How to Do Pigeon Pose: A Hinge Health Guide

Dealing with tight hips? If so, you know all too well how that stiffness can have a ripple effect on the rest of your body, making it harder to do the things you enjoy. 

To improve hip mobility, which will make it easier to move around without experiencing hip pain, stiffness, or tightness, you need to stretch. And the pigeon pose is a great hip-opening stretch that also helps loosen back muscles in the process.

Read on to learn more about the pigeon pose and how to do it, plus ways to make it easier or harder. 

What Is the Pigeon Pose?

The pigeon pose is a stretch that improves hip and back mobility, while also stretching your quads in the front of the thighs. When you bring one leg forward, you open up the hip joint and give your back a good stretch, especially if you spend a lot of time sitting hunched over. By extending the opposite leg behind you, you’ll work in a little quad stretch too.  

What Muscles Does Pigeon Pose Work? 

The pigeon pose stretches your hip, back, glutes, and the front of your thighs, specifically targeting:

• Hip flexors: These are a group of four muscles that sit at the front of the upper thigh, and are responsible for stability and flexibility. They help you pull your thigh up toward your body during movements like walking, sitting, and standing. 

• Gluteus maximus: This is the largest glute muscle. It’s responsible for hip extension (when you extend or “open” your hip joint so that the angle between your pelvis and thigh increases). Strong glutes can help reduce hip pain by providing better support and stability to the hip joint.

• Gluteus medius and gluteus minimus: These smaller glute muscles are located on the sides of the hip. They help with hip abduction (moving the leg away from the midline of the body) as well as pelvic stability.

• Piriformis: This small but important muscle is located deep in your glutes. It can be a tricky muscle to stretch, which is where the pigeon pose comes in.

• Erector spinae: These are a group of muscles that runs along the spine. It includes the iliocostalis, longissimus, and spinalis muscles. 

• Latissimus dorsi: These muscles, which are located on the sides of the back, can be engaged and stretched a bit during the pigeon pose.

Benefits of Pigeon Pose

The pigeon pose helps to improve hip and back mobility and flexibility. It’s a challenging stretch for your lower body and back that can help to relieve muscle tension and build resilience for activities like sitting on the floor to play with kids.

Pigeon Pose: Exercises and Modifications 

The information contained in these videos is intended to be used for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or treatment for any specific condition. Hinge Health is not your healthcare provider and is not responsible for any injury sustained or exacerbated by your use of or participation in these exercises. Please consult with your healthcare provider with any questions you may have about your medical condition or treatment.

To do pigeon pose:

• Start by kneeling on your hands and knees. 

• Now, sweep one leg underneath your belly to bring your knee and shin to rest on the floor just behind your hands.

• Adjust the bend in your knee to about 90 degrees with your knee lined up in front of your hip. 

• At the same time, slide your back leg straight behind you and untuck your toes so you are resting some weight on your knee and the top of your foot. 

• Prop yourself up on your hands or fingertips as you hold this stretch. 

• Then, return to kneeling on your hands and knees. 

• As you do each rep, you might feel a stretch in your hip, glutes, and the front of your thigh. 

Everyone is different, which is why you may need to modify this exercise to meet your needs. 

To make pigeon pose easier:  

• From sitting, straighten one leg to lay flat on the floor and cross your other foot over your straight leg. 

• Now, pull your knee and shin up towards your chest to stretch.

To make pigeon pose harder: 

• After getting into pigeon pose, move your chest down towards the floor to deepen the stretch. 

How Hinge Health Can Help You 

If you have joint or muscle pain that makes it hard to move, you can get the relief you’ve been looking for with Hinge Health’s online exercise therapy program. 

The best part: You don’t have to leave your home because our program is digital. That means you can easily get the care you need through our app, when and where it works for you.  

Through our program, you’ll have access to therapeutic exercises and stretches for your condition. Additionally, you’ll have a personal care team to guide, support, and tailor our program to you. 

See if you qualify for Hinge Health and confirm free coverage through your employer or benefit plan here.

This article and its contents are provided for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice or professional services specific to you or your medical condition.

References

1. Mears, S. C., Wilson, M. R., Mannen, E. M., Tackett, S. A., & Barnes, C. L. (2018). Position of the Hip in Yoga. The Journal of Arthroplasty, 33(7), 2306–2311. doi:10.1016/j.arth.2018.02.070

2. Colgrove, Y., Gravino-Dunn, N., Dinyer, S., Sis, E., Heier, A., & Sharma, N. (2019). Physical and physiological effects of yoga for an underserved population with chronic low back pain. International Journal of Yoga, 12(3), 252. doi:10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_78_18