These extremely common adjustments allow us to embody pigeon pose without needing 90° of hip external rotation.
And they happen without our even having to think about it because the body naturally self-organizes. These are all favorable adaptations!
It’s also important to note that acute knee injuries generally happen in situations involving high velocity and high magnitude loads.
So if we were, say, dropped into pigeon from a height of 6 feet, this certainly might be risky for the knee!
But because classic pigeon is a static, passive stretch, the loads are so low that it is not especially risky for the knee.
For a more in-depth discussion about whether pigeon pose will wreck your knee, plus many more body geeky insights on this classic hip-opener, listen to Episode 18 of the Yoga Meets Movement Science podcast: Pigeon Pose: Friend or Foe?
