Addductor Stretches
Flexopedia > Hips > Adductors
Flexopedia: Adductors
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Our adductors are the group of muscles in our inner thighs that help with hip adduction (pulling our legs towards our midline). These are the inner thigh muscles that generally feel tight in positions like middle splits and straddles.
Muscle(s) Overview: There are several inner thigh muscles we consider to be part of the adductor group:
adductor longus - starts at the bottom of our pubic bone, runs down most of our inner thigh in a big fan shape, and inserts on the middle third of the inside of our femur (thigh bone)
adductor brevis - also starts at the bottom of the pubic bone, and attaches to the top third of the inside of our femur (slightly more to the backside of the bone)
adductor magnus - the origin of this muscle spans the inside edge of our “sits bones” (the boney protrusions at the bottom of our pelvis), and it fans down our inner thigh and attaches all along the back/inside of our thigh bone (almost from the head of the femur all the way down the bone). Sometimes the adductor magnus is considered one of the hamstring muscles due to its location at the backside of the inner thigh group and assistance with hip extension.
gracilis - starts on the underside of our pubic bone, runs all the way down the outside of our inner thigh, crosses the outside of the knee and attaches to the inside of the top of the tibia (shin bone).
Note: there are other smaller, deeper (more internal) hip muscles that technically assist with hip adduction that run from our hip bones to the head of our femur, but for the sake of our classification we’re going to ignore these (obturator externus, pectineus, gemelli superior & infeorior, quadratus famoris). There are also other muscles that run through our inner thigh (like the sartorius) that assist with other muscle actions and therefor are not considered part of the “adductor” group.
Joints Crossed: Hips, Knee (only the gracilis crosses the knee joint)
Primary Movement Focus: Our hamstrings are primarily responsible for knee flexion (bending the knee), hip extension (pulling your leg behind you, or lifting your torso when hips are hinged)
Deepest Stretch In: Our hamstrings are pulled into their deepest stretch when we move in knee extension (straightening the knee), hip flexion (hinging at the hips, bringing the legs closer to the torso)
Common Antagonist Muscle Pairs*: Hip Flexors, Quads
* An “antagonist” muscle is one that opposes the action of another. Our hamstrings are an antagonist to our hip flexors (which help flex the hip) and quadriceps (which help straighten the knee). When we contract those muscles, our body is smart enough to relax our hamstrings to allow the movement to happen.
Consideration #1: Keep the Knees Comfortable. We never want to stretch through pain - especially knee pain! Knee paid/discomfort when stretching the inner thighs is not uncommon due to the strain and shearing pressure that can be pushed onto the knee, but it can be avoided. If you experience knee pain in any inner thigh stretch, modify the stretch or seek an alternative. For example, if your knees hurt in a middle split, you can put bolsters under the knees for physical support, bend your knees and plant them on the floor for a frogger stretch, or lie on your back and hold a straddle with your legs up the wall instead - there are lots of options!).
Consideration #2: Strengthen Both Sides of the Joint: We of course want our adductor muscles themselves to be strong at their end range to support deeper stretches, but we also need to strengthen our abductors (the muscles on our outer hip that help pull our legs farther apart, like our glutes) to support deeper straddles and middle splits.
These stretches all focusing on lengthening our adductor muscles, and then strengthening them while they’re in a lengthened position.
These stretches work to strengthen our abductors like our glutes - the “helper” muscles we need to be strong while they’re in a shortened position to help us open our legs even wider and allow a deeper inner thigh stretch.
