Psoas muscle is probably one of the most important muscles for many different reasons, as part of the iliopsoas muscle it helps us to the do all of the below actions:
Psoas flexes the hip
Laterally rotates the hips
Abducts the hips
Laterally tilts the pelvis
Laterally flexes the spine
Because of all these movements it can contribute to a lot of other symptom’s such as:
Pain, tension, spasms of the lower back
Lumbar disc problems
Sciatica
Tension in back, bum, pelvis, groin, hips
Idiopathic scoliosis
Function leg discrepancy
Hyperlordosis
Pelvic rotation
Snapping hip syndrome
Shallow breathing
Stress processor and breathing
The Psoas muscle is linked to the diaphragm, the diaphragm and psoas are connected along the same vertebrae in the lower spine, so when the psoas is tight, we cannot fully extend the diaphragm, leading to not being able to take a full deep breath.
Short breaths and shallow breaths stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, so when we are stressed out, the nervous systems revs up to deal with this then calms back down - the rest and digest , which is regulated through the Parasympathetic nervous system. The Psoas muscle registers this stress in our body and it contracts or tightens to flee or fight whatever the threat.
When the Parasympathetic is offline we are unable to properly digest, absorb food nutriments and our immune system is not firing properly. A tight psoas muscle can mean our overall health and wellbeing are impaired!
Crazy huh!
Releasing the Psoas
First off you can’t just release your psoas, this is part of a larger pattern of tension in the core of your body which can involve lower back, abdominals, glutes, and hip muscles.
We need to release the entire group, to keep the psoas released!
Static stretching does not work! Static stretching triggers the stretch reflex which actually makes the muscles tighter. It doesn’t change the messages sent to the nervous system, it still tells them the muscles should stay tight
Here is a few tips on how to release your Psoas muscle:
Self massage with a massage ball
Hip flexor release
Maintain muscular balance
Strengthen glutes
Focus on adding stability to support your hips
If this is an area that you fell gets tight and want to reach out, do drop me a line!
If you’re experiencing psoas muscle pain, begin with the self-massage technique and avoid over-stretching the hip flexors in general. Many times, over-stretching can worsen the pain.
Love F x
