#Psoas muscle stretch full#

Rest your forehead on one of your arms (wrists) and then with your other arm, grab your ankle and pull it towards your butt. The next stretch is shown in the video above as well and what you do is lay on the ground with your stomach down. This will move your back leg from 90 degrees to about 135 degrees and you will again feel a pull directly on your hip flexors. You simply start in a lunge position and then extend your hips forward. The hip flexor lunge stretch is one of the most common stretches recommended for the psoas muscle.

#Psoas muscle stretch full#

But just to give you a full arsenal of hip flexor stretches you can also add the 2 additional stretches from the video above.

The 3 above that I spoke about are some of the main stretches you need to do. The way you are creating opposing movements with each leg really gives you a good stretch and helps reach the psoas muscle. You may get enough of a stretch just from doing that alone, but if you raise your arm directly above your head on the floor then you will create even more of a stretch. As you see in the video below (the first stretch she shows) and also my picture below (hers is much better) you are placing a foam roller directly on your lower back, bringing one leg up to your chest while the other leg is straightened. This stretch not only stretches the hip flexor but puts pressure on the psoas muscle as well while you are stretching. Another Variation of ThisДЄnother stretch that works well that is very similar is to get down on all fours and then lift up one leg and extend it up basically as far back as you can go. Either way when we stand up and straighten out our body, even though we arenвЂ™t bent like we were all day we are still only at 180 degrees.Дoing stretches where you bend your legs and hips so that you exceed that 180-degree angle really helps to counter the negative effects of sitting all day. For some people, this may be closer to about 135 degrees. Again, it is great because it is doing the exact opposite of what you do all day when youвЂ™re sitting at your desk.ДЄll day long your back and legs are bent at about 90 degrees when youвЂ™re sitting. This stretch not only reaches the psoas muscle but stretches all of your hip flexor muscles. The picture above is what IвЂ™m referring to, now just to be clear I am not a flexible person so I have to cheat a bit. You will leave one leg on the ground and will stretch the other leg to your opposite arm. There are a few stretches you can do that will reach the psoas muscle, but in my opinion and experience, this is the ideal psoas stretch.ДЇirst, lay down on the ground with your chest down and bring your arms out to the side (directly 90 degrees from your body). All of these stretches will stretch all of the hipВ flexor muscles as well but are great for reaching the psoas muscle. You only need to know a few main stretches to start seeing improvements in lower back pain. The main thing you need to do is stretchВ the psoas muscles. You came here to find out what the best psoas stretch is, so letвЂ™s start with that. The initial focus should be to release pressure first by doing some self-massage with a couple lacrosse balls, weвЂ™ll get to that later though. Personally, once I learned some techniques to stretch, release, and strengthen my psoas muscles I realized this is one of the best things you can do to counter lower back pain caused from sitting all day. Typically, the issue most people have with their psoas muscle is that it is shortened from sitting all day and this can lead to the pelvic bone tilted forward, creating that hunched over look. In case youвЂ™re wondering exactly what the psoas muscle is it looks like this:Д¬learly, you can see how this muscle, being connected to your lower spine and moving directly through your core can play a crucial role in lower back pain. Sitting all day like many of us do leads to tightening of the psoas muscle. The psoas (so-az) muscle is one of the most important muscles of your entire core.