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Understanding and Releasing the Psoas Muscle
By Barry Krost, MA, LMT, NCTMB
The psoas muscle is involved in many of the acute and chronic problems of the body. It's hard to believe the amount of pain and suffering caused by a muscle so deep in the abdomen. Travell refers to it as a "hidden prankster." 1
Some of the conditions involving the psoas include: low back pain, sacroiliac pain, sciatica, disc problems, spondylolysis, scoliosis, hip degeneration, knee pain, menstruation pain, infertility, and digestive problems. The list can also include biomechanical problems like pelvic tilt, leg length discrepancies, kyphosis, and lumbar lordosis.
 What is the psoas?
The psoas (pronounced "so - oz") primarily flexes the hip and the spinal column. At about 16 inches long on the average, it is one of the largest and thickest muscles of the body (in animals it's known as the tenderloin). This powerful muscle runs down the lower mid spine beginning at the 12th thoracic vertebrae connecting to all the vertebral bodies, discs and transverse processes of all the lumbar vertebrae down across the pelvis to attach on the inside of the top of the leg at the lesser trochanter.
The lower portion of the psoas combines with fibers from the iliacus muscle, which sits inside the surface of the pelvis and sacrum, to become the Iliopsoas muscle as it curves over the pubic bone and inserts on the lesser trochanter.
What is the function of the psoas?
The psoas has a number of diverse functions making it a key factor in health. The psoas as a hip and thigh flexor is the major walking muscle. If the legs are stationary the psoas acts to bend the spine forward; if sitting it stabilizes and balances the trunk. The lower psoas brings the lumbar vertebrae forward and downward to create pelvic tilt.
When we think of smooth, elegant and graceful movement in dancers and athletes we are looking at the psoas functioning at it optimum. It requires that the psoas maintain the pelvis in a dynamically neutral orientation that can move easily and retain structural integrity. This creates positions of the spine that require the least muscular effort.
With every step we take the "pendulum motion" of the psoas massages the spine, organs, and connective tissues of the abdominal cavity.2 Together with the diaphragm, the psoas acts like a hydraulic pump creating pressure that enhances circulation of blood and lymph. The psoas acts as a shelf to support the organs and nerve ganglia and sits just below the kidneys. The nerves for the lower digestive system, the reproductive organs, bladder, and thigh go over, through or under the psoas muscle; their function is intrinsically dependant on the psoas.
In Eastern thought the psoas is behind the three lower charkas responsible for power, sexual energy and survival. In the meridian system the psoas is connected to the kidneys that are the original source of chi or life energy.
How does the psoas protect us from real or perceived danger?
The psoas is a primary muscle in flight, fight, freeze or fear responses to danger. According to Liz Koch, a leading authority of the psoas:
"As a species, humans are encoded with the ability to protect themselves. When survival is at stake, the psoas propels the body to hit the ground running. When startled, it ignites preparation of the extensor muscles to reach out (grab hold) or run. When standing one's ground, the psoas provides a person with powerful core leg and arm kicks - a dynamic force in the face of the enemy." 3
Chemical messengers like adrenaline create a coordinated muscular response that responds to the situation with actions that are often miraculous. Alternatively if we are overwhelmed or the danger is chronic the psoas can help us to freeze or play dead until the danger is removed.4 The psoas is "an essential part of the instinctive fear reflex." It flexes the spine into a fetal position to protect the vulnerable organs of the body from a deadly blow or fall. 5
What are the common pain symptoms of the psoas?
Typically a dysfunctional psoas is responsible for referred pain down the front of the thigh and vertically along the lower to mid spinal column. Trigger points are found above the path of the psoas on the abdomen. Frequently the quadratus lumborum muscles develops trigger point, as well as the piriformis, gluteals, hamstrings, and erector spinae. Resistance to medial rotation of the femur is a common symptom. The distortions of the spine and pelvis can also show up as a short or long leg.
How does the psoas create pain and dysfunction?
When the psoas muscle becomes contracted due to injuries, poor posture, prolonged sitting, or stress, it can alter the biomechanics of the pelvis and the lumbar, thoracic and even cervical vertebrae. The psoas can torque your spine to the right or left, pull it forward and twist the pelvis into various distortions. Frequently one psoas will shorten and pull the spine and/or pelvis to our dominant side. This all results in scoliosis, kyphosis, lordosis, trigger points, and spasms in back muscles trying to resist the pulling of the psoas.
This tug of war pulls the spine down, compressing the facet joints and intervertebral discs of the lumbar spine. The facets become irritated, causing a nagging, aching low back. The discs degenerate over time, becoming thinner and less flexible. The degeneration makes them more susceptible to bulging or tearing, especially with twisting and bending. The disc may even herniate and press on the sciatic nerve, causing unbearable pain down one or both of the legs.6
As the psoas creates structural imbalance and other muscles and tissues to contract as well, the abdominal and pelvic nerves and ganglions can be impaired leading to disruption in normal function including: the large intestines, reproductive organs and bladder.
What keeps the psoas in contraction?
The psoas will stay contracted because of postural habits and trauma. The way we stand, walk and sit can distort the it. If we walk or stand with our chin in an overly forward position the muscle will tighten. Ida Rolf wrote, "a deteriorated psoas" chronically flexes the body at the level of the groin, so that it prevents truly erect posture.?7 Sitting through much of the day the psoas shortens to keep us bio mechanically balanced in our chairs. Over time we develop a "normal" way of holding the psoas that is dysfunctional.
Unresolved trauma can keep the psoas short and reactive. After a traumatic occurrence animals will release their protective responses by shaking. Humans often bypass this release response and hold the trauma in their bodies.8 Until the psoas is released the muscle may stay contracted and fearful and go into further shortening and spasm very easily.
Releasing the Psoas Muscle with Natural Reflex Therapy
How does Natural Reflex Therapy release the psoas?
Natural Reflex Therapy® reduces pain by placing muscles, bones and joints into positions of comfort. In America, a number of approaches have used positioning techniques for acute and chronic pain. NRT is an advanced massage technique that that uses the full spectrum of positional techniques to release pain and spasm. We also include direct reflex methods such as Chapman's Reflexes and Reflexology to enhance our results. We have also found Aromatherapy to be a great compliment to positional therapy.
NRT creates a comfortable position for the psoas that typically shortens the muscle. Through fine tuning and client feedback the best position is discovered. Within seconds the body may begin to release spasm, restore normal muscle tone, increase circulation, remove pressure on nerves, and allow bones and joints to move freely. Often, by recreating the original strain the muscle is restored to a normal range of contraction and relaxation.9 To keep the psoas in its normal range, we must also place the pelvis and spine into positions that restore optimum biomechanical function. All the energy and attention that was used to deal with pain is now available to the body's healing process.
These positions stimulate specific reflexes in the body that help to restore a better balance to the psoas, pelvis and lumbar vertebrae. The reflexes that we stimulate are found within the proprioceptive nervous system, which monitors and helps coordinate all muscular movements. These reflexes give us our sense of our shape, density, quality and speed of movement, and effort. .
Because this method is indirect there is less chance of re-traumatizing the muscle or stimulating new spasm. Rather than trying to force the muscle to change, the reflexes that hold the psoas in contraction are allowed to reset a new state of structure and function. When the reflexes learn/remember how to restore balance there is a greater chance of long lasting or permanent changes. When the psoas has freedom of movement and function, the client is encouraged to use movements and exercises that will prevent future occurrences.
Over time the client can learn to maintain and control the psoas, that hidden prankster, and its role in the essential balance of our core structures. Referred pain patterns are discontinued when the seat of the disturbance is relieved. The client can begin to remember the sense or feeling of a dynamically neutral orientation as comfort. With specific exercise and better posture they can keep the psoas from shortening. Conditions recover and the possibility of elegance is made more possible. Our capacity to protect ourselves, without holding trauma, improves, particularly when other forms of therapy are added to the process. With renewed structural integrity, enhanced circulation, unimpinged nerve function, and flowing chi we are sustained at a higher level of health.
Footnotes
1Janet G. Travell, David G. Simons, Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: the Trigger Point Manual, The Lower Extremities, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 1992, page 89.
2Liz Koch, Psoas Health: Trauma Recovery Protocol, http://www.massageandbodywork.com/Articles/DecJan2004/Psoas.html
3 4 5IBID
6 Rick Allen, The Psoas - Hidden Influence on Posture, December 1998 http://www.cascadewellnessclinic.com/articles/97-99art/art29.html
7 Ida Rolf, Rolfing: Restablishing the Natural Alignment and Structural Integration of the Human Body for Vitality and Well-Being, Healing Arts Press, Rochester, VT, 1989, page, 115.
8.Peter Levin, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA, 1997
9 Lawrence, H., Jones, Jones Strain-Counterstrain, Jones Strain-Counterstrain Inc., Boise, ID, 1995, Page 8
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© 2008 Barry Krost • All rights reserved • Last updated June, 23, 2008.
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