Muscle Minute TUESDAY – Pain From The Psoas Muscle

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Do you wake up every morning with back stiffness? Does morning back pain plague you only to have it disappear by midday? 

Getting out of bed can be tough for many reasons, but back pain shouldn’t be one of them. In fact, many people with morning back pain often deny they have a problem at all because the symptoms usually go away as the day progresses. But pain in the morning isn’t normal and shouldn’t be an expected part of growing older. 

In order to solve the morning back pain dilemma, it’s important to understand how the body is designed. One of the key culprits in morning back pain is the psoas (pronounced SO-az) muscle, the powerful hip flexor that also acts to stabilize your spine. If this muscle becomes tight it can pull on your spine and cause compression of the joints and nerves in your lower back. If your spine is being compressed for the 7-9 hours you spend sleeping every night, it’s no surprise you wake up with back stiffness.

There are several positions that may cause this muscle to shorten over time: walking or lying with your toes turned out, sitting with your knees far apart, and sitting or standing with a swayed back (a sign of weak abdominal muscles). If you can figure out how to throw the switch that shuts off your psoas muscle, then getting out of bed in the morning can be a breeze.

The secret to shutting off your psoas muscle lies in strongly activating two key muscle groups: your quadriceps (front of your thigh) and your deep abdominal muscles. When we say strongly activating, we mean tightening a muscle in such a way that you feel like you are wringing out a towel. This hyper activation can throw the neurological switch that deactivates your psoas muscle and can rid you of back pain in just a few seconds.

Try these three exercises before you get out of bed to shut down your psoas muscle:

Power Pelvic Tilt

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. Pull your belly button into your spine, press your back flat into the bed, squeeze your glutes and hold for 6 seconds. Repeat 6 times.

Supine 90/90 Rotation

Lie on your back with your hips and knees flexed to 90˚ and legs pressed together. Tighten your abdominal muscles and rock your knees side-to-side in a pendulum fashion. Make sure you are controlling the rotation of your legs with your abdominal muscles. Perform 3 x 12 repetitions

Straight Leg Raise with Rotation

Lie on your back with one knee bent and foot on the floor. Tighten your thigh of your straight leg, pull your toes up towards your shin and turn your foot in slightly. Lift the straight leg to the height of the bent knee. Perform 3 x 12 repetitions.

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