A friend asked me whether the hips should be tightened or relaxed in yoga backward bending posture? This problem also puzzles many people.
My friend said that before she asked me, she actually went to the Internet to search this question.
However, she found that there were different opinions on the Internet, some said to tighten and some said to relax, and each had its own reasons, and they all seemed to be the same thing, so she came to ask me and wanted to discuss with me the treatment of hip muscles in backward bending posture.
Interestingly, I only said a word to her and she understood.
What is this sentence? It will be revealed at the end of the article.
I believe this sentence is applicable to everyone.
Part I: general introduction.
To understand whether the hips are tightened or relaxed in the back bend, we should first find out the two questions.
Now let’s talk about whether the hips should be tightened or relaxed in the back bend pose? To fully understand this problem, we must first understand the following two questions: 1.
What will happen to the body when the hips are tightened and relaxed? Especially in the area of pelvis and lumbar spine.
2.
In different backward bending postures, what kind of state of pelvis and lumbar spine is more conducive to our backward bending, and what kind of state is not conducive to our backward bending.
If you really understand these two problems, you will naturally understand: how to deal with your hips in backward bending.
The logical relationship is very simple.
I believe everyone can understand: if the state of the body is more conducive to backward bending when the hips are tightened, the hips should be tightened; If the body’s state is more conducive to backward bending when the hips are relaxed, the hips should be relaxed.
Let the body speak for itself, not sit here and think about how the body feels.
The second part expounds these two problems respectively.
Let’s discuss these two issues step by step.
1.
What happens to the body when the hips are tightened or relaxed? Here we mainly discuss the tightening and relaxation of gluteus maximus.
Because gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the hip.
Secondly, when doing backward bending, the hip joint is doing stretching exercise, and the role of gluteus maximus is responsible for hip joint stretching.
Gluteus maximus: the picture below is perfect.
We don’t care about his starting point, ending point and innervation.
We mainly look at the role of gluteus maximus: hip extension and external rotation.
In other words, when the gluteus maximus contracts, it will extend the hip joint with external rotation.
Hip extension, as we already know, the body bends back; Let’s see what happens to hip external rotation.
When the hip joint rotates outward: This is a picture of the human skeleton seen from the back.
When the hip joint rotates outward, as shown by the red arrow in the above figure, the upper iliac bone will retract inward as shown by the green arrow, and the pressure of retraction will be applied to the sacroiliac joint.
The more the gluteus maximus retracts, the more the hip joint rotates outward, the more the iliac bone retracts inward, the greater the pressure on the sacroiliac joint, and the space of the lumbar spine will decrease.
On the first question, let’s summarize: when the gluteal muscle is tightened, it will not only cause the extension of the hip joint, but also cause the external rotation of the hip joint.
The tighter the retraction, the greater the external rotation range, the greater the compression and pressure on the sacroiliac joint, and the space of the lumbar spine will be squeezed at the same time.
Next, let’s look at the second question: what is the state of the pelvis and lumbar spine that is more conducive to retroflexion.
Before discussing this issue, let’s talk about the backward bending in yoga.
In yoga, we always have the theory of deep backward bending and shallow backward bending.
To put it simply: shallow retroflexion: it only occurs in the thoracic spine.
Retroflexion is done through the opening and extension of the thoracic spine, and the lumbar spine does not participate.
The lumbar spine and pelvis can be regarded as the support of the thoracic segment.
For example, basic Cobra pose, crescent pose, warrior pose, arm raising and back supine pose, etc.
Deep kyphosis: a kyphosis extending from the thoracic spine down to the entire spine, with the participation of the lumbar spine.
Such as snake king and wheel.
Let’s discuss the second problem on these two kinds of back bends.
1.
When doing a shallow back bend.
When doing shallow retroflexion, the lumbar segment is not involved.
The lumbar spine and pelvis exist only as supports.
How about the support? Support should be stable and strong.
How can we be stable and powerful? Start muscle strength, stabilize bones and joints, provide a stable foundation for the opening and backward bending of thoracic segment, and let the thoracic segment do backward bending safely and boldly.
Therefore, the hips should be tightened when doing shallow back bends.
2.
When doing deep back bends.
To learn more, let me share the dry goods here again: how to practice yoga backward bending step by step.
When doing deep backward bending without hurting the waist, the lumbar segment and even the whole pelvis should also participate in backward bending.
How about participating in the back bend? The more you want to extend and extend, the larger the space is, the greater the range of back bending will be, and the compression between vertebral bodies will be reduced to the greatest extent.
At the same time, because the whole spine is involved in retroflexion, the sacroiliac joint will also tilt backward with the pelvis.
If the sacroiliac joint bears too much pressure, it will reduce the space of the sacroiliac joint itself and be squeezed; At the same time, it will also reduce the space of the lumbar spine.
These are all factors that are not conducive to the participation of lumbar segment in retroflexion.
So you can’t tighten your hips when doing deep back bends.
3.
At this time, there will be another problem.
The back bend needs the foundation to be stable.
If the hips are not tightened, how can the foundation be stable? At this time, the adductor muscle of thigh will stand up and play a role.
As we said earlier, the lumbar spine and pelvis can be regarded as support in shallow backward bending, and the pelvis and thighs can be regarded as support in deep backward bending.
So tighten your thighs, especially the inner side of your thighs, in Shenhou Bay.
On the one hand, it provides stability as body support, on the other hand, it also offsets the pressure of hip external rotation on the sacroiliac joint.
Many people may ask again, why is there pressure on the sacroiliac joint when the hips are relaxed? Adductor muscle is needed to offset it? Here comes a little knowledge: when the hip joint bends forward, the hip joint will actively inward; When the hip joint is extended, the hip joint will actively outward..
