08/24/2022
Yep❣️
The psoas muscle is a very important core muscle. It attaches the lumbar vertebrae to the lesser trochanter, near the head of the femur. The psoas muscle is often grouped together with the iliacus muscle, and together they’re referred to as the iliopsoas. Its location is deep within the core of the body and difficult to feel.
The psoas muscle performs several important actions:
• It flexes the hip, so when it contracts it brings the knee in toward the stomach. If you spend a lot of time sitting, your psoas is likely tight as a result of spending so much time in a shortened state.
• It laterally rotates the hip, allowing you to stand like a ballet dancer with your feet pointed outward. Dancers often have a great deal of tightness in their psoas muscle.
• It adducts the hip, bringing the leg in toward the center of the body. If you squeeze your knees together, you’re engaging your adductors.
Because of its attachments to the lumbar vertebrae, the psoas muscle contributes to lateral tilting of the pelvis (hiking the hips up one at a time) and lateral flexion of the spine (bending the spine to one side).
Symptoms of a tight psoas muscle include:
• Tension and pain in the lower back, hips, buttocks, pelvis, or groin
• Lower back spasms
• Radiating pain down the leg
• Sciatica
• Limping
• Instability in the core of the body
• Limited flexibility in the lower back
Keep in mind—your tight psoas muscle isn’t the only problem. It’s important to understand that tightness in a single muscle is never the sole cause of a painful condition or movement limitation.
Every movement we make involves many muscles working together, so every pattern of tension that we develop involves chronic tightness in a number of muscles. You must work with the entire pattern of tension in order to relieve your problem!
I include psoas and hip work in every session and educate the client on why it behooves them for me to do so.