Prasarita Paddotanasana

Notes

This pose is often described as a stretch for the adductors or the muscles of the inner legs. In fact, when the legs are wide apart and the body is folded forward (hip adduction and flexion), some muscles of the adductor group are not lengthened at all, such as the pectineus and the anterior fibers of the adductor longus and brevis. This is because some adductors are also flexors and are not at their greatest length until the hip joints are adducted and extended, as when standing upright with the legs wide apart (if the pelvis isn’t tipping forward, which would undo the hip extension and is a common pattern).

When the stance is wide the feet need to be both strong and mobile in order to ground through the outer feet without overmobilizing the outer ankles or collapsing the inner ankles.

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