Hip and hamstring

Yoga Discussion Structural Yoga Therapy
#1

Dear Mukunda,

I have a new student who has done a lot of strong Hatha yoga (Astanga et al…) and also was a dancer. Consequently she has several injuries that she has come to me with - saying that she is ready to work differently (ie: remedially). She has torn her right hamstring (which one i don’t know…) and has also done some damage/strain to her right groin and perhaps also psoas/hip flexor. External rotation of the right hip seems to aggrivate these injuries. She finds baddakonsana (going forward) very uncomfortable, feels a pull throught the front of the right hip when she is doing Parsvokanasana to the left, and also feels discomfort in this hip when in is flexion with knees to chest in Apanasana and prayer pose. She also feels a lot of pain in the R hamstring (so I had her modify by bending the leg slightly) when she drops that leg across the body in a one-legged version of Jatara Parivartanasan (from Gary Kraftsow’s Yoga for Wellness). I have had very similar injuries in my own body I think due to an overlly soft body (inc. Lumbar lordosis - tight psoas), over stretched SI joints, and not enough core strength. My assumptions are that she needs to work on stretchting the psoas/hip flexors with lunges, quad stretches, deep groin stretches, as well as piriformis stretches like Gomukhasana, Pigeon pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) etc. I am also thinking she needs to strengthen psoais with leg-lifts, as well as work on building stability in the sacral area with salabasana variations (including one-legged raises where she strenghtens the hamstrings). Also core-strenght building abdominal exercise. Firstly, am I on the right track? And secondly, can you tell me what may be happening with the interrelationship between hamstring and hip/psois/SI joint on that same side which i also suffer from?

Thank you for your numourous wise and interesting insights on yoga and Ayurveda and I look forward to your reply.
Many thanks

Ana

#2

Ana - First of all yes you seem to be on track with this, with the excepion of the psoas work. When there is a muscle injury of any severity my concept is to rest it for 2-3 weeks from stretching as this will tend to increase pitta. Begin therapy with mild strengthening to the injured muscles (hamstrings and adductors) and more aggressively by stretching the antagonists (hip flexors – psoas, rectus femoris, sartorius, and tensor fascia lata; and abductors – gluteus medius and tensor fascia lata). Strengthening the hamstrings and adductors can be done by bridge with variations of leg width, locust with variations of knee bending. Stretching of hip flexors can be done with mild backbends like camel with variations of knee width. Stretching of abductors could include standing side bend and if she can do it gomukhasana.

 As far as sacroiliac is concerned this needs to be tested.  Check another post on the sacroiliac for details on doing this and therapeutic exercise for it.