08/27/2014
PurFit News, Good Readings, and Inspiration. From my website post www.purfityoga.com
Downward Facing Dog & Adductor Maximus... good muscle to know
All of us have seen ourselves or others in downward dog with rounded backs and posteriorly tilted pelvises. We might verbally be cued to push our hands into the floor, press the chest downward towards the thighs and lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling. If and when that doesn't work, we may be told to bend the knees, and then are helped to tilt our pelvis anteriorly... all in an effort to help create more of an upside down V shape in the downward dog and find more of the natural curve in the lower back. But what do we do if none of the above works? and why doesn't it work, for cryin' out loud even after flexing the knees?
Well, if bending the knees didn't allow you to anteriorly tilt the pelvis more, then the limitating factor is probably due to tight adductor magnus muscles. If they are are too tight, they'll pull a posterior tilt force on the pelvis and make it challenging to lift the sitting bones.
One possible solution is to lengthen the stride of the posture. This decreases the amount of flexion in the hips and should make anterior tilt easier. If you want to trouble shoot furhter, experiment with separating the feet as wide as the mat (to accommodate tight glutes) or placing the feet closer together (to accommodate tight adductor magnus muscles)
WHERE IS IT
The Adductor Magnus is located on the inner thigh, deep to all of the other adductors. The largest of the five adductors, it has several points of attachment on the pelvis and femur.
HOW TO STRETCH IT
To stretch the adductor magnus, we'd want to do postures where the knee is flexed so that the hamstrings are less likely to get in our way. A few postures that help include: Horse Stance, Lizard, Supine Lizard, and Happy Baby.
Information used with permission from Anatomy