Decoding Psoas Pain

How Your Psoas Muscle Could Be Contributing to Your Back, Hip, and Pelvis Pain

Has someone told you that your back hip or pelvis pain is coming from your psoas?

What is a psoas?

Your illio-psoas muscle is a hip flexor muscle.

It attaches to the front of your spine, below your rib cage. It also attaches to the pelvis and the femur

(the large leg bone-the biggest bone in the body).

The motion the illio-psoas (or psoas for short) is responsible for, is to bring your knee to your chest.

That is what a hip flexor does. It can be involved in many different types of lower back, pelvis, and leg pain. It is usually involved in most

low back and pelvis pain.

Rarely do I find it as the primary cause of back or pelvis pain.

Usually, the cause is going to be one of the gluteal muscles on the back of the hip and pelvis, going into

spasm. These muscles are located where your back pocket is.

The gluteal muscles are major movers of the body. Most of our movement stems from our core or

the midsection and the glutes control the core or midsection.

Anything that affects the midsection can affect our psoas, or vice versa (the psoas can affect the

midsection).

The psoas can get irritated from sitting for long periods, running, repeated knee movements, tennis, etc.

But usually, I find that it gets irritated secondarily to the gluteal muscles.

If you are sitting for a long period while hunched over and shaped like a cashew, your gluteal muscles

will primarily tighten up. They will hike your hip into your hip socket, and increase the curvature of your lower

back (lumbar lordosis). The increased lordosis will pull on the front of your pelvis, and your psoas.

Try sitting with a lumbar roll behind the small of your back, and lean backward.

This will take the stress off of your hips and lower back, stretch out your psoas, maintain the natural curvature

of your spine, and help prevent your hips and psoas from tightening up.

Bridging exercises (laying on the floor, palms facing the floor, knees bent, feet flat on the floor, then try

to raise your pelvis to the ceiling, and lower back down) are great to help loosen up the psoas, the

front of your pelvis and stomach, and your lower back.

Another way to stretch out your psoas is to lay on your bed facing toward the ceiling. Lay with the

painful side/ leg hanging off of the bed. Then try to let your foot get closer to the ground. This will

stretch out your psoas and the front of your stomach.

If you have low back, pelvis, stomach, psoas, or front hip pain, remember to also stretch out by twisting

your lower back, leaning backward, and doing a figure 4 type of stretch for your lower back.

These stretches will help to loosen up most causes of low back and pelvis tightness.

I hope this helps you to have a Pain Free Day.