome to move into a full expression of the pose,
otherwise you are welcome to let the feet drop back and allow the hips to sink back into malasana (garland pose).
Our yoga squat.
Lengthen here through the spine, and then on the exhale, you can release the prayer position allowing the hands to plant on the ground.
And then letting the hips sink back behind you coming to a seated cross-legged pose.
Either with the hands at the knees or the hands at hearts center closing the eyes, and taking a couple full, deep breaths.
As we make our way to the end of this video you are welcome to stay here in seated meditation for a few moments before moving onto the next segment.