Stress and The Psoas

What is the Psoas Muscle and What does it Do?

The iliopsoas (psoas) is a large complex muscles. It acts as a paraspinal and deep hip rotator muscle. It is responsible for flexion of the trunk and hips. You use your psoas to help get from sitting to standing, walking, running, and kicking. Due to it’s connection to your lumbar spine it also plays a role in stabilization. When the psoas is tight it can pull the spine forward and down, and can attribute to “swayback” posture. Psoas is also a major player in abdominal distension and pelvic floor function.

The Psoas and Stress

We’ve talked before about the autonomic nervous system. A brief overview: it is composed of two parts, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS is responsible for the “fight or flight” response to stress.

As the body readies itself to either fight or to flee, the musculoskeletal system has to work together with the nervous system. As with any movement, it begins with the brain telling the body what to do and thus, which muscles to recruit.

The psoas is a major player in helping the body do things like stabilize, or run. Because of this it's one of the first muscles the brain signals to “turn on” or tense during stressful situations. As discussed in our previous blog post about stress the body doesn’t know the difference between being chased by a bear, or being anxious about a presentation, or financial worries. The longer we stay in the SNS, the longer our muscles can stay tense and we start to feel the physical manifestations of stress.

Pelvic floor connection to Psoas

Deep hip flexors such as the psoas can influence the position of the pelvis, and therefore tension and coordination on the pelvic floor. It can also change the orientation of the hip socket and lead to knee and foot pain, or be a factor in things like pelvic organ prolapse.

Muscles that do not have full range of motion or are weakened could be due to one of two factors.

1. They are short and tight. These muscles are tensed and constantly contracting. A muscle that is under stress for a long period of time can’t work properly and has a harder time going through full range of motion.
2. A muscle is lengthened and stretched. Think of your favorite hair tie. You have your hair up in a ponytail daily and it is stretched to its full length to keep that ponytail tight. Maybe you take it out to give it a short break while you wash your hair, but it stays stretched around your wrist and then back into full stretch the next day when you put your hair up. Eventually that hair tie spends so much time in that lengthened state and it’s not as stretchy or responsive anymore. Similar things can happen to your muscles.

What we want are muscles that are responsive and can contract and relax in coordination to what we need them to. When we have an imbalance somewhere we start to feel pain, and it can show up in other areas of our body. Such as when we say the psoas tightens, we get the sway back posture. That pulls our pelvis into an anterior pelvic tilt (APT). An APT can cause our core muscles to lengthen over time. This makes it harder for our core to stabilize our body and we end up relying on our spine stabilizers or hip flexors to pick up the slack.

This went into a bit of a tangent but once again you can start to see HOW connected our body is! I’ll never get over how cool it is that we can identify and address something like a tight psoas muscle, and it can open up a whole new set of muscles to turn on!

Psoas Release at Home

To get immediate relief from an overactive psoas, you can try a psoas release.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

Lying Psoas Release:

• Start by lying on your back. If you have a bed, couch or bench available this is even better as it can allow a deeper stretch.
  • If using a bed or bench: bring hips close enough to the edge where they are supported but the leg can hang freely.
  • If using a couch: lay down at an angle with one leg hanging freely over the edge while hips and back remain supported.
• Gently bring one knee up close to your chest, hugging it tight.
• Take some deep breaths and allow yourself to relax in this area, not bringing in extra tension trying to pull the leg. Let your supporting arms do the work.
• Stay in this position for 2-3 minutes if possible or however long you feel comfortable before switching to the other leg.

Psoas Release with Bolster

This is great for everyone but especially pregnant people who can no longer comfortably or safely lay flat on their backs

• Using either a 6-8” yoga bolster, foam roller or something similar lay back with your upper torso on the bolster.
• Place a yoga block or pillow under your head to support your head and neck.
• Your legs can be straight out, bent or even with legs bent and knees in together. Whatever feels most comfortable and gives you a good stretch.
• Take some deep breaths and try to stay in this position for at least 2-3 minutes.
• Arms can relax by your sides.

Standing Psoas Relase

Beneficial for anyone who can’t comfortably lay down. Best used if you can have a partner or support person to facilitate a good stretch. 

• For this you need something to stabilize yourself with such as a dinner table chair or a counter top, and something small and firm to stand on like a yoga block or thick book.
• You will place one foot on the block, hold onto your support with the opposite hand.
• Tap your free toe onto the floor, keeping your hips in alignment.
  • Don’t let your free foot pull that hip down, and don’t collapse into the hip of the supported foot
• You are going to gently flex your toes of the free leg and bring them off the ground
• Next your support person is going to gently bring your free leg behind you, bringing you slightly into extension but not forcing your leg past what is comfortable or easy
  • Do not let the knee bend, and don’t try to force your own leg back. Your helper is there to have this be a passive movement into extension.
• Your helper will then release your leg and let it gently swing like a pendulum.
• Try to not actively swing your leg forward and backward, let gravity and momentum do the work.
• Your helper can try to help keep your pelvis aligned, now allowing hips to rotate side to side, or tilt forward and backward.
• Do this for about 1 minute on each side
• When your leg starts to slow down or time is up, bring your foot forward in front of the body to step down onto the ground and then release the stabilized foot off the block.
• Repeat both sides.

Considerations:

Some people have reported having an emotional release when performing psoas release. It may manifest as tears, laughter, or a wave of relief or relaxation. This does not happen to everyone, but allow yourself the time and space to perform these releases for the first time when you are in a safe space to feel any emotions or feelings that may arise.