Illopsoas stretches

[seasonoftowers]

As I've mentioned in my journal, I've found that attempting pigeon pose helps with a hell of a lot of highly annoying physical issues I've had the past year. Note that I say attempting, and not succeeding - I can maybe get 8 inches above the floor on my bad side before my hips start turning. I wonder how best to proceed from here - do I keep doing as much of the stretch as I can do correctly, or are there other things I should try first?

Comments

[niqaeli]

There are other ways of performing that particular stretch — you can do it on your back or against the wall. I shall get some photos to show you those.

But — are you sure it’s iliopsoas that you’re getting the stretch in? Pigeon stretches the hip rotators, which are deep to the big muscles of the gluteals, rather than the hip flexors (which attach the the lumbar vertebrae and then run down to lie very deep within the bowl of the pelvis before attaching to the leg).

[seasonoftowers]

I got the pigeon stretch suggestion from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320589.php, where they claim it's useful for prevention of illopsoas bursitis. And I may be doing a rather imperfect stretch, but I can definitely feel something loosening on something that starts in my lower back and goes through my pelvis before ending in my upper inner thigh. I walk a bit straighter afterwards, too.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what it does, only that it works, and I know very little about stretching, so I'd welcome any suggestions!

[niqaeli]

As indywind noted, if you're getting benefit from the stretching and not experiencing harm, you're doing it right! And, yeah, on reflection I do see how it would be stretching iliopsoas. :) And feeling things loosening up and feeling better after stretching is a clear sign it's helpful, exactly as you're doing it.

Sadly the variations I was going to show you are of no use for this particular thing, since they target the rotators and actually remove the hip extension entirely. If you're looking for more variety than just pigeon, then you'd want to look for poses/shapes/stretches that put one of your hips into extension, as that's what's giving you the stretch in iliopsoas in pigeon. I don't remember anything particular off the top of my head, but anyway, yes.

[indywind]

I could see getting a psoas stretch on the opposite side from the one usually considered targeted by pigeon... that is, traditional pigeon hip-rotator stretch on the bent-leg side, psoas stretch on the extended leg side.

If my speculation is the case, the variation lying on the back probably wouldn't give that same benefit, because it removes the hip extension; both sides are in flexion to different degrees, and at different rotations.
But you could look for other shapes that give hip extension.

[seasonoftowers]

Yep, think that's how it works. The rotator part is good too, but for the full one-two effect I need to do it on both sides, even though the pain is one-sided. I'm already down to 0 pain, and the stiffness/limping is also almost entirely gone.

[niqaeli]

Yeah, after they responded, I realised that it had to be the other side than usually is being focused on -- it certainly does put it into extension, so yeah. And, no, the alternatives to pigeon I was think of won't be much use (there's one that's an inversion up against the wall that I like a lot better than the lying on the back variation), as both remove the hip extension.

Other pigeons

[indywind]

niqaeli is the wall variation you mean like this?
https://www.tummee.com/yoga-poses/sleeping-pigeon-pose-wall
Or this?
https://www.tummee.com/yoga-poses/eye-of-needle-pose-variation-at-wall

Or something else? It'd be neat to meet a new variation to add to my toolbox.

Re: Other pigeons

[niqaeli]

The first is the closer of the two! The variation I learned, however, is to have your butt all the way up against the wall. There is of course literally no dignifiied way of getting into position, but ehh who cares! :P It proceeds from there about the same,. The biggest thing I've found, really, in terms of stretching the hip rotators in ANY variation of this stretch, is to keep the knee in the same planes as the ankle as much as possible -- both horizontal AND vertical.

[indywind]

To my way of thinking, you are succeeding at the stretch if you can do it safely-- that is, without doing yourself a harm that leaves you in more pain or less functional after doing it than you were before-- and if you feel some stretch in your target area while you're doing it.

How far from or close to the floor you get any given time is largely irrelevant, it's just one piece of information about what's going on between your body and the posture, out of many pieces. your height off the floor might change over time (to the degree that what's holding you up is muscular tightness and can be eased by stretching) or it might not, or not very much ( to the degree that something other than stretchable muscular tightness is what's holding you up --like shape of the bones in your pelvis/hips for instance).

You can keep doing this stretch the way your body can do it, as long as you feel like you're getting benefit from it. And you can add/substitute other options for variety.

If being off the floor makes you have to tense up to keep from twisting, drooping, or leaning to the side, you can totally place supports underneath you so you don't hang in space (if you don't already do this! if you already do, it does not mean you're cheating or failing). I like a couple towels folded together or a stiff small throw pillow. Some people like a yoga block (or 2 or 3) or bolster. Some popular placements for support: crosswise centered under the hips, off center toward the side that wants to lean/droop, or under the bent leg hip joint. You can experiment and see how much support or which position makes you feel secure and able to relax, while still allowing that feeling of stretch.

[seasonoftowers]

Thank you! "Cheating" was precisely how I thought about supports before, but clumping up a blanket under my hips actually let me stretch further - I tense up less now that it's not just my hands and arms holding me up.