Hip Openers That Are Not

A substantial fraction of the poses sold as hip openers are loading the knee or the sacroiliac joint instead. Learning to tell where the sensation is actually coming from is the difference between a decade of progress and a decade of irritating a joint.

The three places the load can go

When you ask a hip to rotate and it does not have the range, the demand does not vanish. It travels to the nearest joint that will yield.

The hip itself — where you want it. Deep in the buttock, or in the front crease of the hip, or the inner thigh. Broad, dull, spreading sensation.

The knee — a hinge joint, forced to rotate. Sensation at the inside or outside of the knee, often sharp or pinching, sometimes only afterwards.

The sacroiliac joint — where the sacrum meets the pelvis. Sensation as a dull ache at the very base of the spine, slightly to one side, often noticed hours later or the next morning.

Two of those three are wrong and neither adapts. Cartilage and the SI ligaments do not get stronger from being loaded incorrectly.

The poses most often misread

Pigeon

Meant to load: the external rotators of the front hip, plus the front of the back hip.

Usually loads: the front knee, because the shin is placed at an angle the hip cannot supply; and the SI joint, because the pelvis drops and rotates towards the front-leg side.

Fix: bring the front heel closer to the opposite hip, so the shin is at forty-five degrees or less. Put a folded blanket or block under the front-leg buttock until the pelvis is level.

Or use the supine figure-four instead, which targets the same thing with the floor holding the pelvis and no load on the knee.

Lotus and half lotus

Meant to load: external rotation of the hip.

Usually loads: the knee, comprehensively. Lotus requires a great deal of hip rotation, and when the hip has less than required, the foot is pulled up onto the opposite thigh and the rotation is taken at the knee.

This is the most reliable knee-damaging pose in yoga, and it is regularly presented as a goal.

The rule: the foot goes up only if the knee travels with the rotating thigh and there is no sensation in the knee at any point. If you have to pull the foot into position, the hip is not ready and the knee is paying.

Some skeletons never allow lotus. Hip socket depth and femoral neck angle vary considerably between people, and no amount of practice changes bone.

Butterfly / Baddha Konasana

Meant to load: the inner thighs and external rotation.

Usually loads: the knees, when someone pushes down on them; and the lower back, from a backward-tipped pelvis.

Fix: sit high on a folded blanket so the pelvis is upright. Support the outer thighs on blocks so the legs are resting. Never press the knees down, and never let anyone else press them down.

Frog

Meant to load: the adductors.

Usually loads: the inside of the knees, which are on the floor bearing weight in a rotated position, and often the lower back.

One of the higher-risk shapes in general circulation. If you do it, keep the knees well padded, go nowhere near your limit, and come out at any knee sensation.

Deep squats

Meant to load: hip flexion and ankle mobility.

Usually loads: the knees when the heels lift and the weight goes forward, and the lower back when the pelvis tucks hard at the bottom.

Fix: heels on a rolled mat or a folded blanket. Feet wider and turned out more. Hold a support in front of you or use a wall behind.

How to tell where the sensation is coming from

Location. Buttock, groin crease, inner thigh: hip. Beside the kneecap, inside or outside: knee. Base of the spine, one side: SI joint.

Quality. Broad, dull, spreading: usually muscle, usually fine. Sharp, pinching, or a specific point: not fine. Hard and blocked with no stretch quality: bone contact.

Timing. Sensation during the pose that fades: normal. Sensation that appears hours later or the next morning: joint, usually, and worth taking seriously.

The point test. Can you point to it with one finger? Muscle sensation is diffuse and hard to localise. Joint problems are usually pointable.

The safe substitutes

For nearly every risky hip opener there is a supine version that targets the same tissue with the pelvis stabilised by the floor.

• Instead of pigeon: supine figure-four.
• Instead of butterfly: reclining bound angle, with blocks under the thighs.
• Instead of frog: legs up the wall in a wide V, with support under the outer thighs.
• Instead of a deep seated twist: a supine twist with the knees on a bolster.
• Instead of forced lotus: work external rotation supine, and sit cross-legged on a high seat.

Supine positions are not lesser versions. The floor removes the pelvis as a variable, which means the load goes where it is meant to and the intensity is precisely controllable. For most people, most of the time, they produce more change.

The one rule

Any sensation at the knee: come out.

Not ease off. Come out and change the shape.

Muscle adapts to load. Knee cartilage does not. The knee will not complain in a way you can safely ignore, and by the time it complains loudly the damage has been accumulating for a while.