HIP OSTEOARTHRITIS IN YOGA - What You Need To Know To Keep Your Hips Happy On The Mat

Do you feel frustrated that your renewed enthusiasm to get on the yoga mat and recommit to movement has fallen flat because of a nagging hip injury that keeps flarring up every time you come to the mat?
Before you go ahead and list all your lululemon leggings on marketplace, there’s a few things you should know about how to modify your yoga practise to protect your hip and rebuild the supporting muscles, that may even reduce the overall pain and symptoms you experience day to day.
I’m Cathy from tribalance yoga and I help women who practise yoga, who are struggling with hip pain on the mat to navigate their practise without having to stop practising altogether and ultimately transform their movement potential through specialised yoga programs.
While there are many different causes of hip pain that present on the mat, and I've unpacked a few of the most common in some of my previous videos. Today I'm going to speak to Hip Osteoarthritis and how it may show up in your practise and off the mat too.
WHAT IS HIP OSTEOARTHRITIS or OA for short?
Basically it’s a wear and tear degenerative change, associated with a permanent loss of cartilage.
The hip is a ball and socket joint with cartilage that covers the bony surface of the socket, called the acetabulum and the head of the femur (the ball). OA occurs when this cartilage has worn down from repeated loads.
While this is a natural occurrence with age, there are some activities and factors that cause it to wear out sooner than expected.
WHAT CAUSES THE CARTILAGE TO WEAR OUT SOONER?
There's 3 key factors at play:
➡️ Lack of passive stability - Genetic factors like your particular anatomy - the shape of the bones and depth of the actebabulum (shallow hip sockets), loose ligaments associated with joint hypermobility syndrome or secondary to pregnancy and child birth.
➡️ Reduced active stability - weak and under engaged glutes and core.
Usually associated with too much sitting and poor posture & movement patterns.
➡️ Lifestyle - excessive compression loads (for example long distance running or movement practices involving extreme ranges of motion like gymnastics, dance and certain yoga poses), especially when there's also reduced passive and active stability.
A really important concept to unpack here is skeletal variation.
WHAT IS SKELETAL VARIATION?
Basically it's that - Not all skeletons are created equally.
In fact when it comes to our hips which are a ball and socket joint we are incredibly varied.
Differences occur from person to person in terms of:
👉 The Shape and depth of the hip socket or (acetabulum)
👉 The Shape and size of the ball (the head of the femur) and the angle of the neck of the femur
👉 The Orientation of the sockets. They may face more forwards, backwards or straight down.
Importantly all of these variations will lead to variability in the range of motion (ROM) that can be achieved in the joint. This means that certain activities can be more ‘suitable’ for certain hips.
In yoga, the person with more shallow hip sockets, especially ones that also face more towards the back (retroverted) will find many yoga poses more accessible and will be less likely to force their hips into compression to achieve a certain desired alignment in the pose. This is true also for dancers.
The challenge for these ‘bendy’ yogis is applying enough active stability through good supporting muscular engagement to minimise any excess translation of the bony surfaces and subsequent wear and tear of the cartilage.
Although yogis with deeper hip sockets tend to have greater stability and less wear and tear, injuries and excess wear and tear often occur when the ego gets in the way and we may push too hard into these extreme ranges of motion that are just not accessible for those with this anatomy.
While it's true yoga is for everybody - with its multitude of tools to help us live a better life.
it's not so true that all yoga POSES are a good fit for every BODY.
If you’re working with OA in one or both hips and have struggled to navigate certain poses in your practise I created a resource just for you. It’s a FREE HAPPY HIPS pose modification guide with 30+ ways to modify your practise to support and protect your hips.
cathyaganoffyoga.lpages.co/po...
Are you now feeling more informed and empowered to navigate your practise, but still have some questions like:
- Is yoga actually good or bad for hip OA?
- How much ROM is enough? Is more better?
- How much ROM is too much?
I answer these questions in my upcoming video. I’m here to support your highest movement potential.
Follow me at cathys_yoga...
See all of my classes and offerings at cathyaganoff.com.au
Yoga is one of the best ways to build functional strength in the body :)
Let me know how these instructions went for you in the comments below!