Test for Tight Adductors and How to Fix Them

Summary

The video script discusses the effects of tight adductors on the body, particularly how they can lead to an anterior pelvic tilt and impact the pelvic floor. It emphasizes the importance of balancing muscle strength, specifically the glutes and abdominals, to alleviate adductor tightness. The script suggests that passive stretching alone may not be sufficient, and instead, strengthening core muscles and addressing breathing and glute strength is crucial for long-term relief from tightness and improved posture.

Takeaways

• 🧘 Tight inner thigh muscles, specifically the adductors, can affect body posture and function due to their attachment to the pubic bone.
• 🔗 When the adductors are tight, it can lead to an anterior pelvic tilt, which in turn can affect the abs, back muscles, and hamstrings, and reduce glute function.
• 💪 Tight adductors can be associated with overworking, indicating that muscles tighten for a reason, often due to excessive demand on them.
• 🤔 The cause of adductor tightness should be investigated, considering factors like genetic predisposition or recent changes in physical condition.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Assessing glute strength is important, as a strong glute medius helps stabilize the pelvis and reduces the workload on the adductors.
• 🤽‍♂️ The strength of the abdominal muscles, particularly the lower abs, is crucial for supporting the pelvic floor and reducing adductor tightness.
• 🧘‍♀️ Tightness in the pelvic floor muscles can coexist with tight adductors, affecting pelvic floor function and potentially leading to issues like incontinence.
• 🧍‍♂️ A simple test for adductor tightness involves checking the range of knee movement in different pelvic tilts to identify resistance or ease.
• 🤷‍♀️ Merely stretching the adductors passively may not be enough; it's important to engage other muscles to share the workload and allow the overworked muscles to relax.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Strengthening the core, improving glute strength, and addressing breathing techniques can help release tightness in the adductors.
• 🔄 The process of resolving adductor tightness involves a balance of addressing the immediate issue and strengthening related muscle groups for long-term improvement.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the butterfly pose mentioned in the script?

The butterfly pose is used as a stretch to address tight inner thigh muscles, specifically the adductors. It helps to identify and alleviate tightness in this area.

What are the effects of having tight adductors on the body's posture and muscle function?

Tight adductors can lead to an anterior pelvic tilt, which in turn can affect the function of the abs, tighten the piriformis muscles in the back, lengthen the hamstrings, and make the glutes less available for proper function.

How can tight adductors impact the pelvic floor muscles?

Tight adductors can affect the pelvic floor muscles due to their shared attachment to the pubic bone, potentially leading to issues with pelvic floor function, such as leaking in women.

What is the difference between an anterior and posterior pelvic tilt, and how can it be tested?

An anterior pelvic tilt involves the pelvis tilting forward, causing the lower back to arch, while a posterior tilt involves the pelvis tilting backward. The script describes a test where lying on the ground with legs hanging can help identify the range of tilt and indicate tightness in the adductors.

Why might someone's adductors feel tight when attempting to maintain a neutral pelvic position?

If there is resistance when trying to maintain a neutral pelvic position, it could indicate that the adductors are tight and are pulling on the pelvic area, affecting the ability to maintain proper posture.

What could be a sign that one needs to work on lengthening their adductors?

If, during a posterior pelvic tilt test, the knees are tucked up high and there is difficulty in achieving this position, it might indicate the need to work on lengthening the adductors.

What is the role of glute strength in relation to adductor tightness?

Strong glutes, particularly the glute medius, help stabilize the pelvis from the back and side, reducing the workload on the adductors and preventing them from becoming overworked and tight.

How do the abdominal muscles relate to adductor tightness?

The abdominal muscles, especially the lower abs, work in conjunction with the pelvic floor and pubic bone, helping to support the area and allowing the adductors to relax properly.

Why is it important to address both tightness and strength when dealing with adductor issues?

Addressing both tightness and strength is important because it helps to create a balanced muscle system where no single muscle group is overworked, allowing for proper function and posture.

What is the recommended approach to dealing with tight adductors beyond just passive stretching?

The recommended approach includes addressing core strength, improving glute strength, working on pelvic floor muscles, and performing active stretching to allow the overworked muscles to relax and other muscles to take over their function.

Why might muscles become tight, and how can understanding this help in addressing the issue?

Muscles become tight often due to overworking, which is a signal that they are being asked to work too much. Understanding this can help in identifying the need for strengthening other muscle groups to share the workload and allowing the tight muscles to relax.

Outlines

00:00

🧘‍♀️ Tight Adductor Muscles and Their Impact

This paragraph discusses the consequences of having tight inner thigh muscles, known as adductors. The tightness can lead to an anterior pelvic tilt, affecting the function of the abs, piriformis muscles, and hamstrings, while also reducing the effectiveness of the glutes. It also touches on the relationship between tight adductors and the pelvic floor, which can lead to issues like leaking during exercise. The speaker suggests a test to check for anterior pelvic tilt and advises on the importance of glute and core strength for alleviating adductor tightness.

05:02

🤸‍♂️ Addressing Adductor Tightness Through Strength and Flexibility

The second paragraph emphasizes the importance of not just passively stretching tight muscles, but also engaging other muscles to share the workload, allowing the overworked muscles to relax. It explains that passive stretching alone may not be enough to address the issue of tightness, and that strengthening the core, improving glute strength, and addressing breathing techniques can help in achieving a balance that reduces the need for excessive stretching.

Keywords

💡Adductor muscles

Adductor muscles refer to the group of muscles in the inner thigh that are responsible for bringing the limbs towards the midline of the body. In the video, the tightness of these muscles is discussed as a potential cause of various postural and functional issues, such as anterior pelvic tilt and reduced gluteal function.

💡Anterior pelvic tilt

Anterior pelvic tilt is a postural misalignment where the pelvis tilts forward, causing an exaggerated curve in the lower back. The video explains how tight adductors can contribute to this condition by pulling the pubic bone downward, which in turn affects the stability of the lower back and the function of the abdominal muscles.

💡Pubic bone

The pubic bone is a part of the pelvic girdle and serves as an attachment point for various muscles, including the adductors. The script mentions that when the adductors are tight, they can pull on the pubic bone, leading to an anterior tilt and affecting the overall posture.

💡Hamstrings

Hamstrings are muscles at the back of the thigh that extend from the pelvis to the knee. The video discusses how the tightness of the adductors can indirectly affect the length of the hamstrings, contributing to postural imbalances and stability issues.

💡Glutes

Glutes, or gluteal muscles, are the muscles responsible for hip extension and abduction. The video emphasizes the importance of glute strength, particularly the gluteus medius, in stabilizing the pelvis and preventing overwork of the adductors.

💡Pelvic floor muscles

Pelvic floor muscles are a group of muscles that support the pelvic organs and are involved in various functions, including continence and sexual function. The script explains the connection between tight adductors and tight pelvic floor muscles, which can lead to issues like urinary incontinence.

💡Posterior pelvic tilt

Posterior pelvic tilt is the opposite of anterior tilt, where the pelvis tilts backward, flattening the natural curve of the lower back. The video suggests that a lack of posterior tilt range could indicate tight adductors that need to be lengthened.

💡Butterfly pose

The butterfly pose is a stretching exercise that involves sitting with the feet together and knees out to the sides, which can help stretch the inner thigh muscles. The video uses this pose as an example to illustrate the tightness of the adductors.

💡Glute medius

Gluteus medius is one of the three gluteal muscles that plays a key role in hip abduction and stabilization. The video highlights the importance of a strong gluteus medius in preventing overwork and tightness of the adductors.

💡Core strength

Core strength refers to the strength of the muscles in the abdominal and back regions that support the spine and pelvis. The script discusses the importance of core strength in maintaining proper posture and preventing the effects of tight adductors on the pelvis.

💡Passive stretching

Passive stretching involves lengthening a muscle without actively contracting it, often done to improve flexibility. The video suggests that while passive stretching can be beneficial, it may not address the underlying issue of muscle imbalance and overwork that contributes to tightness.

Highlights

Discussing the effects of tight inner thigh muscles, specifically the adductors, on the body and their impact on posture and pelvic health.

Tight adductors can pull the pubic bone down, leading to anterior pelvic tilt, which affects abdominal muscles, back, hamstrings, and glute function.

Tight adductors can also affect the pelvic floor muscles, potentially leading to issues like leaking in women.

A quick test to check for tight adductors involves comparing the range of motion in anterior and posterior pelvic tilts.

Tightness in muscles like the adductors is often a sign of overworking, not just a genetic predisposition to tightness.

Weak glute muscles, specifically the glute medius, can contribute to overworking of the adductors and affect pelvic stability.

Strong abdominal muscles are important for working with the pelvic floor and adductors to maintain proper pelvic alignment.

Tightness in the adductors can make it difficult to achieve a neutral pelvic position and may indicate a need to work on muscle balance and strength.

Passive stretching alone may not be enough to address tightness in the adductors; strengthening other muscles to share the workload is also important.

Balancing glute strength, core strength, and addressing breathing can help the adductors release and reduce tightness.

Once other muscles are strengthened and tightness is reduced, the overworked muscles can relax, leading to improved function and reduced stress.

The importance of investigating the root cause of muscle tightness, such as overworking, to effectively address the issue.

The role of the pelvic floor in muscle tightness and the interconnectedness of muscle groups in the pelvic region.

The potential long-term effects of untreated tightness in the adductors and its impact on overall body posture and health.

The value of a comprehensive approach to muscle tightness that includes strengthening, stretching, and addressing muscle imbalances.

The potential benefits of improving muscle balance and strength for reducing the occurrence of anterior pelvic tilt and related issues.

The importance of proper muscle function and balance for overall body stability and the prevention of injuries.

Transcripts

let's talk about these tight inner thigh

muscles so what if you go to do this old

butterfly pose or whatever you want to

call it stretch remember from a high

school track really all right put your

feet together let your knees come out

and you would feel extremely tight there

was always that person whose knees were

stuck up here and couldn't go down no

what are the effects on your body of

having adductors that are this tight

that's a couple things to look at so one

of those effects is your adductors

attached to your pubic bone okay when

our pubic bone gets pulled down so it

has something pulling on it that can

pull us into an anterior tilt all right

it needs your choke shuts off our ABS

tightens our Paris finals in our back

the lengthens our hamstrings which give

us stability makes our glutes less

available to want to do good glutes

squeezing things so those tight adapters

can affect our helmet positioning the

other thing that can affect is our

pelvic floor so our doctors to share a

lot of facha in with the pelvic floor so

it's like kind of like thinking that as

a social continuation all right so the

doctors come in attached to them that

pubic bone but then her pelvic floors

like right there and so with that social

attachment also it comes lots of

encouragement for firing so I've often

found that tight adductors can go hand

in hand with tight pelvic floor muscles

on tight public floor muscles effect

poic floor function which can then lead

to things like leaking in for laps and

all that stuff okay

so if you want to do a quick test for a

doctor's what I want you to do is check

the difference you can see between the

anterior pelvic tilt and a poster public

tub so I want you to pressure your

blowbacks lie on the ground and let your

legs hang open so you can see here how

I'm going to post your public tilt and

this is the range I get now if I go into

an anterior pelvic tilt so let your back

come up off the ground do you see how

much more easily my knees open so this

is telling me that my adductors are a

little tight and you can see how much

this tightness for a deduction pulls me

into into your pelvic tilt if I didn't

you need to get my knees of them okay so

my adductor links right there is plenty

normal and plenty long enough okay so I

think sometimes we tend to think that a

muscle needs to be really really long to

have a lot of people that will say oh my

hamstrings are tight they're affecting

my functionally yeah your hamstrings

really aren't tight enough to affect

their function okay but there does

become a problem where if you feel like

you're trying to stand with a more

neutral pelvis and not spilling forward

in that big inter tilt and you feel that

pulling in your adductors like okay my

adductors you feel resistance

essentially so if you feel resistance

for finding that nice pelvic neutral

then that could be part of the problem

so if you go to do that test and you go

into a posterior pelvic tilt so you tuck

your bottom under and your knees are

stuff way up here that might be a big

sign that you probably need to work on

lengthening your adductors all right so

the other question I want you to ask

yourself all of them do I need your legs

in my adaptors is why the heck did my

lectures get tight to begin with okay so

if you just have tied a doctor's knee

pad on your whole life and you also take

hamstrings and glutes and shoulders and

everything is tight then you just make

me have a genetic predisposition to

tightness but if you feel like you're

tight add up for something that has kind

of come on in the last few years and

it's really become an issue what we need

to ask yourself is why are they a

doctor's over working because in my book

if there's a tight muscle that tells me

there is an overworked muscle muscles

just don't tighten up for no reason all

right they have a reason and usually

it's because we're asking them to work

too much so what we want to look at is

how good is your glute strength

do you have amazing glute strength

because your glutes are gonna help

stabilize your pelvis from the back

that's specifically your glute medius

from the side so if we think about the

leg we've got our a doctor working on

one side we've got our glute medius

working on the other so think about that

is like this really great stability

system that happens if we don't have a

great glute medius out here the poor

adductor is gonna run that show because

it's got a pick

all that slack so you really need to

have balanced glutes to help a doctor's

once the other thing we need great

abdominals so remember how i socking

about the adapters coming in and

attaching into her pubic bone well in

products are there's matching in your

pubic bone what else is coming down and

is hashing into our pubic bone you've

got it

we've got all these adapter muscles

especially these lower apps that are

also working with the pelvic floor and

so we need great abdominals and really

good pelvic floor muscles to help our

adapters let go

okay so oftentimes tightness with a poet

flora comes along with weakness and then

once we strengthen once we get rid of

the tightness first then work on

strengthening it can help that let go so

addressing core strength addressing

breathing addressing glute street and

then some easy center closing on these

adapters is exactly what it will take to

get these guys to let go so if you just

do a bunch of passive stretching mmm

what are you changing like you're just

lengthening the muscle yours it's kind

of pulling on a muscle but you're not

giving anyone else the job you're not

teaching the muscle that it's safe

basically you're just passively linking

the muscle which sometimes is needed

okay especially if you've lost some

sarcomeres in the muscle is really truly

functionally shorter but most of the

cases that I see you really just need to

get other muscles to come in pick up the

slack do the job so that the muscle

that's being overworked can actually

just let go and then as soon as this

happens as soon as you get a little bit

more balance strength the muscle in

question let's go everybody's happy no

stressing is even needed which is pretty

darn cool so hopefully this will help

you with a little bit of investigation

into a doctor tightness or quite

possibly both or tightness or your

anterior tilt that just doesn't seem to

want to go away

you

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