Most of us sit. A lot. Like I am right now. Driving, flying for 5 hours, working at your desk job, eating with family at the dinner table, being at the theatres (and the most god-awful seats unless you pay the $20 VIP tickets at Cineplex – worth it!), or powering through a 3 hour lecture are only some activities that are ultimately detrimental. Unless you’re conscious enough to start preventative care. Not to say those activities are necessarily bad for you, but I’m talking about the health of your body, specifically your hips and back during prolonged sitting.
You have a group of muscles in both hips that are called Iliopsoas (the ‘p’ is silent), that are comprised of iliacus and psoas major. As a unit, they are your primary hip flexors – think initiating taking a step forward, but not kicking out your lower leg, that’s your quadriceps muscle. Iliopsoas attaches to your lumbar vertebrae (low back), iliacus sits at the internal surface of your hip bone (I like to refer to them as the ‘wings’ of your pelvis), and they both meet lower in the hip before attaching to the inside and ever-so-slightly back of your thigh bone. I know, quite the anatomy, but absolutely check out the sources to have a visual. So think about this muscle as a slingshot, every step for walking or running, standing from sitting or even kicking a ball, there is A LOT of power going through this bad boy.
Because of its function, you’re doing it a disservice by sitting for too long. Muscles love to shorten (of course due to their function), so keeping any muscle in a shortened position prevents good tissue health, elasticity as well as good mobility of the surrounding joints. Have you ever stood up and felt a sharp, tight sensation in your pelvis stopping you from standing fully? I have, and it sucks! The culprit is Mr.Iliopsoas telling you “No! Wait! I’m not ready for this!”. You went from 0-100 in 1 second when your hips weren’t prepared for take-off and now you’re doubling over in pain until you’re able to stand without feeling like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
So let’s picture you sitting at a desk right now and visualize where iliopsoas is located (after checking out the source below – it’s important to see what’s really in your body!). Muscles act like rubber bands with the ability to stretch and revert back to their original size, so while you’re sitting, there is a constant pull occurring at your low back. Now imagine 8 hours of it (at least), 5 times a week, for as long as you’ve been in your current job or career. This is just work and not including any other activity where you’d be sitting.
When I have a patient come in complaining of low back pain, after specifying where exactly in the back, I ask what the patient does for work as well as any extra curricular activities. And for the majority of them the answer is a lot of sitting. No surprise there! In my assessments I’m trying to map out the patients life, and picture the repetitive demands thrown at the body so I can pinpoint why they have pain and what changes they need to make for recovery. Sometimes if iliopsoas is especially out of whack, a patient could have digestion problems.
In addition to working on the low back directly, I perform an iliopsoas release, in which I have the patient supine (laying on your back), knees bent with pillows, and with the rhythm of the patients’ breathing, I slowly curl and sink my fingertips into the groove of their pelvic bone (the wing) in their abdomen. It’s quite a tender sensation (patients have said that it feels like I’m going through them!), but as long as the therapist doesn’t rush and you maintain your breathing, the positive effects outweigh the discomfort. Sometimes I even feel poo (nothing to laugh about – everyone does it!) and I tell a patient that to help distract them from the tenderness, I always get a good chuckle (and it helps me sink deeper – bonus!).
So honestly, the best ways to maintain healthy iliopsoas muscles, is to incorporate some standing at work with the help of a stand-sit desk, take a 3 minute walk every hour of sitting (and get that blood pumping from pooling in your feet and calves!), and stretching. If you’re experiencing some back or groin pain (because iliopsoas inserts into the groin region), try out the stretches I’ll have posted on Friday!
If you need some extra help, you can see any manual therapist, or even contact me for an appointment!
Subscribe to our newsletter!
The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or substituted for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. The information we provide is for general use. Always seek the guidance of your doctor or other qualified health professional before making any medical decisions.
If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, go to the nearest hospital emergency department, or call the emergency services immediately. If you choose to rely on any information provided by The Honesty Policy, you do so solely at your own risk.