A breakdown of how the inner thigh (adductors) strengthens and stabilizes our hip complex and supports our pelvic floor. Addressing fitness, yoga, and pelvic floor rehab.
Love the little things.
Most of the time it's the smaller muscles that are overlooked but those are the most important as they stabilize our body, improve our movement function, and even support muscle structures that hold our internal organs such as the pelvic floor. This brings me to my ultimate favorite, most effective stabilizer... the Adductors! In this blog, we reveal the magic of this important underappreciated stabilizer which will help you enhance your yoga practice, level up your strength training, and resolve pelvic floor dysfunction in easy-to-apply corrections.
“Behind the visible movement, there is another movement, one which cannot be seen, which is very strong, on which the outer movement depends. If this inner movement were not so strong, the outer one would not have any action.” – Jeanne de Salzmann
By the end of this blog, you will understand the role adductors play in our fitness routines and pelvic floor support along with workouts and techniques you can apply to stabilize and strengthen your inner thighs and pelvic floor.
In this blog, we will review and break down:
Strong vs. Weak adductors and how they affect our mechanics and pelvic floor function.
Anatomy breakdown; hip complex and pelvic floor.
Instructional videos with alignment correction and workout drills for yoga, fitness, and pelvic floor health.
A new concept style of muscle activation and stabilization.
So, let's first go over what happens when they are weak, how weakness affects pelvic floor function, some of the symptoms, and what are the benefits of strong adductor stabilization.
Understanding Function.
Weakness Vs. Strength
Highly overlooked yet very special, the adductors provide lower body stability, mobility, and mechanical function that is important for our daily movement activities and essential for sports or fitness performance; this also includes how we walk, run, pick things up, squat, lunge, and anything that we do using our lower body or legs. The adductors are considered a dynamic stabilizer and a prime mover that connects the femur (leg bone) to the center of our pelvis where the hip complex is stabilized; and it's important to know that if they are weak, you will feel dysfunction, and discomfort and if they are strong, you will benefit important large muscles and prevent injury. Not only does it improve the lower body movement function, but it directly interconnects into an integrated group of muscles that support the pelvic floor and pelvic floor function, they are in my opinion a big key player in pelvic floor health!
Let's dive into this topic!
The Bad!
Identifying weakness and instability.
Unstable and weak adductors can cause very common aches and pains which can make your daily movements and performance uncomfortable. This is most of the time caused by a lack of stability or strength of the inner thigh adductor junction.
Aches and pains
KNEE PAIN
Groin tightness
Low back pain
Piriformis syndrome
Pulling of lower limb joints causing pubic bone pain
Calf muscle tightness
Strains of the adductors/ groin
IT band syndrome
Plantar fasciitis
SI joint pain
Hip flexor tightness.
Hamstring tightness
These are just a few of the aches and pains that can start to develop from weak adductors or lack of stabilization. But another very important note to highlight is that it can cause tremendous misalignment of the pelvis and lower limbs which also creates movement and mechanical dysfunction; so, it will affect your ranges of motion and movement capacity in and out of training.
Mechanical Dysfunctions
Limited hip ROM especially internal rotation and hinge movement.
Lower body leg and knee joint misalignment
Affects hip alignment in dynamic exercises and sports.
Affects pelvic tilt / pelvic position.
Affects Gait; walking, running, and explosive movements.
Squat mechanics
Duck feet
Flat feet from duck foot position
Limited posterior chain range such as touching toes.
Affects the hip extension range.
Decreased athletic performance and increased risk of injury.
Hip looseness and hip ligament instability.
This muscular and mechanical dysfunction can then lead to a lack of support for our internal pelvic structure which holds pelvic organs and determines how they function. Pelvic floor dysfunction is complex and could also be caused by emotional stress, physical trauma, or other medical conditions, but you can provide your pelvic floor with the best support possible by strengthening with therapeutic exercises the surrounding musculature.
The Pelvic Floor
Here are SOME of the symptoms, pains, and complications surrounding pelvic floor dysfunction.
Chronic urinary incontinence, difficult urination, and bladder pain.
For women: Pain with arousal, during and or following sexual intercourse.
For men: Erectile dysfunction, painful ejaculation, and or premature ejaculation.
Chronic constipation, fecal incontinence, straining, or pain during evacuation.
Recurring or constant pelvic floor pain and pressure.
Possible urological, gynecologic, and colorectal prolapse, bulging, and herniations.
Affects breathing pattern function and capacity.
Lower back pain.
Here I am highlighting the main symptoms but for deeper symptomatic details please visit the links:
Lifestyle changes and physical therapy such as strength and relaxation of the surrounding areas are top of the list of recommendations for addressing pelvic floor dysfunction.
The Good!
Strength, Performance, and Pelvic Floor Health.
No excuses and no way around it, strengthening and stabilizing the inner thighs will enhance your overall well-being and athletic performance.
Stabilization of the adductor IMPROVES:
Lower leg alignment
Posture and postural control.
Hip mobility.
Lower abdomen core stability.
Dynamic performance such as running, jumping, and changing directions.
Lower body stability.
Balance.
Shape and tone of the inner thighs
Minimizes risk of injury through improved stability
Glute activation through the femur to hip stabilization and alignment.
Gait/walking pattern.
Reduce foot, groin, knee, hip, IT band, and lower back pain and tightness.
Rotational power for athletes.
Hip extension and glute strength.
Pelvic floor support, strength, and function.
Support and prevention
That's a heavy list! Very important to have in mind that they do act as a primary mover and stabilizer so you want to apply techniques that you can use in and out of your training to support and help maintain stable (adductors) upper inner thighs, which will help to prevent a long list of mechanical and pelvic floor dysfunction.
Up next is my favorite...
Anatomy
A deeper understanding of hip health.
Let's take a closer look at the hip complex and pelvic floor structure so you can visualize how they interconnect.
In this short 3-minute video I try my best to pack in all the essential anatomy pieces you need so you can better understand your body and the way it works.
The Quick Review
Always understand that having a visual of the internal function of our body allows us to have better awareness and connection to our movements as we are training.
That sums up anatomy! See, that wasn't too complicated!
Let's put this knowledge into action and get right into the best part...
Workout, Drills, and Alignment Tips!
Strengthening your inner thighs through yoga, fitness, and daily routines.
I'm going to highlight 3 parts.
Inner thigh activation in yoga along with an instructional video on alignment and a separate drill sequence.
Application of inner thigh tension during weight training routines
Pelvic floor techniques you can almost do anywhere.
Let's get started!
Yoga
Yoga for inner thigh and pelvic floor strength.
I have created two yoga videos for this blog. One video focuses on strengthening the inner thighs and pelvic floor, while the other video helps master alignment techniques through inner thigh activation.
10-Minute Yoga Flow: Strengthen your inner thighs and pelvic floor.
You don't need to practice yoga to strengthen your pelvic floor with this routine.
I created this simple and easy-to-follow design to assist anyone with pelvic floor issues.
For best results, I recommended practicing 2-3 times a week.
Next up...
Improve Your Yoga Asana: WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU IN YTT. Strengthen your pelvic floor and inner thighs.
Anyone who wants to improve their yoga asana can benefit from this alignment correction video.
Watch this video to learn and practice proper form and technique.
The Works
Enhance your gym sessions!
Applying the upper inner thigh technique during your routine is going to help you fire up your deep core stabilizers, bring better alignment to your workout routine, and strengthen the surrounding muscles that support your pelvic floor. TRY IT OUT!
Tip: Try to incorporate it into your routine.
I've been applying these techniques for years now, especially when I worked in sports rehab this was something that was implemented on the patients during the therapeutic exercise sessions. The onsite Dr. was very adamant about it and in time I understood why!
For deeper core strengthening techniques check out: Mastering Planking: Troubleshooting Neck & Back Pain (thevaulttraining.online)
Next up...
Sit to Strengthen
Strengthen your pelvic floor and improve your posture as you sit.
In this video, I break down a simple and powerful pelvic floor exercise you can do anywhere and at any time, so subtle that no one will even notice. This is very impactful and can be performed by anyone of any age, no gym or workout experience is needed. You just need to be a human.
Tip: Do this A LOT... put a reminder on your phone 2-3 times a day minimum 3 rounds held for about a minute each. ESPECIALLY if you sit a lot! especially the rotation of the leg which is going to help tremendously.
For more tips on improving your hip alignment, posture, and lower body alignment, check out our blog: Why Leg Posture Matters: Solve Hip, Knee, and Low Back Pain! (thevaulttraining.online)
Wrapping it up.
Application and understanding.
Remember that strengthening the pelvic floor requires technical application into your already existing routines and as I mentioned in the sitting video you can also integrate it into your daily activity and understand that you are strengthening the surrounding musculature that supports the pelvic floor. Integrate the Inner Thigh Technique into your movements with a sense of awareness and understanding so you can benefit from this new yet simple-to-apply concept that is very effective in many ways.
I had a great time creating this blog post! Looking forward to the next one!
Resource Links
For the nerds.
Need more help with posture? Try a free online posture training assessment!
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