Help! My Hips Hurt in My Middle Split and Frog Stretch
Help! My Hips Hurt in My Middle Split and Frog Stretch
This is a question I frequently get in group classes as well as private lessons - there are some people out there that, based on their hip anatomy, have a hard time feeling inner thigh stretches in things like straddles, middle splits, and frog stretches. Instead, they feel like their legs just get “stuck” when trying to open them out to the side, or may even feel a “pinch” in the front or side of their hip. This can be frustrating because no matter how much you try to stretch, you don’t see any progress in your middles or straddles.
Now what if I told you the solution to this flexibility plateau was NOT trying to push the stretch deeper?
Feeling a “pinch” or a “hard block” in a position is generally a sign that we are (unintentionally) jamming our bones together. No amount of trying to grind your bones into each other will deepen the stretch, hence the “stuck” feeling. Instead, we want to adjust our form, shifting the position of the bones to make space in the joint, to allow us to actually get to a muscle stretch without our bones getting in the way!
Your Hip Bones & Middle Splits
Typically when we talk about our “hip joint” we’re referring to the acetabulofemoral joint, the ball-and-socket joint between the head (“ball”) of the femur (thigh bone) and the acetabulum (the “socket”) in the side of the hip bone. Other bony structures of note are the “neck” that connects the “ball” to the “shaft” of the thigh bone, and the greater trochanter, which is a big bony bulge that sits at the top of the thigh bone (it serves as an attachment site for many muscles, it doesn’t just exist to get in the way…)
There can actually be quite a bit of variation in these bony structures, including differences in:
the size, depth and orientation (direction it’s “pointing”) of the hip “socket”
length and angle of the “neck” of the thigh bone
size and shape of the greater trochanter
And in some lucky individuals, they have a combination of variations that make it more likely for the neck or greater trochanter of the femur to accidentally jam into the side of the hip joint when opening the legs out to the side. Typically this manifests as a “pinching” sensation in the front or side of the hip as these bones collide with each other:
Does that mean your hips are physically incapable of doing the middle splits? Heck no! Odds are you just need to adjust your form to accomodate YOUR unique hip anatomy to make sure you’re getting that sweet sweet inner thigh stretch, and not ramming your bones into one another.
Suggested Form Adjustments for Pinch-y Hips
There are two main adjustments we can do to help give the greater trochanter and neck of the femur some more space to open the femur out to the side without bonking into the hip bone:
Adjustment #1: Rotating the Thighs BACKWARDS (aka Hip “External Rotation”)
By rotating the whole femur (thigh bone) backwards in space, we basically re-orient the greater trochanter (big nubby part at the top of the thigh bone) back behind hip bone so that it doesn’t crash into the side of the hip when we open out to the side:
Adjustment #2: Rotating the Hip Bones FORWARDS (aka “Anterior Pelvic Tilt”)
By rotating the whole femur (thigh bone) backwards in space, we basically re-orient the greater trochanter (big nubby part at the top of the thigh bone) back behind hip bone so that it doesn’t crash into the side of the hip when we open out to the side:
Both of these adjustments are actually accomplishing the same thing: rotating the thigh backwards (relative to the pelvis), which is the same as rotating the pelvis forwards (relative to the thigh), so you can pick the one that feels more comfortable for you (including doing both at the same time).
Should Everyone Use These Adjustments?
Not necessarily! For some bodies, tilting the hips forwards and/or adding more turnout through the thighs can lessen the intensity of the inner thigh stretch. So if you don’t need to do these adjustments to feel a good muscle stretch, I wouldn’t recommend worrying about them.
At the end of the day, every body may be a little different, so feel free to experiment and choose the version of the stretch that feels the most productively challenging for you!
