The leg muscles consist of a group of muscles. There are hamstrings, calves, and hips muscles along with calves. Along with all these muscle groups, there is psoas which is pronounced as so-az. The psoas muscles are located in the pelvic region. These are responsible for connecting the upper body to the lower body.
Furthermore, psoas muscles start from the lower vertebrae of the spine, move through the spine, and connect with the femur bone. With a sedentary lifestyle, psoas muscles become tight. This leads to numerous flexibility and agility issues. So, this article covers the causes and symptoms of the tight psoas. Also, it offers some easy yoga poses to loosen them up. Keep reading. 200 RYT
Tight Psoas Muscles: Causes
Many reasons are behind the psoas muscle tightness. A few of them are as mentioned below.
- Long Sitting Hours
- Shortening of Muscle Fibers
- Back Pain
- Lower Mobility
- Pelvic Pain
- Nerve Compression
- Stressed Body
- Emotional Trauma
Symptoms of Tight Psoas Muscles
You might have tight psoas, however, don’t know about it. In that case, you can go through the following points. These are some most common symptoms of tight psoas muscles. Learn how to know whether you have tight psoas muscles.
- Consistent lower back pain
- Pain while sitting or standing up
- Discomfort while shifting the sitting posture
- Standing upright
- Pain in the buttocks or groin area
- Tight pelvis muscles
- Limping on one side
The above reasons indicate if you need to start therapy for the issue. So, make sure you properly understand the symptoms. After a thorough analysis, you can practice yoga or join a 200-hour yoga teacher training course.
Let’s have a glimpse at some of the basic yoga poses to loosen up the tight psoas muscles. Make sure you read till the end.
Easy Yoga Poses to Loosen Muscles
Low Lunge
The low lunge yoga pose is the easiest version of the high lunge yoga pose. It works on your inner thighs and groin area. Hence, it is one of the best yoga poses to loosen up the tight psoas muscles.
Make sure you keep the back knee in contact with the ground. Tilting your forward leg more towards the front side intensifies the overall leg stretch.
Tree Pose
Balance, strength, and stretching are in perfect balance while practicing the tree pose. It makes your legs strong along with working on the knee caps.
Furthermore, it stretches the inner thigh muscles that are directly linked with the psoas. Further, raising your hands over your head stretches the lateral muscles in your legs.
Knee to Chest Pose
When it comes to stretching the tight psoas without any pressure on the body, nothing comes close to the knee to chest pose. You can practice this pose while lying down on the ground.
Furthermore, it even loosens up the spinal joints. Hence, you get a complete spine stretch that loosens up the groin muscles as well.
Boat Pose
Sometimes, stretching the muscle is not required. However, strengthening it is also important. That is where the boat pose comes into play. There is hardly any movement when you practice this pose.
However, holding your body against gravity is enough to make the psoas muscles strong. Furthermore, it even strengthens your core which promotes overall wellness.
Standing Big Toe Pose
The simplest way to strengthen your hamstrings and psoas muscles is to raise your big toes while holding them with your hands. This is going to put intense pressure on your hamstrings and inner thighs.
Wrap Up
As you can see, the art of yoga has numerous options for you to practice to loosen up the psoas muscles. In case you want to join a yoga course, you should check out different yoga schools in India. Joining a yoga course ensures you learn, practice, and master the right form under expert guidance.
Furthermore, it helps you stay fit rather than incurring an injury. Hence, having the right guidance is going to come in handy at every level of yoga practice. So, you should make yoga practice an active part of your life. It helps you stay fit and athletic for life.