Ep 82: Why Hip Openers Look Different & Understanding Skeletal Variations in the Hip Joint

In this episode we cover:

• why hip openers look so different from student to student
• take a look over a few poses and what to look out for
• why no amount of stretching will make certain bodies look like what we see in yoga photos, and 
• what you can do in your yoga classes to help your students understand their body’s makeup and how to adapt their practice.

Get your journal & let's talk about it!

Transcript

Monica: 0:00

In this episode we'll cover why hip openers look so different from student to student. Take a look over a few poses and what to look out for, why no amount of stretching will make certain bodies look like what we see in yoga photos and what you can do in your yoga classes to help your students understand their body's makeup and how to adapt their practice. Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you. If you are a yoga teacher, you're looking for support. You love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you. My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, my process for building my business and helpful ideas, tools, strategies and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you, whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you wanna dive deep and set yourself up for success. I am so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously, so expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now let's do this together. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Monica, and I'm so glad that you're here. Here is where we get real about Yoga's role in helping students with conditions and injuries and what you can do to help them find relief while they're in your classes. Today's topic might help you see. Every hip related pose a little bit differently from now on. In this episode, we'll cover why hip openers look so different from student to student And why no amount of stretching will make certain bodies look like what we see in yoga photos. We're gonna go deep into anatomy today, specifically the structure of the hip joint, how it varies from person to person, and why this variation matters so much. Im postures like Moana, frog Warrior two and more. So if you've been taking notes in your journal while you've been listening to these episodes, and I do suggest that you do that, go get your journal. You'll wanna be taking notes while you listen. I. All right. let's get into the structure of the hip joint. The hip joint is a ball and socket joint. Imagine the connection between the femoral head, which is the rounded top of the thigh bone and the acetabulum, the socket in the pelvis where the femur fits because of its structure, the hip joint allows flexion, extension, abduction, adduction. Internal and external rotation, and circumduction, meaning a circular motion. But here's the key. This range of motion varies dramatically from one person to another and not just because of flexibility or strength. I'm gonna help you understand why the acetabulum varies in depth. Some students' sockets are shallow and other students are deep, but it also varies in orientation. Some have sockets that face more forward, some more to the side, and some slightly downward. This orientation is key because it determines how the femur moves safely and comfortably in the hip socket. The femoral head varies in size, roundness and positioning the neck to shaft angle called the angle of inclination affects how the femur moves in the acetabulum. And there's also version, some femurs are verted angled more forward or retroverted angled more backward. These differences are bone deep and no amount of stretching is going to change them. It's important to remember this when you're teaching and talking with your students. They may not understand this, but you will, Another layer that doesn't get talked about enough is that movement patterns in childhood help shape the hip joint. The body adapts to how it's used in early development. Bone shape is still forming, so kids who spend lots of time squatting. Crawling or climbing or who sat cross-legged, in floor seated positions, or who moved in. Diverse and natural ways may develop hips with a wider range of motion, especially in a external rotation and abduction. On the other hand, children who spent most of their time sitting in chairs didn't explore deep squat patterns, or had limited movement. Variety may develop joints with less bony clearance, making poses like moosal or frog feel compressive or even painful, not because the muscles are tight, but because there's bone to bone restriction. And this isn't a flaw. It's just natural variations from one human to another. So what's this got to do with you? Well, as a yoga teacher, it's got a lot to do with you. I say this all the time, we teach movement, so we have to have a solid understanding of it. To be clear, you don't know what your student's skeletal makeup is, and they probably haven't been x-rayed to see unless they've experienced an injury, which would require one. So this information you have to keep in the back of your mind as you watch your students move and see how this shows up in yoga poses. Let's take a look at five specific yoga poses where skeletal variation in the hips becomes. Really apparent there are other concerns like the ankles and the knees. But for the purpose of this episode, we'll stay mainly focused on the hips. The first pose is Moana, a yoga squat. This pose requires deep hip flexion, external rotation, and abduction all at once. For some students, it's deeply comfortable and they can stay without any issues. For others, the femoral neck may hit the rim of the acetabulum early, Causing a pinching sensation or a feeling of being stuck. Maybe they feel like they can't squat fully and it's not about stretching more. I. Here's some indicators that a student might have limitations due to bony restrictions. You'll see that their torso is leaning far forward or that they lift their heels in order to compensate around limitations in the hip, and they complain that they feel a sharp hip pinching even after they've warmed their bodies up. The next pose is. Frog pose often thought of as a deep hip opener. frog requires extreme abduction and external rotation. Some students will naturally rest here with no problem. Others will hit bone on bone compression early, regardless of muscular flexibility. You can see this in students who find it difficult to open their knees wide or who have a lot of space between their mat and their pelvis. Alright, number three is Warrior two. Super common pose in yoga. It seems simple, right? But the front hip is in external rotation, flexion, and abduction while the back hip is in abduction, away from the midline of the body, and possibly in some slight extension and. Internal rotation, depending on the placement of the back foot. Students with limited external rotation might struggle to track the front knee over their ankle. It will look like it's drawing in. If you're queuing them to square their hips towards one side of the room. It will also draw their front knee in, making it difficult to keep the hips square and track the knee straightforward. Okay, let's talk about Lotus Pose. This is a classic example of skeletal limitation. Lotus pose requires extreme external rotation, hip flexion, abduction, and knee flexion. A combination that only works safely if the hip joint allows for it. For some students, this is accessible for many. It will never be safe or pain free, no matter how long they practice. You'll see students with their knees raised high away from their mat, which gives you an indication that their hip, external rotation is probably limited. And finally there's bound angle pose. Even this seemingly gentle pose can reveal a lot. Students with more retroverted femurs may have knees that stay higher, and that's not about tightness. It's. More about their structure. If you come along and offer an assist and try to push their knees or thighs down, you can either feel that there's a bony restriction that will prevent the movement or it can cause stress at their inner knee and groin. But why does all of this matter? You just wanna teach a yoga class and not have to be concerned about students' bones, right? Well, students cannot. Stretch their way around their bones, and your students shouldn't have to conform to textbook shapes that weren't designed for their own personal anatomy. When you decide to become a yoga teacher, you agree to understanding skeletal variation among your students. This allows you to cue with options instead of expectations. Normalize different expressions of a pose, prevent students. From forcing range, they didn't actually have and support students with injuries, chronic pain or mobility. Limitations in ways that feel empowering and not shameful. Instead of asking yourself, why can't they do the pose, or why can't they make the pose, look the way that I'm queuing, ask yourself what version of this pose respects the structure of this student's body? You know, I'd never leave you hanging without some ideas or some strategies that you can implement in your classes right now. so think about offering various stance options, whether it's a wider or more narrow stance in standing poses, normalize students with knees up in Bana and ask the whole class to use props for support. Teach seated Moana variations with blocks or a half squat variation with forearms on the thighs. This variation actually requires more work on the student's part, but it will help students who can't squat as deeply due to bony restrictions. Let students choose frog on the floor. Maybe it's at the wall. Or not at all, or maybe even child's pose. Instead, let go of the idea of a wide opening of the hips as an achievement and let it be an option or an experience to be felt and explored. Use language like find a stance that feels stable for your hips. The shape of your bones quite possibly affects how this pose will look and feel in your body. Or you could say, allow your hips to open to the point that feels right for you without trying to force your movement. Just let it be what it is. And finally help students see the value in celebrating the function of the pose and not the aesthetic. Every student's hip joint is shaped by genetics, movement, history, and bone structure. No two hips will look or move exactly the same, and that's not a limitation. It's just human, and it's how we differ from person to person. When you teach with this understanding, you help students feel safe, capable, and welcome in their own bodies just as they are. If you found this helpful and want to learn more about adapting poses for real bodies, especially those with injuries or limitations, stick around because this is the work I do with yoga teachers, understanding anatomy, biomechanics, and the effects yoga also not have on the body helps you help your students. It's so important for us to have this conversation so that you remember that students of all shapes. Sizes, alignment and abilities come to your classes and you can serve them all. You know that. My goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life. It's important to understand movement and the issues students come to your classes with. Subscribe to the podcast so you're always in the know when a new episode drops. And share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations. And thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. Alright, that's it for now. Bye.