May 20th, 2015

Some symptoms of tight Psoas muscle: (1) impaired breathing, (2) poor digestion from compressed abdominal contents with impaired circulation, (3) chronic constipation (from sluggish lumbar plexus function), (4) poor postural alignment, (5) poor support; gravity then drags posture down; (6) heavy-feeling legs; (7) back tension to counteract what is, in effect, a movement toward collapse. This muscular effort (a) taxes the body's vital resources, (b) introduces strain in the involved musculature (e.g., the extensors of the back), and (c) sets the stage for back pain and back spasm.


Psoas stretch: The most common psoas muscle stretch (the psoas "lunge") is done standing or kneeling. When you are standing or kneeling, balance reflexes based on your old muscle/movement memory come into play, which interferes with efforts to form new muscle/movement memory.


Source: http://www.somatics.com/psoas.htm