Lower back pain dragging you down?? It certainly does for me from time to time. Usually when my hamstrings or my hip flexors/psoas muscles get tight.
Most people think that their lower back pain is stemming from their lower back and sometimes they might be right. But most often any lower back pain is due to pulling of other tight muscles of the body, such as the psoas.
What is the psoas muscle?
The biggest factor in back and hip pain is frequently the psoas muscle. Many believe the psoas muscle is one of the most important muscles in the body. The number of problems caused by the psoas is quite astonishing. These 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.
The psoas 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 combines with fibres 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.
Just recently we drove back to South Dakota and we were in the car for hours! NOT good for the psoas and lower back. Plus sleeping in a different bed.. ugh! There are a couple stretches that my massage therapist told me about and I can tell you that they have been a godsend! I have even done them before getting out of bed in the morning and find that my lower back issues are so much better!!
These stretches will help to lengthen the psoas muscle and loosen up the lower back so that there is less pulling. Give them a try and see how they work for you.