Name: Manual Adductor Stretch
Uploaded: 2023-04-26T01:01:30.000Z
Duration: 8 min 36 s

English captions

https://stream.mux.com/3HKFbGrSJyp1DX00ymEMLaYvHsTSTP6fbiPWJyzffxkM.m3u8

Learn how to properly perform the manual adductor stretch in this comprehensive step-by-step instructional video from the Brookbush Institute. This evidence-based video provides expert coaching on setup, positioning, alignment, and the safe application of stretches to improve adductor flexibility and hip mobility. Enhance hip abduction range of motion while supporting optimal lumbopelvic alignment with this targeted stretching technique. Perfect for athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and rehabilitation clients seeking to reduce inner thigh tightness, improve mobility, and restore optimal movement mechanics while reducing injury risk.

Understanding Adductor Complex and Dysfunction

Techniques for Anterior Adductor Stretching

Addressing Posterior Adductor Tightness

Managing Pinching Sensation During Stretching

Recap of Adductor Stretching Techniques

Manual Adductor Stretch

This is Brent, coming at you with another one of our manual stretching videos. In this video we're going to go after the adductor complex, those inner thigh muscles that have a tendency to get short and overactive in those individuals with both lower leg dysfunction, so that's feet turn out and often knees cave-in or knees bow out, as well as our lumbo-pelvic hip dysfunction, so that's those individuals who have an anterior pelvic tilt, posterior pelvic tilt, or have an asymmetrical weight shift. Now, I'm going to have my friend Yvette come out and help me demonstrate this exercise. The biggest mistake I see on this manual stretch is professionals making it very hard on themselves, rather than taking advantage of some kinesiology to make it very easy on themselves to get this stretch accomplished. So, first things first, I usually see people do this, take on the whole weight of the leg. Now, that might be fine if there's a size difference like there is between Yvette and I, where I'm much larger, but if Yvette was a professional athlete that was twice my size, to take the entire leg and try to stabilize it for the amount of time I'm going to need to stabilize for a static stretch could be problematic, especially if I have many clients, many athletes, many patients, one after the other. So I need to find an easier way to do this. Easiest thing to do, and I'll explain the kinesiology as I'm doing this, is actually just let the leg drop off the table. I have her in abduction, this is an adductor stretch, all I have to do is have her adjust her pelvis either right or left to get the amount of abduction I need to ensure that this is a good stretch, and all I did by bending the knee was take the gracilis out of the picture. The gracilis is an internal rotator of the tibia. It is not common for the internal rotators of the tibia to become short and overactive. It's much more common that we get that feet turn out, and the external rotators of the tibia overactive. So this is fine, there's no problem here, I can then take it a step further. For the most part it's the anterior adductors that get tight, it's the anterior adductors that get overactive. Those are the flexors and internal rotators of the femur. We think about an anterior pelvic tilt being more common, knees duck in is more common than knees duck out. I can force her into a bit of a posterior pelvic tilt to improve this stretch by simply taking her other leg and pulling her as far into flexion as I can, and then adjusting her pelvis a little bit so that she's now just slightly tucked under. You feel a stretch? I haven't done anything, I don't have to use any of my own muscular power, I can just use gravity and a little bit of kinesiology to get a nice adductor stretch. If from here I want to dial it in, I want to refine it a little bit, I now have both my hands free to either stabilize at either ASIS, or maybe stabilize at the femur as we did in the hip flexor video, and then I can use my other hand or even my opposite leg to add a little bit of force this way. So for those of you guys who are using some of your PNF protocols where you're doing contract-relax, or if you're doing 3 sets of 20 seconds where you're getting a release and pushing a little further, all you have to do is either use your leg or your hand and you can take her out just a little further, wait you're 30 seconds to 2 minutes, a little further etc. So a really easy stretch technique as opposed to the one we saw before, not to mention much more specific to the adductor complex, that pectineus brevis and possibly longus that are actually short and overactive in those compensation patterns we talked about. Now, in some individuals we have a propensity for not the anterior adductors to get tight, but the posterior adductors. These are those individuals who have knees bow out, or in an asymmetrical weight shift if somebody has SI joint dysfunction, they're going to be tight on the side of the SI joint dysfunction in their posterior adductor magnus. Now the adductor magnus has a propensity to extend or it extends the hip rather than flexes the hip. So we're going to have to use different mechanics than the stretch we just used. The easiest way to go about doing this that I have found, is we're going to take Yvette up into flexion here and abduction, I'm then going to rest her shoe, and you can use a towel if you want to make sure you keep somebody shoes off your pants, but I'm going to rest that on my ASIS, I'm going to use my other hand to palpate her ASIS on the opposite side, and then I have this hand to stabilize her knee. Actually Yvette, let me get you just a little closer to me on the table. Alright, so I'm just watching my mechanics there, I was reaching over the table. I'm going to stabilize this ASIS, stabilize this knee, now I can control the amount of flexion by just scooting forward until I feel that first resistance barrier, and I can use this hand to either support, to make sure she's not guarding, or to give a little bit of over pressure to further stretch her adductor magnus. Once again I'm going to hold for 30 seconds to 2 minutes. I can then go further into the stretch. If I want to use my PNF contract relax antagonist, contract protocols, I can do all that from this position, I'm in a very strong stable position so she can extend back into my ASIS, she can push up into my hand, whatever I need her to do. How does that feel? Good. Now, the last stretch I'm going to show you is for a particular problem that we sometimes face with adductor stretching. This is not going to be something that you use for everyone necessarily, and there are some other techniques that can you can use to get around this technique, but every once in a while you'll pull somebody into an adductor stretch, and you'll go okay where do you feel it, and rather than say inner thigh, which is obviously where we want this stretch felt, they say, "I feel a pinch here." Well that's a problem. Pinching is not going to help our stretch, in fact, it's probably going to start stimulating some of those nociceptors, get us guarding, we're never going to get that release that we're looking for. So there's a trick we can use to make sure that this doesn't happen. I'm going to have Yvette come to the other side of the table, she's then going to lay on her side facing away from me, back herself all the way up into my hip because I want her nice and close to me to save my mechanics once again, you can just use a hip to make sure they're blocked out and don't back themselves up off the table. I'm then going to have her bend this bottom leg so that she's stabilized. Now, the reason why we're getting pinching up on this side of the hip, partly anyway, is that we had inferior capsule tightness. So what we need to find a way to do, is to depress the femoral head. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to grab Yvette's leg like so, so I'm nice and cradled, and then that way right when I stand up this will be on stretch, I'm then going to use this hand right over her greater trochanter, I'm actually going to use this space in here, and I'm going to create a little bit of pressure that way towards this heel. So I'm going to go pressure towards that heel, stand up, and how does that feel Yvette? Alright, so now I've taken that femoral head, pressed it down making sure I stretch that inferior capsule, I no longer get the pinching on the side of the hip, and this is a pretty good stretch. Now, the disadvantage of this stretch over the two stretches that we just did is this does take a lot more work from me. It is not easy to lift the weight of somebody's leg. So, once again,  just a quick review, we had the anterior adductors. It was leg hanging off, and then this, the contralateral leg, was up, forcing somebody into a posterior pelvic tilt, you can then add as much force as you need. We had the adductor magnus stretch, that's for individuals with knees bow out, or that asymmetrical weight shift caused by SI joint dysfunction. That was here. So I'm pulling into flexion and abduction. And then the last technique we went through was for those individuals who feel pinching, is going to be side-lying, bottom leg nice and stable, you're going to stabilize the greater trochanter, cradle the leg, stand up, and use a little inferior glide to make sure that pinching goes away and we get a little bit of an inferior capsule stretch. I hope you keep working on your manual stretching technique, I think you'll find that the better your technique is, the better results your clients, patients, and athletes get. I look forward to talking to you again soon.

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With your patient/client laying on a treatment/massage table, assume a position on the side you wish to stretch, perpendicular to their knee.

Abduct your patient/client's leg, and allow the lower leg to hang off the table

Have your patient/client adjust their position on the table so the knee just extends past the table. This may range from your client-centered on the table to your client assuming a position closer to the far side of the table.

Use the hand closest to your client to stabilize the pelvis by depressing the contralateral anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) with the palm of your hand.

Use your other hand or your hip/thigh to push the knee hanging off the table cranially (toward the head) until you reach the first resistance barrier.

Hold this position for 30-120 seconds or until a reduction in tension/release is felt.

Move deeper into the stretch, or move on to the next muscle in your corrective intervention.

More is not better: A mild sensation of stretch is plenty. Increasing tension to a point of moderate discomfort or pain will only result in muscle guarding, an increased risk of injury, and/or a less effective stretch.

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