30/04/2022
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The Psoas A Muscle in Trauma or A muscle that needs to breathe
We often think this just consists of one muscle when in fact it's called the iliopsoas and consists of three muscles, psoas major, psoas minor and iliacus These are a meaty group of muscles think of a sirloin rather than a fillet and the connections resonate throughout the body.
It’s a connection from the thoracic region (psoas major and minor under last two ribs and transverse process of lumbar), through to lesser trochanter of the femur, the iliacus originates from psoas minor tendon and again connecting to the femur, I call it the connection from the front to hind end, but most importantly it’s the muscle with a connection to the diaphragm
So, our breath is a connection to the psoas and vice versa as with everything we have cause and effect
So often we hear of huge momentous releasees from trauma either past or present when working on humans but for me we can only speculate with horses as they cannot tell us, and for most horse's traumatic events can be a daily occurrence rather than a one episodic instance.
Stress is a big factor and lets face domestication of the horse has led to an animal where most of its natural predispositions to coping with stress have been taken away so for me most horses spend a lot of their lives in a mini traumatic overload at least for some part of their life, for example take a stabled, travelling, solitary horse that may hear something that naturally would lead to the fight flight system being activated yet they have no means to release and recover from that system if they can't address that burst of adrenaline which then usually kicks in the parasympethic system as the body tries to counteract or the horse that is flooded that their body has gone completely into the zone out stage where it is not aware of their surroundings and any danger. A lot of horses can fluctuate between the two with no happy medium.
For me more importantly when we connect the breadth to the well-being of the psoas, and the whole horse we are truly allowing the horse to engage a correct function to the diaphragm and also a happier healthier working system, have you ever heard the horse take that deep intake of breath almost like it’s the body kicking in a different rhythm that is more important to me then say a horse laying down and zoning out.
Remember the psoas and diaphragm work together from stability in the front end, mobility in the hind end and creating a support system for the organs, as well as CNS, and also brain to body function etc
And remember if you connect the two you can tackle one area from different angles
We cannot put the feel of what a human may respond on the feel of what a horse may be going through we are parallels apart when it comes to what we may find traumatic to a horse, and remember most importantly if you are with your horse its important you don't live in what you think is their trauma, they appreciate it if we are enablers for a better wellbeing than hinderers
P.s this is only my musings 😃
Photo from Google
