Chronic Back Pain - Your pain is in the balance

The coordination between several major muscle groups through your core and lower back has a major impact on balance in your body and, subsequently, on pain. This article will focus on the Psoas muscles.

The Psoas muscles are paired muscles that run along the front of the spine, deep in your abdomen. They begin above your belly button and run along the sides of your spine until the top of your femur (the large thigh bone). These muscles shorten when you sit and need to lengthen when you stand. However, when people sit for a long time (as many of us do who have sedentary occupations) they become chronically shortened. When those particular people, stand, they experience a tugging pressure on the back because of the pulling of psoas. In a protective way, the back develops muscle stiffness to resist this tugging pressure and muscles begin a tug of war with each other. In this tug of war, we are the only losers, developing back pain and further muscle tightening.

 

Caring for Your Psoas

If you are experiencing this kind of chronic back pain. The solution is to reduce the amount of sitting you do. Try to get up and walk around at least once an hour. When you walk, take full, long strides and swing your arms. Make sure you get regular exercise that involves a component of stretch. If the pattern of psoas tightness is entrenched in the patterns of your body, you will likely need to see a professional who can help to treat that problem. Massage therapists, Chiropractors, Physical Therapists, and practitioners of GunIMS (see below) can address these problems.

Read more about IMS in Life Beyond the Carpal Tunnel (chapter 13, "Microsurgery with an Acupuncture Needle") and at www.istop.org.

Remember: The muscles you use to walk can affect pain in the back, hips, knees, and ankles.

The Psoas muscles should be involved in the initiation of bending at the hip when we lift our foot to take each step. When the psoas muscles are overly tight, they are often bypassed for this function and the gluteal muscles become overworked as a result. This affects our balance. Dancers are especially affected by this because they need excellent balance to be light on their feet.

Yours in Pain-Free Health,
Heather Tick MD