I have noticed in the 13 years I have been teaching Pilates, that injuries and maladies of the body seem to come in waves.  For a few months I will get people with neck issues, then a new group will come with shoulder pain.  The problem du jour seems to be hip and lower back pain.  The Psoas muscle can be a major cause of this.

The Psoas is one of the largest and thickest muscles in the body.  It attaches to the vertebrae of your lower back, and the head of your thigh bone.  If you want to locate this muscle, lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor. About 2 inches to the side of your navel, dig your fingers down deep into your belly.  Lift your leg slightly off the floor on the same side.  If you feel movement under your fingers, you have found your Psoas. (A word of caution; if your Psoas is tight, this simple movement can bring tears to your eyes.)

The Psoas is primarily responsible for hip and thigh flexion or bending.  It also affects greatly your lower back posture and the way your hips are positioned.

Sitting for a prolonged period of time leaves your Psoas in a shortened or contracted position.  Stay this way long enough and it will start to think this is normal.

There is much you can do to diminish and even prevent lower back or hip pain coming from the Psoas.

•  If you do have to sit in front of a computer all day, shift your position frequently… even better, get up and walk around for a brief break.

•  Sit back in your chair.  The closer you sit to the edge, the tighter your hip flexors can become.

•  Stop hooking your feet under your chair.  This creates more hip flexion, therefore more Psoas activation.  Set your feet flat on the floor, or on a raised platform, if you are height challenged like me.

•  Don’t sleep on your stomach.  When you do, your back goes into hyperextension, exacerbating what a tight Psoas already does to it.

•  Stretching is one of the most important factors in eliminating a tight Psoas.

While you’re on your computer brake, a great stretch you can do is this;

Stand with your legs hip width apart.  Bring your right leg back about 2 feet, bending your left leg.  Bring your right arm up over your head and slightly back.  Make sure the toe of the right foot is pointed more forward than out.  Tighten the right buttocks, now tilt over to your left side.  You should feel a stretch all along the right side, hip, and possibly down to the knee.  Hold for 20 seconds and repeat on other side.

The holidays are, once again upon us, and I would like to thank you for your support of my articles and leave you with this.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough and more… It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Melody Beattie