Yoga Butt and How to Fix It
Yoga butt? What is it and do I have it?
This title might sound a bit silly but if you do yoga regularly, then you know yoga butt is a real thing! To tell you about my experience with yoga butt, let's go back in time a bit...
It was 2019 and I was prepping for a photoshoot on all things splits. I warmed up for about 40 minutes and stayed in some long holds to prepare. In the weeks to follow, I felt uncomfortably sore in any forward fold. Almost like I needed to stretch the area at the top of my hamstrings and just under my butt but felt achier every time I did. I mostly ignored it until I was in my 300hr Teacher Training a month later. It became more obvious as to what was going on since I was moving SO much each day in the training. It led me to do a lot of homework and I learned it was a much more common injury than I knew.
“Yoga butt, technically called proximal hamstring tendinopathy, is an irritation or inflammation of the hamstring tendons at their attachment site on the ischial tuberosity (the sitting bone),” explains Jenni Tarma, a Yoga Medicine therapeutic specialist.
What it might feel like:
You will have pain at the sit bone (ischial tuberosity), which is caused by inflammation and or injury to the tendon. It might feel like you need to stretch more but that’s quite literally what caused the injury in the first place.
You might feel this pain in hip flexion poses like:
Happy Baby
Lunge
Padangusthasana
Forward Folds
Pyramid Pose
Tendons have a limited amount of elasticity, and often postures that have us in deep forward folds, splits, or legs moving toward or behind the head can cause the tendons to become overstretched and irritated (like in the picture below). In my case, I was working my middle and front splits for the photoshoot.
What causes it?
In the context of yoga, we do a lot of the same and often work our flexibility and end of range motions. Often (but not always), a yoga practice has more to do with opening the body and less to do with strengthening. There are also moments when teachers assist students to take them deeper into a posture, which can be good and not so good. It can be a progressive condition so make sure to advocate for yourself and speak up as needed.
Once you know what it is and what it feels like there’s no missing it, trust me!
Prevention and Healing
As a self-diagnosed “collector of asanas” I was so eager to move to the next hard posture on the list. I pushed myself in many wonderful ways but missed the bus on strength early on. Now, I treat my body very differently!
When you know better, you do better. Strengthening the surrounding muscles is so important to help you heal "yoga butt". Refrain from those postures that trigger the pain and always opt for modifications. I know... the dreaded modifications. But, guess what? Modifications are sexy! It means you have boundaries!
I started adding a lot more banded exercises - I actually have an entire program on booty bands in my app - to increase strength in my glutes and kept my knees bent during all forward folds. I took any splits (or similar bilateral movements) to 70-80% and stayed fully away from any leg being the head. I know many who have had this injury and have dealt with it for years because they continued to push past the pain. I recommend not doing that.
Instead of this...
Do this...
and this...
This injury can happen to many and is quite common but practicing smart helps a lot! It’s definitely preventable and one that can be healed! When in doubt, ask a physical therapist or a knowledgeable yoga instructor.