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Off-Topic Psoas-pain

Anders

Anders

Level 6 Valued Member
Hi,

I have had Psoas pain for a couple of months. It is not really pain I feel in my Psoas, it is more like it is constantly stiff. Probably this also leads to some back pain when sitting down or rising up, and it is a bit worse in the morning. I am not sure what to do about it. Could it be that my glutes are too weak ?

Anyone have experience with this ? Anyone who as succeeded it getting rid of it ?


Anders
 
Anders said:
Hi,

I have had Psoas pain for a couple of months. It is not really pain I feel in my Psoas, it is more like it is constantly stiff. Probably this also leads to some back pain when sitting down or rising up, and it is a bit worse in the morning. I am not sure what to do about it. Could it be that my glutes are too weak ?

Anyone have experience with this ? Anyone who as succeeded it getting rid of it ?


Anders
Click to expand...
Experience, yes. (Education- no.)
But, it depends on how it's expressed in your body.
I had a thread on this: Other/Mixed - Need to strengthen my iliopsoas

I'd suggest you go to a sports PT- they can do wonders sometimes.
Lots of OS rocking has been good for me. Also some of @Don Fairbanks balance moves (airplane, etc) have been very helpful: I have a very weak right ankle and I'm trying to get rid of my orthotics. I've been putting consistent time into ankle-based balance work and its gradually paying off.
 
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I tried one leg, double kettlebell deadlift. Tried it with double 16 and double 12. I really felt it in my glutes. I have psoas discomfort mainly in me left psoas, and my left leg is less sturdy and my left glute is also less strong.

Maybe I should also try more glute bridge, side planks and crawling.
 
I've had a painful and tight psoas on and off for years and I also noticed I had a tight QL on the opposite side of the low back. In my case it was front right and back left.

What seems to have helped the most was regular daily stretching of the hip flexors coupled with some core activation to strengthen my QL (side planks and bird dogs) while also doing some light stretches for my tight QL.

I have to mention that both my psoas and QL were very hard to stretch, anything above a light stretch seemed to trigger the opposite effect of tightening everything and I had more pain. I started with daily stretches of 15-30 seconds basic hip flexor stretch with very little "stretch" in it. I slowly moved to a stronger stretch over a few months and added a couch stretch after the hip flexor one. I now do active contractions (scissoring the legs in hip flexor stretch and pushing foot/tibia into the couch in couch stretch) in of a few seconds when in the stretched position, doing a few sets of 3 seconds of contraction to work the muscles in a lengthened position. I had to go very slow with the QL stretches also.

All of this when done consistently has kept my psoas issues from coming back. Over the past 10 years I'd say that whenever I stopped regular stretching the issue came back.
 
I've been in a terrible state recently.
I was doing a deadlift cycle and did a rep max for the deadlift thread and have been struggling since.
This coincided with less kickboxing and I have attributed it to an imbalance with reduced glute medius strength (thanks to @Don Fairbanks who posted some videos a couple of weeks ago.)
Thankfully the pain had gone but the range of motion has not nor the acute pain at the stretch point.
I honestly no idea whether or not it is the psoas or QL but it has really got me down.
I put the episode down to three days of driving just as I was peaking in KED.
 
I tried seated L-sit. Hands on the ground next to the knees, and then trying to raise the legs. Since this is over 90 degrees, according to theory I will mostly use my posts muscle. This was quite a heavy exercise. Interestingly enough I cramped on the left side, where is were I have the discomfort.
 
I started working on my windmill last week. Tried with my lightest KB but lacked the mobility so I went with empty hand windmill which that Brick House Core video happens to advise as well.

Also last week I stumbled upon this video which teaches pike pulse variations. I like how he shows regressions to make the pike pulse more accessible to beginners - all the way to lying down on the floor. Quite a bit more accessible than L-Sit variations.

 
There are specific stretches for Psoas. Having a tight Psoas can screw up your lower back. Kettlebell Swings are easier on the tight muscles than Deadlifts. Something safer is when its only one leg at a time like a Single Leg RDL or a Lunge.
 
Anders said:
Hi,

I have had Psoas pain for a couple of months. It is not really pain I feel in my Psoas, it is more like it is constantly stiff. Probably this also leads to some back pain when sitting down or rising up, and it is a bit worse in the morning. I am not sure what to do about it. Could it be that my glutes are too weak ?

Anyone have experience with this ? Anyone who as succeeded it getting rid of it ?


Anders
Click to expand...

Pigeon pose
 
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