Injuries and RehabTell us where it hurts! Do a quick search before asking about your shoulder injury to make sure your question hasn't already been answered (about 50 times), and read the sticky post first.
I was recently told that those of us who sit at a desk much of the day wind up with this muscle shortening because it's not getting used and stretched enough. It seems that I've read some stuff on this site that mentioned "tilted pelvis" recently. I wasn't at the retreat so I don't know if it was something talked about there but, according to this source, this is what happens when the iliopsoas shortens. I'm doing stretches (hips forward) and raising my knees to my chest with a light weight between my feet to strengthen this muscle.
I'm also working on better ab strength to get everything back as it should be.
You need to be careful as doing needless strengthening may promote unwanted changes in flexibility...i.e., making your hip flexors stiffer.
If you sit a lot, you certainly may need to do some flexibility work to improve your hip extension. You'll also need to do some glute activation/strength work to restore hip function.
Bill
P.S. Wanna sound really smart? There is no iliopsoas. There's the psoas and the iliacus. 2 muscles with similar yet different functions but the same insertion, so tradition linked them together...WRONG!
Oh, I've been doing glute work. LUN-F'ing-GES!!! I've always avoided them which is always a good sign that's EXACTLY what you (=I) need to be doing! Based on what's sore, I'd say I hit the right muscles.
I would also suggest performing some foam rolling on the psoas and adductors. Specifically...piriformis, glutes, and IT band.
I agree that sitting all day will shorten your hip flexors and at times, a shortened muscle can be a weak muscle. COntinue with psoas activation and glute medius activation. Also, I love this stretch:
1.) stand in a staggaered stance.....
2.) make sure the back leg foot is facing straight and you contract the glute(on the side).
3.) then slowly lean back. To make the stretch more effective, you may raise your arms overhead (posterior reach).
1.) stand in a staggaered stance.....
2.) make sure the back leg foot is facing straight and you contract the glute(on the side).
3.) then slowly lean back. To make the stretch more effective, you may raise your arms overhead (posterior reach).
The same person who I referred to above also showed me a similar stretch... except you have one knee on the ground with the other foot out in front (leg bent). Push (from behind) one glute and then the other, 30 sec's each.
I would also suggest performing some foam rolling on the psoas and adductors. Specifically...piriformis, glutes, and IT band.
I talked the gym into getting one, based on Bill's advice, but now the damned thing is square! It didn't get used at all for the longest thing but now it's been used so much (I guess) that's it doesn't hardly roll at all.
Brad, just go buy a damn foam roller and use it at home already
My wife & I use ours pretty much every morning & night and what a difference it makes!
Try also working your psoas and hip flexors by rolling on a small med ball.
glute work - don't forget Romanian DLs
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
Brad, just go buy a damn foam roller and use it at home already
My wife & I use ours pretty much every morning & night and what a difference it makes!
Try also working your psoas and hip flexors by rolling on a small med ball.
glute work - don't forget Romanian DLs
Ya know, I might just DO that! I got a small cash award at work so I won't have to get approval from THE BOSS and buy whatever the hell I want!!! Where'd you get yours from?
I do RDL's pretty regular. I'm listening to Fitcast #2 right now...so, are the bodyweight exercises REALLY becoming more popular? I was interested just because I realized there was so much I couldn't do well. Then I read Craig's quote "If you can't manage your body weight, you can't manage your body's weight" or something like that. That was OT!
Bought mine on orders from THE BOSS at Big 5 Sports, but just about anyplace should carry them. Mine came with a Mark Verstegen instructional DVD which was OK but would have rather done without and pay less.
More trainers seem to be emphasizing correct mechanics before external loading (one of Bill's main topics at the summit). I'm going back to the drawing board too and correcting some imbalances.
How many guys at your gym do you think can do a pistol, or hold a front plank for two minutes? Yet there they are loading all sorts of weight on the bench and doing 1/4 squats.
__________________
Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
Bought mine on orders from THE BOSS at Big 5 Sports, but just about anyplace should carry them. Mine came with a Mark Verstegen instructional DVD which was OK but would have rather done without and pay less.
More trainers seem to be emphasizing correct mechanics before external loading (one of Bill's main topics at the summit). I'm going back to the drawing board too and correcting some imbalances.
How many guys at your gym do you think can do a pistol, or hold a front plank for two minutes? Yet there they are loading all sorts of weight on the bench and doing 1/4 squats.
That's interesting... I didn't go to the summit but I feel that I'm kind of in the same place, for the most part. I was taling to a PT student today about my feet position during squats. This is a different guy than the one previous mentioned. The other guy was telling me my feet need to be straight, pointing forward. The PT students confirmed that and was telling me about the knees tracking and some other stuff so I worked on form today with no weight. I'm trying to retrain my body to do this exercise properly... at least as I understand it now. I was doing them like a box squat.
By the way, I've done planks for 2 minutes but am currently doing them 10x8 secs ea.
iliopsoas tendonitis/Illiopsoas Bursitis ??? can't walk
Somehow I hurt myself. Started maybe Monday or Tuesday this week, I felt minor ache in right quad, just felt like not taking a long walk.
Just googled, and found psoas and also iliopsoas tendonitis/Illiopsoas Bursitis, seemed the closest to what I feel.
1. When did the pain begin?
Monday-Wed, just light strain ache; This afternoon and into the night; I could barely walk home from the bus; hobbled home.
2. What were you doing at the time? Or did the pain come on gradually over time? Gradually over the 3-4 days; I did nothing to aggravate it. However, I have been very stressed at work, and sitting in one position at computer & desk for long long hours, working the past 6 weeks from 10am to 10pm with too many concurrent deadlines.
3. Where, anatomically, is the pain? from my front right groin deep inside my right thigh, but mostly down front quad.
4. What does the pain feel like? Sharp? Dull? Aching? Stabbing? Shooting?
Dull aching heavy, pinching
5. Is the pain constant, or intermittent, or only on certain motions?
Staying still I'm not in pain. It's constant on certain motions
6. What motions make your pain worse?
It is hard to sit down, can't bend to the floor. Can't bend my leg back all the way at the knee. Hurts to lift my thigh up. Lifting my straight leg up, leg feels heavy and pain deep in the middle of my thigh. Can't get up from sitting onto right leg; have to get up on left, using my arms to help me up.
7. What, if anything, makes your pain better? Nothing; took 600 mg aceteminophen Exedrin... didnt' help
8. Does your pain radiate to any other part of your body?
I can feel it down to my back of knee and into calf. First I thougth it was sciatic nerve, I feel a bit in the back glut ache. But mostly in the middle of thigh and deep in the thigh
9. What things could you do before, that you cannot do now because of your injury? I've been feeling really healthy, lost 20 lbs, haven't been exercising except for easy casual walking sometimes an hour but not power walking. Today was the first it was really bad, and I can't really walk, just hobble/limp, hobble upstairs... Have very little front to back range of motion on right leg.
10. What is your main concern regarding the pain and its consequences? Haha, I need to walk. It's kind of scary. My partner's going in for surgery Tuesday, and I have to be able to take care of her and be mobile.
11. Have you ever injured that part of your body before? If so, how?
No
12. Is your pain getting worse over time? And if so, how much worse over what time period? It's only been since Monday. This afternoon was first bad aching, but it's pretty bad now. Yet I didn't do anything.
I had used moist heating pad tonight. But after Googling, websites suggested R.I.C.E. If I wake up in bad pain tomorrow, I'll probably have to stay home. Websites say this gets diagnosed slowly, in 9-15 months, unless something is torn.
If I were to diagnose myself, from what I just read here in this thread, I would say it's from my sitting at the computer for 12 hour days for 6 weeks. So what should I do to heal it?
R.I.C.E. I'll do. What about foam roller? Which exercises? What else?
P.S. Wanna sound really smart? There is no iliopsoas. There's the psoas and the iliacus. 2 muscles with similar yet different functions but the same insertion, so tradition linked them together...WRONG!
LOL.. first I thought it was psoas only, then I was 'corrected' by others who insisted it was the iliopsoas, so got used to using that word & now yesterday my massage therapist tells me she's working on the ilia(cu)s and I was wrongly correcting her & she tells me the same thing : ilias + psoas being 2 different muscles
Doh!
Quote:
The same person who I referred to above also showed me a similar stretch... except you have one knee on the ground with the other foot out in front (leg bent). Push (from behind) one glute and then the other, 30 sec's each.
Same stretch was recommended by same person above.
To Etana
Quote:
What about foam roller? Which exercises? What else?
Now is the time to be compliant about foam rolling (not that I do this) & do stretch exercises. Your body is aching from all the desk work you were doing & walking turned out to be overuse for underused legs.
As for your switch to R.I.C.E vs heating pad.. call me retarded but I vote for heating pads, even though all of my textbooks say 'R.I.C.E.' Active rest , compression & elevation ok, but icing it.. runs counter to my instincts and it seems there's a change of mind here too.. but I'm very curious what others (with way more experience) have to say.
I've gotten overuse from walking, and it hurt just where you described. After my neck injury, and all the PT that followed, I'm now a big advocate of first letting the swelling go down before you attempt to rehab it (by stretching and foam rolling.) I'd take my ibuprofen or naproxen, and ice it. Do regular daily stuff, but stretching it and such now when it is injured is what I was told NOT to do. You have to let the inflammation go down first.
I'll let the pros answer you, and I hope you feel better soon.
I once did a an excellent yoga class that was devoted to just the psoas. It's a difficult muscle to get to, but some of those yoga poses were very effective at stretching it. If you do a google search on yoga and psoas you'll find descriptions of poses that open the psoas, although the ones I found online didn't list some of the best poses that we did in the class. I like the pidgeon pose a lot -- it stretches the psoas as well as the hips and the area around the sacrum. Search for pidgeon pose on youtube for some examples.
ilias + psoas being 2 different muscles
Same stretch was recommended by same person above.
To Etana
Now is the time to be compliant about foam rolling (not that I do this) & do stretch exercises. Your body is aching from all the desk work you were doing & walking turned out to be overuse for underused legs.
It's so nice to see familar friends here, and early responses. I slept fine, but I elevated my leg on 2 pillows, and when I woke up, I couldn't straighten my leg. Actually, the ice feels really good, although even my narrower, smaller thigh is HUGE to ice ... I iced it last night and could feel that was good. So I iced it this morning gradually straightening the leg. I probably will do as Annette suggests and wait to do most exercises, just do some flexing of foot and leg, ibuprophen, more icing, maybe heat.
It is so great to see the exercise on youtube. We are so lucky to have Google and such libraries of info at our fingertips, and to see videos instead of verbal descriptions of exercises.
Walking wasn't the overuse because I was the most inactive I've been since my surgery. I had been feeling "wonderful." Young and full of energy and bounce and loving my body and how wonderful a healthy body was. (My partner's going in for Cervical Radiculopathy (Pinched Nerve) Surgery on Tuesday, and I need to be healthy/mobile to help her...). The only thing I can think is that I've been too inactive: my body is aching from all the desk work I was doing, and coming home to TV and my laptop on a couch that is pretty but too soft without back support. That's my self-diagnosis for the cause of this.
ilias + psoas: So which muscle or both? Or does it matter?
Where the pain is: when I sat on the toilet seat, mid thigh back, it hurt. Whole leg aches inside. Everywhere I put ice, back of knee, front inside of thigh where it meets knee, glut, groin, calf, quad all ache, tight, stiff. I'm finding that the right leg is tight from my groin all the way down to my ankle; I had some foot cramping. Stretching and flexing the foot, and moving the foot outwards and inwards seems about all for right now this morning. Can't get to work. Hard to get dressed. Hard to walk. Need to use left leg and arms/hands to get up or down from/to seated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Espi
As for your switch to R.I.C.E vs heating pad.. call me retarded but I vote for heating pads, even though all of my textbooks say 'R.I.C.E.' Active rest , compression & elevation ok, but icing it.. runs counter to my instincts and it seems there's a change of mind here too.. but I'm very curious what others (with way more experience) have to say.
Elevating it last night caused me to not be able to straighten the leg, so I'm hesitant to do that. And how the heck to I compress this huge thigh from my butt to my groin and down the thigh??? Just took 800mg Ibu, and am icing it now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnetteW
I've gotten overuse from walking, and it hurt just where you described. After my neck injury, and all the PT that followed, I'm now a big advocate of first letting the swelling go down before you attempt to rehab it (by stretching and foam rolling.) I'd take my ibuprofen or naproxen, and ice it. Do regular daily stuff, but stretching it and such now when it is injured is what I was told NOT to do. You have to let the inflammation go down first. .
I don't see inflammation, but I think you're right at least for a few days. What do others think: stretch and foam roll now or wait a few days? Do regular stuff.. hahaha that's a joke. I really feel disabled.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbb
I once did a an excellent yoga class that was devoted to just the psoas. It's a difficult muscle to get to, but some of those yoga poses were very effective at stretching it. If you do a google search on yoga and psoas you'll find descriptions of poses that open the psoas, although the ones I found online didn't list some of the best poses that we did in the class. I like the pidgeon pose a lot -- it stretches the psoas as well as the hips and the area around the sacrum. Search for pidgeon pose on youtube for some examples.
Pidgeon pose on youtube seems really good, but I think it's too soon for this. But it seems like a good stretch for what I have done.
I sure rested yesterday: the GWF registered 1495 cal burn; it says I took 517 steps, which seems pretty accurate.
I took 800 mg Ibu once, I iced the area about 4 times.
I am not better, but I am much better than Thursday night.
I can lift my knee, my leg isn't as heavy and is quite responsive (doing what it's supposed to do by itself). It still hurts mid thigh when I sit on toilet-seat; I still cannot squat to put cat food in the bowls or to pick up the bowls to wash them. Or maybe I can, but painfully and with extreme care. It seems my queen and princess don't care all that much that their bowls aren't washed, as long as there's food in them whenever they want.
I'll probably phone my Dr. on Monday and ask her how she thinks I should proceed. From what I read, it suggested not to be totally still, so today I'll try short very brief walks. I'm still not walking naturally, but not limping.
Well I did your exercise about 4x/day, not 3x/hour... It is slowly getting better, I went on 2 walks today, 13155 steps already, so that is good. I can bend down better.
But it still pinches down my quad-thigh when I reach down to tie my shoelace, squat, I have to help myself down to sit on the toilet seat.
I've done no resistance work, no mobility, no cardio for 8 weeks. Plus sitting at my job 12 hour days for 7 weeks.
I'm starting a 6-week challenge with Leigh "Hot for the Holidays," and the requirement is 3x/week mobility, and that will finally get me to make Mobility a habit. I'll take it slow and easy and watch the pain.
Keep at it ... as much as you can. When you bend forward, you are putting the iliacus and psoas muscles on slack ... that clearly is indicative that your pain is referred, most likely from your spine (L2-3 would be my guess).
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