Two Reasons Why the Psoas Feels Tight

Do you have a tight psoas muscle? This incredible hip flexor plays a major role in helping to stabilize both our spine and the front of the hip. It often gets a bad rap for being tight, but that tightness is often brought on by factors out of its control.

Imagine this. You’re standing at the edge of a deep lake trying to hold a kid back from falling into the water. But someone keeps shoving you toward the water. You have to tense up and tighten down to prevent yourself from falling in. Typical “king of the mountain” type response. You know that game you played as a kid? Well, this is what happens to the psoas. Stretching when it’s in this high tone state can often make it more stressed out or can cause issues in the front soft tissue structures of the hip. What the psoas really needs is balance, and to stop getting shoved from behind.

So, who is doing the shoving? Well, usually it’s those deep hip rotators. They grip and shove the hips forward right into that waiting psoas that has to contain the head of the femur.

If we go up the chain, the psoas is the primary vertical stabilizer for the lumbar spine. If your core system isn’t leaning in to help as much as it should, the psoas will have to pick up the slack for that as well, making it tighten down even further.

So, instead of stretching a tight psoas, I like to:
-Address core strength. Specifically, lateral abdominal strength. (The rectus doesn’t help much with this issue since it runs vertically as well.)
-Address deep hip rotator tightness and get the femur back in the socket.

Putting these together can really provide lasting relief for a tight psoas. Do you feel like you have one of these factors affecting your core or hips?


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Online Continuing Education for Fitness and Health Professionals
PCES - Pregnancy & Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist
www.coreexercisesolutions.com/postpartum-corrective-exercise-specialist/

Comprehensive online program to help women correct pelvic floor issues, diastasis recti, and more
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