I have found a lot of cheaters with left adduction activities. When performing activities like the Right Sidelying Left Adductor Pull Back, often times I’ll ask if they feel the left inner thigh. More recently I have been making patients point to where they feel it and many of them point very high in the left hip (towards the groin). I’m wondering about substituting lesser adductors for the adductor magnus. I realize they are synergistic groups, but the IC adductor has a much longer lever arm and has better ability to approximate the hip. Since they do work together, do I need to be more specific about trying to get more distal adductor activation?
The intent of the Right Sidelying Adductor Pull Back is to “effectively” approximate the femoral head into the acetabulum as the acetabulum moves posteriorly and the femur into IR. The adductor group, not just the IC adductor, is used to facilitate acetabular motion and femoral approximation. The IC adductor as a muscle of the adductor complex is most facilitory in this process because of the AF IR and FA IR kinetic activity. Separating these muscle fibers will not be possible nor is it necessary, in my opinion, for AF IR actualization and “proprioceptive feel” to occur. This technique is primarily used as a “starting” technique for good AF IR position during FA IR movement. I would advance the patient ASAP once adductors are felt and desired motion is carried without back extension and improper breathing.
