Supta Baddha Konasana and hip pain

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi all. I am new to the forum - started looking for a forum to answer this question but am really enjoying this space on line. Seems like a great community.

I am just returning to a consistent yoga practice this summer. It has been about a year since I’ve been able to work with a teacher; when she moved to another state I did not follow through on my own and am trying to get back to a regular daily practice. My question is about Reclining Bound Angle pose. My hips and hamstrings are incredibly tight. Within the last week I have started seeing real improvement in every other area, but when I move in to Supta Baddha Konasana, it flat-out hurts. Not tightness, but actual pain. Has anyone else experienced this? Am I trying to go too deeply into the post too soon and working against myself? Would a blanket or bolster help?

Thanks for any suggestions.

#2

First post? Welcome!

I need more info my friend.

Flat out hurts WHERE?

How are you doing the pose, on what, with what, set up in what way(s)?

#3

I usually do it last, before Savasana, on my mat with no props. The pain is in the front of the hip joints. It feels like right where the psoas meets the femur, though of course there are other muscles and tendons that could be affected.

I’ve been trying to focus on hips, hamstrings and lower back, which have always been tight. I always include warm ups and twists, sun salutations, garland pose, low lunge, tree pose, warrior II and standing forward bend. Other poses vary according to time and motivation. Hamstrings and thigh muscles seem to be responding, but the hip socket doesn’t seem to be.

Any thoughts? Let me know if you need more info.

Thanks.

#4

Now that I have been reading on line, I feel a little dumb! It looks like this reclining version of the pose is suggested with blankets at the back and under both legs. I’ve never had an instructor do this or suggest it - maybe the limitations of class space? Anyway, I will begin trying with the props, but I am still curious if anyone has suggestions for poses to help relax those hip flexors, etc.

#5

You could try doing this face down as you then use your own body weight rather than only muscular effort to open the hips and no props are needed. And keep the feet as low to the floor as possible…if your hips are very tight they tend to come off the floor.

#6

Ahhhh thank you! It’s like a refreshing beverage.

First, the pose in question…it is a restorative pose, passive, supported and therefore it is best done on a bolster. Even then there are those with additional physiological needs. For those students properly placed props under the outer knees are helpful and often soothing.

Second it is more typically weak glutes (maximus and medius) or chronically tight adductors that inhibit the pose you mention, speaking only anatomically. Have your teacher show you poses, preferably supine ones, that facilitate external rotation.

In our particular practice we teach an entire supine hip series which includes 7 of the eight movements of the hip as the 8th one doesn’t need to be done since it is the nature of the hip in a biped.

#7

Thank you both for the input. I tried the pose today with both suggestions. Face down (thanks, Yogaprem), which was very awkward but helpful. Will have to work on form, I think, but I’m definitely keeping that one. Gordon, I think I have both the weak glutes (getting better - a definite difference just in the last week or so) and the tight adductors. Using the support today I could relax completely and was suprised to realize just how much I had been resisting the pose before.

Feels like a breakthrough. Also a spiritual lesson. As usual.

I live in a very small town and our resident yoga instructor recently moved away, so I am solo for a while. But I think I will try to contact a former teacher to see if she has any other suggestions for me. I will also keep reading here.

#8

It is an allowing of the groins to open over time, not a forcing in the moment. Forcing and feeling can not coexist in the student at the same time.