Friday Practical Pointers Who Should Avoid Certain Hip Movements

by Baxter

Wendy Sansjo, Age 55, of Adaptive Yoga Scandinavia
 (photo by Lars Iverson)

Today let’s take a look at who needs to avoid certain movements of the hip, more specifically the way the upper leg bone (femur bone) moves within the hip socket. The hip has six basic movements, which can be combined in various ways as you do yoga poses, sports, or movement arts, or simply move about the world:

1. Flexion: Moving your leg in toward the front of your lower torso or bringing the front of your lower torso toward your leg (a forward bend in your hips). For example, lifting your leg up in Standing Hand to Foot pose (Hasta Padangustasana) or Reclined Standing Hand to Foot pose (Supta Padangusthasana), stepping one leg forward and bending that knee as in Warrior 1 (Virabrdrasana 1) or tipping the hips forward over the leg Pyramid pose (Pasvottanasana). 

2. Extension: Moving your leg back toward the back of your lower torso or bringing the back of your lower torso toward your leg (a backbend in your hips). For example, when you step your back leg back into Warrior 1 or lift your legs up in Locust pose (Salabasana). 

3. Abduction: Moving your leg to the side, away from the midline of your body. For example, when you step both legs out to the sides from Mountain pose (Tadasana) into the wide-leg stance for a standing pose such as Triangle pose (Trikonasana).

4. Adduction: Moving one leg across the other, as in Eagle pose (Garudasana), or moving a leg that was out to the side back toward the midline of the body, such as stepping back into Mountain pose from a wide-leg stance. 

5. External Rotation: Turning your leg out within your hip socket so the leg turns away from the midline of your body. For example, when setting up your front foot position for Triangle pose, you externally rotate your front leg as you turn your front foot out to 90 degrees before entering the full pose. This movement is almost always combined with one or more of the others listed above.

6. Internal Rotation: Turning your leg in within your hip socket so the leg turns toward the midline of your body. For example, when you are setting up your back foot position for Triangle pose, you internally rotate your back leg as your turn your back foot slightly inward. This movement is almost always combined with one or more of the others listed above.

Cautions

Now let’s look at who should avoid or minimize certain hip movements. Keep in mind, however, that we want to maintain as much of our full range of movement of the hip joint as possible. So, in many instances, my caution will not mean “don’t” or “never,” but rather approach cautiously and stop if the movement worsens pain. In general, you should avoid or minimize any hip movement if you have:

1. Acute painful injury to the hip area that gets worse with that movement.
2. Chronic issues that flare with that movement, such as those with hip arthritis, joint replacement or surgically repaired hip fractures, or labral tears of the hip joint.

Now for the specific movements. Who should avoid or minimize the following movements?

Flexion (Forward Bend)

1. Those with certain types of hip replacement (check with your surgeon) may have to avoid flexion beyond 90 degrees from standing position.
2. Those with acute hamstring tears, especially those at the attachment at the sitting bone, at least for several weeks.

Extension (Backbend)

1. Those with acute tears of the uppermost part of quadraceps muscle (the rectus femoris), acute strain of the psoas, iliacus, or the other front groin muscles (as in a “groin pull”).

Abduction

1. Those with acute muscle strain to the inner thigh muscles (the known as the adductors), which get stretched via abduction.
2. Those with separation of the pubic symphysis, a rare situation sometimes seen in post-partum women or cases of severe trauma to the pelvis.
3. Those with acute trauma or surgical repair to the perineum/pelvic floor.

Adduction

1. Those with acute bursitis of the outer hips (greater trochanter area).
2. Those with large hernias in the groin area if adduction causes pain.
3. Those with a hip replacement that could become dislocated by this movement (check with your surgeon) or a history of dislocating hips. 
4. Those with painful compression of the soft tissues caused by scissoring of the legs past one another (more common for men than women)

External Rotation

1. Those with a hip replacement that could become dislocated by this movement (check with your surgeon) or those with a past history of dislocation with this action.

Internal Rotation

1. Those with an older, posterior approach method of hip replacement (check with your surgeon) or those with a past history of dislocation with this action.

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Pointers In Choosing Childrens Tumbling Classes

By Iva Cannon

Parents typically want their kids to develop hobbies that are good for them. Some want their toddlers to appreciate visual arts. Some want them to appreciate music. Others also want them to appreciate physical fitness.

Most kids are taking interests in gymnastics nowadays. For this, parents should be looking for childrens tumbling classes Delaware. A resident of Wilmington, DE must be considering several things when he will be choosing an establishment.

If they are confused about which schools their kids should be enrolled to, referrals can be gathered by the individuals from other persons. These persons might be their relatives, friends, or colleagues. Since those with good reputations are typically referred by most people, the names and contact information of those institutes referred by these people should be taken note of by the individuals. These information can be used to have further queries regarding this undertaking made.

They should also consider the locations of these institutes. It will be better if they will choose those which are located near their homes or schools so that they can immediately take their kids to their sessions. They can also immediately fetch them after the end of their sessions. Aside from that, they can also save money and time since they will not have to travel long distances.

The environments of the schools should also be checked by the parents. They need to ensure the safety of their toddlers whenever these activities will be performed by them. Complete sets of those equipments needed to be used by the students should be possessed by the institutes. The gates of the establishments should also be guarded by security personnel. Potable water, toilets, and other important amenities should also be available.

The establishment is hiring some instructors. The professionals will be teaching gymnastics to kids. In this case, the parent must see to it that the institute will be employing instructors with necessary expertise, experiences and qualifications in doing their job. The instructors might need to be undergoing trainings for them to be acquiring these attributes. They should also be having good personalities for them to be encouraging the students.

The amounts that will have to be spent so that registration or enrollment fees of the kids can be paid for should also be checked by the parents. The fees might vary since different factors are considered by the institutions for them to be established. Some fees should be known and compared by the individuals. If specific budgets have been set aside for the endeavor, those that could be afforded by them should be chosen.

They should also check the schedules of these sessions. There are some schools that hold classes in the mornings or in the afternoons. The individuals should make sure that their kids can attend their sessions on the schedules that they will enroll in.

The parent must be observing how the instructor will be teaching his child a few times. He should be checking on the effectiveness of the method which the professional is employing in performing his duty. This way, he could also be asking further clarifications as to his teaching method. If he does not like what he is seeing, he could be discussing the matter with the professional.

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