“The Psoas Major”... A Major Problem?

The psoas major is the deepest core muscle of the human body and the only muscle that connects trunk to lower limb completely bypassing connection points at the pelvis. 

Through its unique positioning, it plays a key role in stability and balance and thanks to this muscle in part, we are able to stand and walk upright. 

Moreover, the psoas is a major contributor to the curve of your lower spine that enables it transfer and bear loads carried above it through human kinetics. 

While walking, running etc, the psoas muscle in its functioning role helps to create this curve as it pulls at your lumbar vertebrae both forward and down (which I demonstrate in this video) and at the thigh upward with a net result being hip flexion. In essence it deserves its classification as a “hip flexor” almost as the big boss of hip flexors. 

Let’s talk about tight hip flexors as “the psoas problem”. Let’s also acknowledge that  although it does exist as part of a compound musculature (we all know as the iliopsoas complex) that we will look at it solely as its own entity for now. 

Through no fault of its own the psoas does its job brilliantly and becomes the focus of something gone wrong...it becomes the culprit of many lower back pain and other agonizing symptoms. It is often blamed as being too tight and hence the subject of many massage and therapeutic therapies. 

Well what if we took another approach? What if we subscribed to the concept known as “the bad neighbor theory”?  What this theory states is that throughout the body when something goes wrong we usually associate the culprit as the sight of pain when truly this is the victim.  We also tend to treat this site alone while missing the bigger picture.

Perhaps through this lens we will realize that when we have this lower back, or psoas related pain, that it is instead other anatomical conditions closest to this “culprit” that are actually to blame. If we take this approach we classify the psoas as truly the victim. 

Start conditioning your mind to discover what else may not be doing its job as well and start looking for structural symphony.  Ask are other core muscles providing enough feedback to or restraint of this very powerful deep musculature? What about other prime movers, antagonists, protagonists and stabilizers?  Start to condition those to be in their best behavior. 

I know there is a lot in this but I hope the conversation helps to take you in the right direction. 

I hope this video starts to help you breach the disconnect. 

I hope that you can become healthier or certainly more informed from it. 

Be well and stay healthy!!!!