So many clients come and see me with low back pain. One of the common factors between clients is a sedentary job – long hours spent sitting in front of a computer. If you’re like them, you might have some low back pain, too.
While it sure does feel good to have one’s low back massaged – I know I enjoy having done to me, too – very often the culprit to that low back pain isn’t the back muscles, but the hip flexors. The hip flexors? I can hear you asking that question.
But yes, and specifically, the iliacus and psoas (pronounced “so-az”) major muscles, collectiviely called the iliopsoas, the deepest muscles in the body. The job of the iliopsoas muscles is to flex the hip, which is what happens every time we take a step. Since the legs can be heavy, these muscles need to be very strong.
You can see in the illustration that the psoas major (and in about half the population, psoas minor) attaches on to the front surface of the lumbar vertebra, travels down through the ilium before attaching on the femur at the lesser trochanter.
Why the hip flexors?
Our bodies adapt to the situation in which we put them. If you sit all day, you are keeping your hip flexors in a shortened state. Sitting position is nearly fully flexed for these muscles. So, the body adapts to this situation and starts to “think” that short is the normal state. The problem with this is when you have to stand up – the muscle starts to lengthen and the body wants to return the psoas to it’s “normal” state – shortened. Meanwhile, the erector spinae muscles in the back, which extend the spine, keeping it upright, are contracting to get the body to stand up. The iliopsoas and the erector spinae muscles get into a tug of war within your body, and the back muscles usually lose this battle, and ouch! Back pain.
Release the KrakenPsoas
This is where skilled bodywork can really help. The massage therapist works from the front, slowly massaging deep into the hip toward the navel. The massage therapist coaches the client in breathing and works out the tension in the iliopsoas muscles. As these are the deepest muscles in the body, and there are many structures, like bursae, lymph nodes, the intestines and the femoral artery very near to the psoas, this work is performed only by therapists with training in releasing the psoas.
Releasing the hip flexors is one of the most important strategies in relieving and eliminating low back pain.
Book Now with Paul Brown Massage Therapy Pain Relief Center Today!
Welcome Shannon Stone, CMP, to Paul Brown Massage Therapy Pain Relief Center. He's available on Sundays and Mondays here at the Center, so why not 
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