What are we stretching with a pigeon leg or a figure 4 position? You may think of it as the front leg in half pigeon pose. My friend Hana calls the leg position a 7. Anatomically, it is hip flexion, abduction and external rotation. Whatever you call it, taking a look at the functional anatomy will help us determine what is happening in our pigeon-legged poses.
The Piriformis
Many people will use the pigeon leg position to stretch the deep external rotators of the hip, specifically the piriformis. This is an appropriate stretch, but let's take a deeper look, so we are sure what is going on. We know that the motion opposite to the action of a muscle causes it to stretch. Read here if you forgot! From anatomical position the pirformis is an external rotator of the hip, so how can a pigeon leg which is also external rotation stretch an external rotator?! Is all we were told in yoga class wrong? or do I need to re-write my article on stretching?
Flexion is the key! In the photos above, we are looking at the right hip from behind. The red band in image A represents the piriformis when in anatomical position or standing. The upper small window shows it from the superior (top) view. We can see that if we shorten/contract the red band in anatomical position the hip would externally rotate. In image B, the hip is flexed to about 90°. Looking at the picture we can see that if we contract the red band now it would cause the hip to internally rotate. This change takes place around 60° of hip flexion. Summing it up, in anatomical position (with the hip un-flexed) the piriformis mostly acts to perform external rotation of the hip, but this changes to internal rotation as the hip flexes - sneaky muscle!
Flex Your Figure Four!
So what does that mean for us? If we're trying to stretch the piriformis while it is in anatomical position as an external rotator, we would need to use internal rotation, and our pigeon leg won't get the job done. If we flex the hip to about 60° or more the piriformis becomes an internal rotator, so the external rotation of our pigeon leg will now do the trick and provide a piriformis stretch. You have to flex your figure four to stretch the piriformis! Clinically, stretching the piriformis can be useful for conditions like piriformis syndrome where the piriformis is squeezing too tightly on the sciatic nerve and causing pain to shoot down the leg, so getting the stretch right is a must. For our yoga practices, stretching the piriformis is needed to open the hips for more advanced poses or just to open the hips. Understanding the anatomy can help us find the poses that we need to build sequences that make sense.
Remember, poses with at least 60° of hip flexion, abduction, and external rotation like below will stretch the piriformis.
Remember, poses with at least 60° of hip flexion, abduction, and external rotation like below will stretch the piriformis.
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And poses with only hip abduction and external rotation like these will not do the same thing!
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Thanks for reading!
Namasté
Pigeon photo from howstuffworks.com, Piriformis action change photo from Essentials of Kinesiology for the Physical Therapist Assistant by Jackson and Neumann. Figure 4 bridge photo from jessicasmithtv.com. Figure 4 utkatasana from carenbaginski.com. Half pigeon and eka pada galavasana photos from yogajournal.com.
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