Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Sneaky Psoas Muscles

The psoas muscles are often neglected and forgetten when it comes to stying healthy and feeling good.  Psoas, pronounced - "so-as" - is also reffered to as the hip flexors. It is the muscle that starts at your low spine and wraps around to the front of pelvis and attaches at the bottom of the thigh or femur. Interestingly, it is the ONLY muscle that connects your spine to your legs.

Sitting all day at work, running, and lack of stretching are all reasons why your psoas muscles can become tight. A tight psoas muscle leads to your pelvis moving which then leads to low back pain. So, for many people stretching the psoas out is exactly what you need to do to stop low back pain. I will post a great link to a stretch that should be done, at least, once a day.

http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesmat/ss/hip-flexor-stretch-lunge.htm

also, check this picture out - it's the atomical photo of the psoas muscle.
http://twitpic.com/6vnuxp

Yoga and pilates are both wonderful workouts that are amazing at getting those sneaky psoas muscles stretched out!

Enjoy :)

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