Your Psoas Can Help Your Back Pain Part 1

Article by Glen Wood – The Yoga Teacher

If I said to you Psaos, what would you say? Unsure? That’s ok, not many would know either. For those who have already guessed it well done for those who haven’t … it’s a muscle that in my opinion is one of the most under rated muscles in the body. It is muscle that is key to structural stability.

The Psoas muscle (pronounced so-az) is an important muscle and affects every facet in your life, from your well being to how you perceive yourself and how you relate to the outside world.

Consider the Psoas a bridge from your trunk to your legs and needs to be in good shape for balanced alignment, good joint rotation and with a good range of movement. Particularly in yoga the psoas plays an important part in every exercise. Take a look at back bends, a released psoas will allow the front of the thigh to soften and lengthen, this allows the leg to move on its own being independent form the pelvis. Yoga postures are enhanced with a released psoas rather than a shortened one. So, regular practice with a psoas stretch will bring many benefits.

If you suffer from a knee injury (or strain), anxiety or from a sore back or from exhaustion, there could be a good chance that the psoas muscle is restricted and giving you extra trouble. This is a very deep, buried muscle and by regular exercise will give you freedom in many areas. Not just in physical performance but emotional health as well, bringing you new insight, openness and stability in your practice.

Developing awareness of your psoas along with improving your structural stability can bring to light other issues /fears locked in the body as physical tension on an unconscious level. In the fight or flight response (the psoas being intimately involved) the psoas can flex to prepare the powerful leg and back muscles to spring into action. With the intimacy of the psoas, being involved in basic physical and emotional response, with the psoas being tight it will continually send signals to your body telling you of danger, as this process continues the adrenal glands become exhausted and therefore putting extra stress on the immune system.

The psoas muscles are in the centre of your universe, on either side of your spine. These muscles are attached to the 12th thoracic vertebrae, moving through the pelvis to the top of the femur.

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