The Pelvic Girdle and Hip Joint 193the pelvis is rotated toward the support leg, resulting
in hip internal rotation on the front leg.
Hip Horizontal Abduction and Adduction
In dance, some movements such as rond de jambe
en l’air occur with the hip flexed to 90°. As discussed
in chapter 1, such movements are termed horizontal
abduction and adduction. When these movements
are performed, the hip flexors, hip abductors, or
hip extensors are used to maintain the height of
the femur (depending on whether the leg is front,
side, or back), while various muscles located medially
and anteriorly (adductor longus, adductor brevis,
adductor magnus, and pectineus) act to pull the
leg toward the midline for horizontal adduction,
and various muscles located posteriorly and laterally
(gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, gluteus maximus,
and DOR) act to pull the leg away from the midline
for horizontal abduction (Hall, 1999; Kreighbaum
and Barthels, 1996).
Key Considerations for the Hip in Whole Body Movement.
Many forms of dance utilize movements that demand
very large range of motion of the hip. Comprehen-
sion of principles relating to multijoint muscles is
important for understanding what limits such move-
ments and what conditioning exercises could be used
to enhance performance of such dance movements.
Furthermore, when weight bearing, the hip must
withstand very large loads, making this joint vulner-
able to degenerative changes.Actions of Multijoint Muscles
Many of the muscles of the hip are multijoint
muscles, including the psoas major, rectus femoris,
gracilis, sartorius, tensor fasciae latae, biceps femoris,
semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. To under-
stand the resultant action that occurs when multijoint
muscles contract, it is helpful to keep the following
concepts in mind that were previously discussed in
chapter 2.
First, remember that a multijoint muscle has the
tendency to cause movement at all of the joints it
crosses, unless a joint is stabilized by other muscles
or outside forces. Since these muscles of the hip
are attached to the pelvis, contraction will result in
accompanying pelvic motions unless the pelvis is
purposely stabilized.
Second, remember that motion at one joint alters
muscle length, which in turn affects the muscle’s
ability to produce force or to be stretched across
the other joint(s) it crosses. For example, the rectus
femoris is more effective as a hip flexor if the knee
is bent versus straight, because having it stretched
across the knee allows the muscle to work at a favor-
able length to avoid active insufficiency. In regard to
range of motion, greater hip flexion is also allowed
if the knee is flexed versus straight, as knee flexion
slackens the hamstring muscle across the knee joint,
allowing more range in flexion to occur at the hip
joint before passive insufficiency occurs.
Third, a multijoint muscle usually does not exert
equal effect at all of its joints, but rather has better
leverage at one joint than the other(s) and so has its
primary action at that joint. For example, the rectus
femoris is more efficient as a knee extensor than as
a hip flexor, and the sartorius is more effective as a
hip flexor than as a knee flexor. This difference in
effectiveness is important for achieving the desired
movement outcome when many muscles simultane-
ously contract.FIGURE 4.29 Sample dance movement showing hip
internal rotation.
Sacramento Ballet dancer Merett Miller.