Persistent hip pain in side stretches?

[Janne]

I'm working through the Mastery series, focusing currently primarily on the Pancake, and I'm experiencing persistent pain in my upper inner hip area when doing side stretches. Would any of you know what might be going on?

The pain occurs whenever I do any side stretching exercises, like boxing the compass (first part), the squashed frog, or the skandasana. It's a dull, achy pain and appears to be located at the lower end of the iliopsoas. The pain persists even after I stop the stretch and takes days to fully subside. I even took a week off from stretching but the pain was right there when I got back to it.

Possibly relevant to the question:

• I can easily get down to a full squat (legs together, straight back)
• I can sit relatively comfortably in full lotus (although I generally favor Burmese style)
• My knees are 5-10 inches off the floor in the tailor pose
• My hamstrings are quite tight (mainly biceps femoris, I think)
• I have a curved lower back with some scoliosis (the hip pain, however, seems to be the same on both sides)

Any advice much appreciated.

[Kit_L]

Welcome, Janne!

Can you copy an image from the net and mark exactly where you feel this pain, please? 

And is the scoliosis developmental (vertebral bodies wedge shaped) or induced (necessary adaptation to a leg-length difference, and which can be reversed)? Likely this is not related to the hip pain, but I can elaborate later, if you wish. 

While we work this out, it might be worth concentrating on front splits for a while; this will target the hip flexors, and help your tailor pose too, in time.

[Janne]

Thanks, Kit!

I've circled in the area where I feel the pain in the image below. It feels more sharp on the outer edge of the circle and duller in the middle of it.

As for my scoliosis, it would appear to be induced. The Cobb angle was measured at 23 degrees when I was a kid (somewhere around the age of 7, I think), and has fortunately not gotten worse in the 30 years since. X-rays show my right hip girdle being 0.5-1 inches higher than the left. Adding a wedge under my left foot partially corrects the S curve but I don't wear a wedge as my back is happier without. Potentially off topic but would love to hear more about how it "can be reversed"!

I'll take your advice on shifting focus to front splits. My hamstrings and hip flexors are woefully tight so I'd need to address them sooner or later anyway! The Master the Pike and Master the Back Bend seem to have the tools to do just that. 

[Kit_L]

Let the variations on the floor lunge hamstring and hip flexor exercises be your friend. Some good free ones on YouTube, too.

And it's likely that one or two of the short adductors could be part of the problem, and the boxing the compass exercise, in time, will overcome this. All the key hamstring exercises can be pursued too, while this sorts itself out.

The scoliosis 'thing' is a long and complex topic; Liv, Malcolm and I are the only non-doctor/non-German physiotherapists to ever have been invited to the intensive course in the Asklepios Klinik, the world leaders in exercise programs to help this problem. Collectively, we topped the course, too. If you have an actual leg-bone length difference a scoliosis is a necessary adaptation. This, in part at least, is what the book Overcome neck & back pain is about. Try this Q&D ('quick and dirty') test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt7zwss7kPo&t=2s

The implications are simple: work on your tight patterns and strengthen your weaker ones. I think you are already well along this road.

[Janne]

Asklepios Klinik? I'm assuming the course you're referring to is on the Schroth method then? Very interesting to see all these streams converge here!

The quick and dirty test is exactly what the doctors did to diagnose a 17mm leg length difference for me. In other words, a 17mm lift under my left heel brings the hip girdle level (but doesn't fully correct the spinal curve).

Will check out the book and apply myself to the hip flexor and hamstring stretches. Thanks for the tips!

[Kit_L]

Yes, Schroth method; we have a long association. 

7 hours ago, Janne said:

(but doesn't fully correct the spinal curve).

Remember one can have scoliosis AND an LLD; no one ever considers this. In any case, you are already going in the right direction. More later.