Hip rotation issues

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I’ve been practicing yoga for about 8 months now, and I’ve determined one of my biggest physical road blocks is my hip ball socket. I have fairly good flexibility at the hip joint moving the leg forward, backward, and from left to right. But I have problems rotating my upper leg in the hip socket. It just feels very tight and it puts strain on my knees when I am trying to rotate my foot around. My knee feels like it want to dislocate.

Can anyone recommend some stretching exercises that will help my loosen up that rotation problem I have in my hip socket?

#2

Technically it’s not an issue “in the socket” but in the surrounding musculature.
And from what you are sharing it sounds like you are targeting external rotation.

The movements of the hip are integrated. They go together and should be evaluated both in terms of the other movements and in terms of their opposing sides. From there a direction can be mapped to balance the hip complex through specific doing and duration.

In Purna Yoga™ we do a complete hip series and that series is done in the supine position. Best to ask your teacher how such things are addressed in the style of practice you’ve chosen.

gordon

#3

Agreed.

External rotation can be addressed by: Trikonasana, Virabhadrasana 1 and 2, Parsvakonasana and Janu Sirsasana.

Also Pawanmuktasana 1: knee cranking, half-butterfly, hip rotation, full butterfly. PMA 2: leg rotation.

Always remembering that we are more than the sum of our parts.

Good Luck

#4

That is correct, external rotation. Thank you for the replies, namaste.

#5

There’s actually no external rotation of the femur in Virabhadrasana 1, for whatever that’s worth:-)