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Yoga shoptalk, July, 2003

Yoga shoptalk, July, 2003

When I went through nursing school almost thirty years ago I learned in my gross anatomy course that the adductor muscles of the thighs were also external (lateral) rotators. Lately, however, I have noticed occasional references to the adductors acting as internal (medial) rotators. Now I don’t know what to teach in my yoga classes. Can you clarify?

Answer:

Your observations are correct. The classic view, and the one I adopted for the sake of simplicity in Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, is that the three main adductor muscles of the thighs-the adductor magnus, adductor longus, and adductor brevis-act not only to adduct the thighs but act as well to rotate them externally (laterally). Some well-regarded work published in the late 1960s, however, suggested that the adductors more frequently act as internal (medial) rotators, and that is the source of the present state of confusion regarding this issue.

Fortunately, in a yoga class you need not depend on academic sources for a definitive answer. You, along with your students, can find out for yourselves by trying the following experiment: Stand bare-footed on a non-slip surface with your knees extended and your feet about 15 inches apart, their medial surfaces parallel and the plantar surfaces of the toes and feet firmly gripping the floor. Reach down with your hands and feel your inner thighs while standing relatively relaxed (or better yet assign a partner to do the feeling). Now try isometrically to rotate the feet “out” (toes tending to be moved laterally with respect to the heels) still keeping the feet planted and immovable. Notice that the inner thighs become strongly active, confirming that the adductors can act under these circumstances as lateral rotators. Next try isometrically to rotate the feet “in” (toes tending to be moved medially with respect to the heels), and notice that the inner thighs again become strongly active, confirming that the adductors can also act as medial rotators.

You can explore other subtle aspects of the possible roles of the adductors as rotators by standing with the feet a little further apart and the feet rotated “out” 70 degrees (figure 7.7 in Anatomy of Hatha Yoga). Under these circumstances the adductors will exhibit very little activity in trying to further rotate the thighs laterally, but the ability of the adductors to strongly support medial rotation is obvious. Alternatively, you can stand with the feet rotated “in” 45 degrees (figure 7.8), and under these circumstances the adductors support lateral rotation of the thighs more efficiently than they support medial rotation.

For a related discussion of the role of the adductors as lateral rotators of the hip as they act in opposition to the classic medial rotators (gluteus medius and gluteus minimus) during the course of standing forward bends, make a detailed study of pages 246-249 in chapter four of Anatomy of Hatha Yoga. And complementing that analysis is another section that touches on the roles of the adductors as lateral rotators in opposition to important muscles (piriformis, obturator internus, and superior and inferior gemelli) that act as medial rotators in sitting forward bends. The latter discussion is found in chapter six on pages 344-346.