psoas

The psoas (in red) are primary hip flexor muscles that essentially connect the spine to the legs.

Millions of people struggle with low back pain, often with a feeling of resignation that there is no solution in sight.

There could be any number of factors for the achiness, but let’s focus on one muscle in particular — the psoas — and the effects it has on surrounding muscles.

The psoas is one of our primary hip flexor muscles that essentially connects our spine to our legs. It is a very important muscle that sometimes gets neglected. Its job is flexing the hip when the spine is fixed, and it also extends the lumbar spine — the lower back — when the leg is fixed.

It tends to be one of the muscles that becomes extremely tight when our hips are in a flexed position for extended periods of time, such as when we are sitting.

What happens to a tight psoas? It may seem crazy to think that we might start working on a muscle that runs mostly in the front of our body when it is our back that hurts. 

Piggybacking on a previous article that was written last month, our tight muscles pull and recruit joints and other muscles out of their original neutral position. That is when pain rears its ugly head. Tight muscles, in this case, the psoas, pull the pelvis backward into an anterior tilt, putting strain on the lumbar spine.

We’ve all heard someone say, “Pull your shoulders back,” or “Stand up straight.” Both postures are important because our body wants to stand tall and in good alignment. But to be able to get into that position naturally requires stretching and activation exercises, instead of having to force it into the position.

With a tight psoas, our lumbar spine is being pulled forward, so we must force ourselves to stand up straight. But that only increases the pressure on the lumbar spine because we have not addressed the original tight muscle. The goal is to stretch and lengthen the psoas to naturally put the pelvis and lumbar spine into alignment, instead of forcing a correction only to further develop unnatural muscular compensations.

So what do we do next?

We want to stretch the muscles in the front of our body and activate the muscles in the back. It gets much more specific, but this is a good start. Front muscles that are often tight include psoas, quadriceps and pectorals. The often disengaged muscles in the back of our body are the glutes, hamstrings and erector spinae — a group of muscles that assist in posture.

Many people can help relieve low back pain by consulting with a trainer or therapist to learn some simple exercises. Stretching and strengthening the right areas can make a world of difference.

Marnie Ketelson has a bachelor of arts in human services and a master’s degree in coaching and athletic administration. She is a certified personal trainer at the Walla Walla YMCA.

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