Hip to Be Square
By Julie Gudmestad
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Together, all five of these muscles adduct the hip; in layman's terms, they pull the thighs together. Several of them also have good leverage to flex the hip, pulling the thigh and torso toward each other. The other actions of the adductors are quite complicated. Depending on the position of the leg, they may also help rotate the thighbone internally or externally in the hip socket, or help extend the hip. (A hip is in extension when the upper leg is in line with or slightly behind the torso.)
Your adductors are quite easy to feel with your own hands. Start by lying down on your back with your legs out straight, and slide the tips of your right fingers down your belly until you can feel your right pubic bone. Then move your fingers about an inch and a half out to the right and about an inch down into your right groin. Squeeze your thighs together and you will feel the large adductor tendon become firm as the muscles pull it taught. If you continue this squeezing action, you should be able to trace the firm shape of the contracting muscles most of the way down to your knee.
Grounding Your Legs
Since you now know where the adductors are, let's take a look at their action in yoga poses. To begin to feel this action, stand upright in Tadasana (Mountain Pose). Place a block between your upper thighs, with the smallest faces pointing forward and back, and bring your feet as close together as you can without cutting off the circulation in your legs. You may notice that the presence of the block tends to make your weight roll to the outer edges of your feet.
Now press your inner thighs onto the sides of the block, feeling the firmness of the adductors as they perform this action. Make sure you are pressing evenly with your right and left legs. (Some people's adductors are stronger on one side, and this exercise is a wonderful opportunity to train the muscles for a more balanced action.) Also notice that as you press on the block, your weight becomes more evenly balanced between the inner and outer feet, and your legs ground firmly into the earth.
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