Just a question here about hips which are imbalanced. I know most of us, if not all, have a more dominant, stronger side when doing certain asanas, but this is something which I’ve noticed for a while now.
Whenever I do balancing warrior poses or variations thereof, i find a have a lot of pain particularly in my left hip, i can only hold those poses for a few seconds before it becomes very uncomfortable.
Any suggestions on what I can do to strengthen this weak point? What I can do to open them up even more? I find even walking up stairs for long periods of time, really affects my hips also.
Ideas?
Which poses in particular, where in particular, and what is the nature of the pain?
How old are you, what is your fitness background, and are there any prevailing health conditions?
What is the nature of the pain - sharp or dull, and is it constant or periodic, radiating or localized? Is it better in the morning or evening, with heat or with cold?
gordon
Hi Gordon,
I’d say this really happens during the lunge poses and balancing lunge pose, twisting lunge pose. Whenever I do these asanas, I find a lot of the stress is in the forward leg hip.
37, no prior health conditions, but was a long distance runner for many years, no health issues whatsoever and quite healthy. Not overweight but within range for my BMI given my height and weight.
The pain is slow to start, it’s like the burn you feel if you hold any pose for too long, but in this case, I feel it very quickly. Dull pain, localized just in that hip joint and only when I do these poses.
I also feel it when i do certain Pilates poses for those areas, I even went to see an osteopath about it and she gave me a few exercises to do to loosen up in that area, but to no avail. i feel it more irrespective of whether I’m doing yoga in a heated room or not.
Some food for thought until Gordon answers. In your practice do you do a hip opening series? If so, perhaps it is overstretched and weak thereby not supporting you in the pose. But more than likely it could be the Psoas (hip flexor) that is tight.
Check your alignment in Tadasana. Bring awareness to your feet and how weight is distributed to each. You can also stand in front of a mirror and place your hands on the hips ASIS area to see hands are even. If not, alignment is off, pelvis is tilted and the Psoas stays tight.
So to clarify this a bit further:
Vira I
Vira II
Parsvakonasana
Parivrrta Parsvakonasana
Vanarasana
These are the poses where there is pain in the front hip?
And if so could you outline the relationship of the front thigh bone to the floor AND of the knee to the ankle bone?
Thanks lotusgirl and Gordon!
Yes, those asanas are the ones.
Knee is right over the ankle.
Front thighbone is parallel to floor