Hip Pain When Sitting Indian Style: Causes & Solutions

Sitting Indian style seems so comfortable. You may look relaxed when doing this position. But a lot of people feel pain while doing this position. 

Hip pain when doing the Indian sitting position may give a feeling of pinching pain. Sometimes you may feel numb in the hip area. If this happens to you, maybe you have some problems with your hip muscles and joints. 

To get relief from this pain, the muscles and joints along with related structures need to be treated. In this article, we will know about the causes that make you feel hip pain when sitting Indian style. I have also tried to give solutions to these problems. 

I have also mentioned some ways to avoid hip pain. If you read the rest of the article, you will get your necessary information hopefully. 

Causes of hip pain in Indian sitting style

Indian sitting style is applied by a lot of people. If you face a problem sitting in such a position, you may have some problems. The problem is caused by various reasons. Let’s have a look at them. 

• Related muscles are weak

Sitting Indian style or cross-legged requires a number of muscles in function. They are the muscles of your back, hip, and thigh. 

The muscles support your back to make it straight. And your whole weight is put on the muscles of your hip. They are mainly gluteal muscles. If they are not strong enough, they begin to feel pain. 

Moreover, the muscles of the thigh have a great impact on the cross-legged positions. Along with the flexor muscles of the hip, the hamstring muscles also work here. Tightness or lack of flexibility of these muscles causes strain. It results in pain. 

• Having joint problems

There are some joints associated with this sitting position. Hip joints and knee joints are main. 

The hip joint is a crucial joint in our body. It carries the weight of our trunk and passes it to the legs. Structurally, it is a ball-socket type of joint. That means the ball-like head of one bone fits into the socket-like structure of another bone. 

Here two bones are separated by cartilage. If that is decayed or ligaments are torn, you will feel pain. The same thing is true for the knee joint. 

• Nerve problems

In the lower end of our spine, there emits a lot of nerves in the legs. Each of them is very important. 

The sciatic nerve is one of them and it is the largest nerve in our body. If sitting in this position puts much pressure on this nerve, that will develop a condition called sciatica. It is extremely painful. 

• Poor blood circulation

There is a lot of blood supply in the pelvic region. Besides, the blood supply in the back of the knee joint is a remarkable one. 

Sitting for a long time in this position will definitely cause obstruction to the blood circulation. This can be a cause of pain.  

• Pelvic floor muscles are tight

The pelvic floor keeps your urinary and genital organs in position. The tightness of these muscles can cause strain while sitting Indian style. This must cause pain in your hip. 

There may be some other reasons for your hip pain. But these are the main causes while others may be produced from these. 

Let’s learn about the solutions. 

Solutions of hip pain 

Many clinical conditions can have hip pain as a symptom. Not all of them will occur to a single person. So, diagnosis is an important step. 

If you feel hip pain especially sitting in Indian style that indicates the reasons I stated above. Treatment is the solution to the problems that arise in the body. So, we should look at the causes carefully. 

Once you find the true causes of pain, you will be able to cure it. Now, look at the solutions. 

• Application of heat or ice

Applying heat or ice to the painful area reduces the pain greatly. It helps to lessen the soreness, swelling as well as pain. So, physicians recommend this solution.

• Get proper exercise

As your pain may be caused by a lack of flexibility of muscles and joints, the solution will be to loosen them. To loosen your muscles and joints, you have to do some exercises regularly. 

There are many kinds of physical exercises for this. The best is the one that a physician recommends to you. I can name a few yoga poses like pigeon pose, toe touch, lung pose, prone heel squeezes happy baby, etc. However, the situation may worsen if you do the wrong exercise. 

• Practise this position regularly

People who are not used to doing this pose can easily feel hip pain. But there are some people who don’t exercise regularly. 

Whatever exercise you do, do it regularly. You may feel pain early. But once you get used to it, you will feel no pain. In the beginning, do this pose for a short time. Increase the duration gradually. 

• Physical therapy

Physical therapists can help you to remove hip pain. As they are trained, they know how to cure you. They provide various types of therapy. Some of them are instrumental, some are free-hand. They will give you what you need. 

• Get proper medication

For pain management, physicians mainly prescribe NSAIDs. You may need painkillers too. But it’s better to follow the prescription from a registered doctor. 

The methods I have mentioned may not be completely accurate. Because I don’t know what happened to you actually. And you may be wrong about the diagnosis. So, I strongly recommend seeing a doctor who is an expert in this field. 

Tips to avoid hip pain in Indian sitting style

I mentioned the ways to cure hip pain caused by sitting crossed-legs position. As prevention is better than cure, I will talk about some ways that will help you to avoid hip pain. 

First of all, if you feel extreme pain in an Indian sitting position, I will recommend avoiding this position. There are alternatives to the Indian sitting style (aka Sukhasana) that give the same advantages like this. 

Try alternatives

Some of the alternatives of Sukhasana are: 

• Vajrasana (Thunderbolt pose)
• Virasana (Hero pose)
• Gomukhasana (Cow face pose)
• Cobbler pose
• Blaster pose
• Straddle pose
• Staff pose

I have mentioned a good number of alternatives. You can try them. If one or more of them are okay with you, go for them. Indian sitting style is not the only one. There are some others that you may be comfortable with. 

Increase flexibility

Though it is not that easy, it is possible. All of us don’t have the flexibility to try the poses. If we can do some specific exercises or do poses, we can be able to do any pose including the Indian sitting style. 

Some of these exercises are: 

• Janu Sirsasana
• Baddha konasana
• Bhujangasana
• Bridges
• Lateral lunges
• Rotational lunges
• Split and lateral squat

They help you get enough flexibility in your hips to do any pose. 

Besides these, maintain regularity in doing such poses. This habit will help you very much. 

FAQ

Is Indian sitting style bad for you? 

From the discussion above, it may seem that the Indian sitting style is harmful to all of us. Actually, it’s not. Indian sitting style is mainly practiced for a number of good reasons. 

Some of the benefits of Indian sitting position are: 

• Strengthens the muscles of back
• Maintains a good blood circulation
• Eases respiration 
• Improves bowel movement and digestibility
• Good for muscles and joints
• Improves body posture

It actually helps more. These are the main benefits. If you don’t get hurt or feel pain, you will feel the benefits. 

How to remove hip pain fast?

Hip pain is very irritating in most cases. So, we seek a faster solution. To remove hip pain fast, you can apply ice to the pain point. It helps greatly. 

You may have noticed that footballers use dry ice on the injured area for removing pain quickly. It really works fast.

Besides, you can use heat to lessen your pain. It’s better to use a hot water bag to apply heat to the painful area. 

Is hip pain curable? 

Hip pain is so intolerable sometimes. There are a lot of treatments to cure this. If the condition is so severe that you become unable to move your legs or walk normally, you should definitely see a doctor. Besides medication and therapy, even surgery is possible. So, there’s no need to worry much. 

Final words

So, now we’re here. If you have read carefully so far, you probably know what is causing you hip pain. And here I have mentioned the solutions also. 

I want to put emphasis on consulting with a physician. Because you may not be sure or detect the right cause of your hip pain. So, it’s better to see a doctor. 

If you are sure about the cause, you may try the solutions and preventions also for future. These efforts can help you get relieved from hip pain when doing Indian sitting style.