This video, I'm going to show
you how to fix a tight psoas muscle in 30 seconds. Stay
tuned! Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe
coming to you from SpineCare in Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this
video, I want to go over a big overlooked cause of lower back
pain which are tight hip flexors, notably that psoas
muscle. A tight psoas tends to cause pain in the front part of
the leg, towards the groin and lower back. It's a very deep
muscle, so you can't really massage it out. So, to get
quick pain relief, you have to focus on two separate things:
mobility exercises to loosen and activate those muscle, and
then building strength to hopefully get rid of that
tightness for good.
I'm going to break this video up into two
separate parts to address that. Go through both parts if you're
looking to get the best results and take what works best for
you. As a bonus, all of these exercises, they're very easy to
do. You can do them at home and you may find they'll help
release a tight psoas even in as little as 30 seconds. So,
let's get started and fix that tight psoas right now. In this
part, let's focus on fixing a tight psoas muscle by
activating it with some great mobility exercises. This first
exercise is known as a psoas cobra. What I'm going to do is
lie on my stomach right next to a door or a wall. What you want
to do is bend your knees at 90 degrees and put your feet and
legs flat against that wall. When you do this, I'm also
going to prop myself up on my elbows, kind of like in a
triangular position, with my forearms and tuck my chin
towards my chest.
This is known as a press up stretch and you
should feel a deep stretch into the front part of the legs,
those hip flexors engaging, and also into the lower back. You
want to try to hold this one comfortably for about 20 to 30
seconds. When you need a breather, you can just lower
your chest down like this but I try to do it for about three to
five repetitions and if this becomes too easy, what you can
do is then go into a full cobra. So, put your hands off
to your side and you're going to keep your hips flat during
this. So, you don't want to lift them up like this. So,
you're going to keep the hips flat and then press up with
your arms as much as you can. This becomes a deep stretch. I
pretty much feel it from my lower back into my pelvis hips
into those hip flexors. Again, 20 to 30 second holds. You can
relax, take a breather, and then try to repeat this one up
to five times and with each repetition, try to stretch into
it just a little bit more.
This is how we're going to take it
to the next level and really hit that psoas muscle. So,
let's go back into our press-up stretch position but I'm
going to take one leg off like this and put it flat on the
floor. You want your ankle, knee flat, and you're going to
do is take this knee and drive it upwards as much as you can
whatever side is bent you're going to feel a deep stretch
into the psoas muscle on the other side it's really
targeting that left side right now again 20 to 30 second hold.
When you need a breather, just slide your leg back down like
this, but on the next repetition try to bring that knee up even
further.
Do this one for about three to five repetitions and
when you're done on one side switch to the other to keep
them both in balance. So here's one of my favorite psoas
exercises. It's known as the couch stretch because we're
going to be using a couch. So, let's start in this position.
I'm going to go into a lunge stance where one knee is in
front of me bend at 90 degrees. The other knee is going to be
bent. Let's put a pillow or towel underneath it for extra
comfort. The back of the foot is going to go right up here on
the couch. In this stance, you should already feel a deep
stretch in the front part of the leg going into the hip
flexors, into that psoas muscle. This is how we're going to
really target it.
Have very good upright posture your
hands, put them on your hips, and what you're going to do is
lunge forward with your body weight. The more that you lunge
forward, the more that you're going to feel a deep stretch
off to that side. Really focus on feeling it into the hip
flexors. Once we hit that point, let's hold this for
about 20 to 30 seconds. Just do nice, slow, controlled
breathing also. Let that tension out. From there, I just
relax and then I'm going to repeat this three to five
times. With each repetition, try to stretch into it just a
little bit more. This is how we're going to take it to the
next level and really target that psoas and a couple more
muscles in the lower back. Let's go back into that lunge
position but I'm going to put my arms in front of me this
time kind of like a genie.
What I'm going to do is turn my
whole back and just twist it off to the side of the back
knee. In this position, you're going to feel a deep stretch.
It hits the muscles just a little bit differently. Again,
you want to hold this one for 20 to 30 seconds. You're just
going to relax from there. Take a breather and then repeat this
one up to to five times. From there, I experiment by going on
the other side too.
It'll just hit it a little bit
differently. So, go towards the side, go away from the side. If
one feels like it targets the psoas just a little bit better,
throw some more repetitions in at that point. You can also do
this one. So, let's get back into that original stance of
leaning forward but this time around, I'm going to have very
good upright posture and I'm going to place one hand above
my head like this, the side of the bent knee and then, I'm
going to bend away from that bent knee.
So, so this really
opens up off to the side it targets a muscle called the QL,
or quadratus lumborum, a big instigator of back pain and
you're going to feel a deep stretch into those hip flexors
again try to hold this one for 20 to 30 seconds, you can relax
take a breather and give this one a try for three to five
repetitions but go through all of those motions if one targets
it a little bit better throw more repetitions in at that
point in this part we're going to focus on the best ways to
get rid of iliopsoas muscle tightness and pain which is by
strengthening the hip flexors. This first exercise is known as
a knee raiser. Really easy to do. You can pretty much do it
anywhere at home, at work. We just need a flat elevated
surface. I'm going to be using the WWE wrestler special, a
folding chair, but you can also do this one on a staircase. I
would recommend doing it next to a wall too. That way you can
grab on to it for balance issues.
So, let's start by
bringing one leg up and place our foot on that elevated
surface. We want our hip and knee pretty much in a nice
straight line, knee bent at 90 degrees. From here, I'm going
to take my hands, place them on my hips just like this. We want
very good upright posture, engage the core muscles too for
a little bit more support and stability. So, the movement is
very easy. What I'm going to try to do is drive my knee
right here above hip level. The more that we take the knee up,
the more it's going to engage the hip flexors including that
psoas muscle. So, really focus on feeling it into those hip
flexors. Hold this position comfortably for about 5
seconds. From there, you're just going to relax, take a
breather.
On the next repetition, try to drive that
knee up even more. Really challenge those muscles. You
want to do this one nice and slowly for about 10 to 15
repetitions. From there, take a breather. If you feel like you
have more energy, do another set or two but whatever you do
on one side, make sure that you do it on the other to keep them
both in balance. This exercise is called the hip lunge slider.
It's really going to help build strength and stability in and
across the hips and really focus on that psoas muscle. We
just need something that is going to slide on the floor.
So, if you have carpeted floors, you can use something
like a paper plate, a piece of cardboard or a furniture mover
like I'm using. If you have hardwood floors, you can use a
towel or just thick socks. So, let's place one foot over that
slider. What I'm going to do is have very good upright posture,
I'm going to take my hands, put them in a prayer position, and
press into each other to engage the core.
It's really important
to engage the core during this exercise because it will help
build a little bit more support and stability. From there, I'm
just going to go into a lunge position. So, one knee is going
to be bent in front of me while the other one slowly gets bent
behind me. The key is we're going to try to bring this leg
back as much as possible to feel a deep stretch into those
hip flexors and also taking the toes on the back leg and
driving it down for support. So, keep going back as far as
you can until your knee is hovering right above the
ground. Hold this position for about a second. Again, focusing
on engaging those hip muscles and those hip flexors and then
slowly come back up just like this. It should take you about
five seconds to do a complete repetition but I try to do this
one nice and slowly for about 10 to 15 repetitions building
into each repetition just a little bit more to challenge
those hip flexors and that psoas muscle but afterward take
a breather.
If you feel like you have a little bit more left
in you, you can do another set or two. Whatever whatever you
do on one side, always switch to the other to keep them both
in balance. So, a big overlooked cause of hip flexor
and iliopsoas muscle tightness and pain is because of a glute
problem. The glute and the buttocks are opposers of the
hip flexors. So, as one activates and strengthens, it
allows the other to really release and relax. So, I'm
going to take one of my favorite glute exercises, the
glute bridge and modify it so we can get our butt in shape.
Lie flat on your back just like this.
I'm going to keep my
knees bent, my feet flat. My hands are going to go right on
my hips. The first movement is very easy. What we're doing is
driving the butt up towards the ceiling until we have a nice
straight line from our knees to our hips to our shoulders. If
you're unable to get to that point, do the best you can.
Over time, you'll notice that you have more strength and
flexibility to get into this position but in this position,
you should feel the core muscles activate, lower back,
the glute buttocks, and the legs.
It's a wonderful
exercise. I try to hold this one for about 5 seconds. From
there, I just relax, take a breather, and then repeat this
one slowly for about 10 to 15 repetitions. Let's take this
one to the next level and focus a little bit more on the hip
flexors. So, let's keep one knee bent and then I'm going to
get the other leg straight at knee just like this. We're
going to put our hands on our hips and then slowly raise that
straight leg upwards towards the ceiling as much as we can.
You'll feel the back of the leg, the hamstrings go into the
glutes. Those will activate. You'll also feel the hip
flexors in the front of the leg activate. Really focus on that.
Hold this position for about 5 seconds. You're just going to
come back down, relax, take a breather. On the next
repetition, try to go into it just a little bit more. Do this
one for 10 to 15 repetitions and then just switch to the
side and repeat.
So, here's how we're going to really take it
to the next level by putting both of those movements
together and hitting both the glutes and the hip flexors.
Let's keep one knee bent. The other one's going to go
straight. We're going to bring this one up again like this but
this time around, we're going to do that glute bridge. So,
we're going to try to bring that up. This causes a lot to
activate. You'll feel it pretty much from the legs all the way
down into the lower back.
Hold this one comfortably for about
three to five seconds. You're just going to relax, take a
breath and then repeat this one. Again, try to stretch into
it just a little bit more to challenge those muscles but I
try to do this one for about 10 to 15 repetitions on both sides
and if you feel like you have just a little bit more, you can
do another set or two to challenge those muscles even
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