Wednesday, March 5, 2014

The Psoas and the Pelvic Floor - Release the Psoas to Heal Pelvic Pain



Psoas and the Pelvic Floor

this is a post I've been looking forward to posting for some time now , and its all about the relation of a tight tense psoas muscle to pelvic floor dysfunction and pain.

The reason why having a happy and healthy (flexible and strong) psoas muscle is so important for people suffering pelvic floor dysfunction are

- A tense psoas muscle doesn't allow deep breathing (diaphragmatic breathing) and can encourage shallow breathing or the sucking in of your stomach muscles. Which put more pressure on our pelvic floor muscle as they remain constantly subtly contracted.

- The Psoas is often referred to the fight or flight muscle and is responsible for holding much of our emotional stress and pain. When you are scared , angry or sad without knowing you may be unconsciously contracting your psoas muscle in a protective manner. Overtime the psoas becomes chronically tight and pulls on the muscles of the pelvic floor.

- The psoas muscle is the only muscle to connect our spine to our leg. The muscle is made up of two muscles the Psoas Major and the Iliacus. The psoas attaches from the lower back down to the upper thighbone. Common signs of a tight psoas muscle include donald duck posture (bum sticking out and pot belly), lower back pain and of course pelvic floor dysfunction as the tight psoas muscles pulls the psoas out of alignment.

There are many ways to go about fixing Donald duck posterior or what is referred to as anterior pelvic tilt or hyper lordosis but I will cover them in a future post for now lets release that Psoas Muscle.

Release the Psoas and health pelvic floor

Not only will releasing the psoas ease tension in your body and pelvic floor it will also bring some peace to a restless anxious mind. You may think this is a bit far fetched but please give it a try and find some relief as I have.


The Psoas trigger points are shown on the diagram below

and I've also added a useful image on locating the psoas



Technique


The psoas is quite a deep muscle and it may take a bit of digging around to find it but when you do you may feel a slight pull running down your leg. Remember if you experience that throbbing feeling you most likely on the artery and you should move away from the midline as described in the above image.

The best way to hit the psoas I have found is by using the theracane , and lying with knee's to one side as in the picture above and really putting pressure on the psoas muscle and work my way up and down until that area is no longer painful to manipulate. I use my right hand on the curve of the theracane to rock from side to side and hit the muscle from different angles while the left hand pushed down and provides varying levels of pressure.

Its also worth noting that trigger points can develop on the lower back and they are also worth kneading out with your theracane or massage ball against a wall. In my experience my left psoas was a lot tighter than the right throwing my pelvic floor out of alignment , it also translated to very tight muscles on the left side of my back near the spine.

Very Important to remember, be conscious that you are not contracting your pelvic floor during the psoas release as I found myself doing this quite often and had to keep reminding myself. It can be quite painful releasing the psoas so its very common to brace your pelvic floor muscles but we are going for release here so consciously relax and unclench.

There you have it , I can't express how much of a revelation this has been for me. The Holy Grail some call it but once you find your psoas and release it you can finally start healing inside and out.

Some Benefits I have noticed which I hope you do too

- Happier Mood, Less Stressed ( Yes Honestly :P)
- More Relaxed Pelvic Floor
- Lower back feels happier
- I can finally take some deep belly breaths , something I am very happy about as it helps with my meditation and relaxation exercises.

 Goodluck everyone I hope you found this post useful and all the best until next time :).



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