The psoas muscle is frequently tight and tender and figuring out how to release a tight psoas muscle can be challenging. If you don’t have tightness and tenderness in the psoas consider yourself lucky! Much of it is related to our western lifestyle of sitting a lot, not moving very much, and not making flexibility a priority. As we’ve moved from standing up straight to sitting more often, the psoas has suffered.
A psoas muscle release can provide a lot of relief if you’re experiencing any of the following signs or symptoms:
- Psoas tightness
- Psoas pain
- Psoas weakness.
If this is you, it’s time to perform a psoas muscle release before it’s too “engrained” in its pattern of tightness and muscular dysfunction. If you let your tight psoas muscle continue it will only be harder to address later on.
A shortened and tight psoas muscle, in the long run, can cause more complex issues like:
- Low back pain
- Hip and back immobility
- Lumbar disc issues
- Complex postural issues
Releasing it early gives you the opportunity to keep psoas dysfunction from progressing and being a long-term rehab project. The psoas muscle has a lot of power and influence, and that’s why releasing the psoas muscle can make such an immediate difference.
When I say release – think stretch, lengthen, and strengthen. If your tight psoas is shortened and contracted it’s going to be dysfunctional and weak. It can no longer draw on the full length of its muscle fibers and it’s not reaching it’s potential as a strong healthy muscle.
Psoas muscle discomfort can often result from acute injuries where there’s a sudden injury to the muscle. I’ve seen it happen frequently with CrossFit, weight lifting, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and running. Sometimes you psoas discomfort can also be insidious, in other words, it seems like it started for no specific reason. Most of my patients typically don’t know what caused their discomfort, it just seemed to “build up over time.”
Either way, a psoas muscle release is a great place to start addressing this issue.
If you’ve already been stretching your psoas for a while and it’s not helping, there are a few reasons for this. See my content on the subject here –> 9 Reasons When and Why Stretching Your Psoas is Not Helping
Hip Flexor Weakness Test
If you’re looking for a psoas muscle release, first see this hip flexor weakness test to determine “Is my hip flexor weak?” This video shows how to muscle test hip flexion and then isolates the psoas muscle to test for psoas muscle weakness.
Hip Flexor Release
Having a weak psoas causes all kinds of movement dysfunction and can lead to pain as discussed earlier. If you have a weak hip flexion caused by an underactive or weak psoas, try this psoas muscle release.
Exercises for Tight Hip Flexors
It’s always good to follow up on your psoas assessment and psoas muscle release with a good regimen of at home stretches and corrective exercises to permanently fix movement dysfunction. I cover the most effective psoas stretch and also a psoas strengthening exercise for you in this video.
If you need a little more than home care to address your Psoas issue, AccessHealth Chiropractic Center offers free 10 minute consultations to discuss your psoas muscle pain and tightness, as well as other musculoskeletal complaints you might want to address and rehab. If you’re looking for chiropractic care in Cary, Apex, or Raleigh our providers are the area’s experts on joint and tissue mobility for an active lifestyle.
Think you might have a Psoas muscle strain? Here’s a couple exercises to try –> Build strength in the Psoas Muscle with the Psoas March
Dr. Jason Williams DC is a chiropractic physician practicing at AccessHealth Chiropractic in Cary, NC. He treats neuromusculoskeletal pain and injuries using chiropractic manipulation, dry needling, acupuncture, rehab exercise strategies, and other supportive therapies. Primary areas of focus include back pain, neck pain, muscular pain, extremity pain, and orthopedic injuries. Dr. Williams is experienced in treating athletes, especially those in the CrossFit, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and MMA community.
If you’re interested in whether he or another AccessHealth provider can help you, navigate to our contact page or follow this link to request an appointment.