motorthings

This is obviously not going to be the root cause for everyone, but getting my psoas muscle in order has fixed a decades-long battle with back pain on and off the bike.

I had tried (almost) everything over the last 20 years to fix my back, lived with chronic pain, paid thousands in massage, chiro, ct scans, acupuncture, etc. but one thread in particular i found (maybe here but i forget by now) pointed me in the direction of the psoas muscle.

the more i researched about it, the more i realized it correlated exactly to the symptoms i have. I worked on stretching my hip flexors (mostly with lunge-type stretches), found a massage therapist trained in psoas release, and the clouds parted, angels sang, and all was right with the world again.

it has been 4 or 5 months since i started this treatment, and am able to keep my symptoms away with frequent stretching. From my high school days when 18 miles would put me flat on my back for a week, i have completed about 2000 commuting and general riding miles, done 3 metric centuries, and one full century in 95 degree heat on vacation in denver this summer.

so, like i said, this may not help you at all if you suffer from back pain, but i would recommend to anyone who is getting routine treatment/massage to ask your masseuse to check your psoas and see if it is unhappy. the fact that my chiro, and all the other health professionals i saw never saw the connection makes me think there may be a lot of others out there who are in the same situation.

there is a lot of info out on the web about the psoas, and although some of it gets a little weird (you'll see what i mean), i am a firm believer in the its root as the cause of a lot of back pain, and hope that this post will help at least someone find some relief.

startedspyder05

Wow that is very great to know. I'm not in as a bad a pain situation as you were years ago, but I've had to go to the chiro a couple of times for my back already. I shall look into this.

StanSeven

That's my problem combined with tight hamstrings and waek glutes.

So what does the therapist do to cause the release? I've read the release is necessary so that other muscles can be strengthened to correct the problem

ericgu

You might also try cyclo-zen. It has a section on back exercises and back stretches that have helped me a bunch.

motorthings

the psoas release is a little weird (compared to "normal" massage), as they go at the muscle through your abdomen. check out the link below to see why.

brief primer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliopsoas

in short, they connect and work together in such a way that a tight IT band and/or tight hip flexor can cause stress to the lower back, as the psoas major hooks from the tibia through the pelvis to the lower vertebrae.

the masseuse will apply presure through your abdomen along the length of the psoas major, basically working it to calm the nerve impulses that keep it in a tightened state. When i had mine done, it was VERY obvious that my psoas on one side was extremely tight (we could both tell the moment she touched it). It took maybe 10-15 minutes of massage on each side - for good measure, and so i wouldn't walk around in circles and when i got up and walked out, i could tell the difference immediately.

i still have to stretch my hip flexors regularly to keep it in check, but have not had to have it re-released by a professional yet. i stretch briefly before i go riding, then after a bit of warm up, and a lot at the end of my ride, since i can get much more effective stretching done when it is really warmed up. The more i stretch it, the more it loosens up and stays loose, but it is taking a while to get it to the point where it doesn't tighten back up on a longer ride (over 30 miles). When i do a century, i end up stopping to stretch overy 25 miles and that keeps me pretty pain free.

here is a link to the stretch i do:
https://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFle...HipFlexor.html

here is one image of a release in process:
https://www.gadibody.com/orig/10.jpg