Category: Lower Back Issues

Fixing Lower Back Pain

Many of us suffer from occasional lower back pain. Matter of fact 80% of all adults will at some time experience it and many of us have chronic low back pain which affects our choices of activities every day.

One of the likely muscular causes of lower back stress is a shortened and tight Psoas Muscle.

psoas-press-1a
Location for the Psoas Press

If your psoas is shortened it is constantly pulling on your lumbar vertebrae, hip, and thigh. As it tightens more each day, the lower back muscles compensate to stabilize the amount of tension on either side of your spine. This leads to excessive stress placed on the vertebrae and discs between the vertebrae.

One effective way to safely lengthen the psoas to reduce the stress on your spine is to practice the "Supported Corpse Stretch" every single day until you no longer feel any stretch or tension in either your lower back or the front of your hips & thighs.

Supported Corpse Stretch
Symmetrically stretching the 5 hip flexor muscles located on or in the front of your hips (psoas, iliacus, rectus femoris, sartorius, tensor fasciae latae) to their full-range natural length can reduce excessive tension in your hip & back and neutralize the stress in your spine.

Tune in to your body and practice these and the other techniques found in the Alexander Method of SMR to find lasting relief from back pains that have muscular origins.

Fixing Ryan Moody’s Tight Hip

In addition to being a talented and engaging presenter of the Explosive WOD Seminars, Ryan Moody is a heck of a jumper:

A good friend of his heard him speaking of a nagging hip issue and brought him to come visit us at the Rumble Roller booth at the CrossFit Games. After spending about 20 minutes with him and giving him some SMR "homework" to do each day, he got some rather dramatic results in only 2 days!

Ryan-Moody-comparison
Ryan's "lagging leg" before our help and after only 20-30 minutes of SMR homework

Transverse Abdominus

Transverse Abdominus

Pictured above is the transverse abdominus muscle. It tightens the space between your ribs and hips and flattens your belly. It works with the other core muscles primarily to stabilize the abdominal region and hold your spine steady while you move your body or lift something. You are not as likely to need to stretch and practice SMR on the transverse abdominus as the oblique muscles. However, be sure to check the PSOAS in particular, as it is EXTREMELY LIKELY to have knots that need attention.

The muscles are layered, showing how some of the muscles are covered by the others. All of the muscles are see-through so that you can appreciate the location and size of each muscle relative to the others. You can access detail for all the muscles in the body with our Coach membership.

Click here for a list of all the muscles.

Click your area of interest below. (any inactive links will be active soon)

Muscles that attach to the hip and the spine and/or ribs

  1. Rectus Abdominus
  2. External Abdominal Oblique
  3. Internal Abdominal Oblique
  4. Transverse Abdominus
  5. Latissimus Dorsi
  6. Iliocostalis Lumborum
  7. Longissimus Thoracis
  8. Quadratus Lumborum
  9. Multifidi


Muscles that attach to the thigh bone from either the spine or hip bone above (attached anywhere on the femur)

  1. Psoas
  2. Iliacus
  3. Rectus Femoris
  4. Tensor Fasciae Latae
  5. Sartorius
  6. Gracilis
  7. Adductor Magnus
  8. Adductor Longus
  9. Adductor Brevis
  10. Pectineus
  11. Gluteus Maximus
  12. Gluteus Medius
  13. Gluteus Minimus
  14. Piriformis
  15. Superior Gemellus
  16. Obturator Internus
  17. Inferior Gemellus
  18. Quadratus Femoris
  19. Biceps Femoris - Long Head
  20. Semitendonosis
  21. Semimembranosis


Good luck working out those tight knots.

If you have any questions, please post a comment. We try to respond within 24 hours.

We're here to help you get more out of your training!

Semimembranosis

Semimembranosis

Pictured above is the semimembranosis. It is one of the two internal hamstring muscles that attaches just below the inside of your knee.

The leg on the right has the semimembranosis labeled. The leg on the left displays all the muscles you can address on the back of your thigh in portions of the region of the semimembranosis. All of the muscles in the left leg are see-through so that you can appreciate the location and size of each muscle relative to the others. You can access individual muscle detail for the hamstings and all the other muscles in the body with our Coach membership.

Click here for a list of all the muscles.

Click here to view the hamstrings all together.

Additional hamstring muscles you might be interested in:

  1. Biceps Femoris
  2. Semitendonosis
  3. Semimembranosis


Good luck working out those tight knots.

If you have any questions, please post a comment. We try to respond within 24 hours.

We're here to help you get more out of your training!

Semitendonosis

Semitendonosis

Pictured above is the semitendonosis. It is one of the two internal hamstring muscles that attaches just below the inside of your knee.

The leg on the right has the semitendonosis labeled. The leg on the left displays all the muscles you can address on the back of your thigh in portions of the region of the semitendonosis. All of the muscles in the left leg are see-through so that you can appreciate the location and size of each muscle relative to the others. You can access individual muscle detail for the hamstings and all the other muscles in the body with our Coach membership.

Click here for a list of all the muscles.

Click here to view the hamstrings all together.

Additional hamstring muscles you might be interested in:

  1. Biceps Femoris
  2. Semitendonosis
  3. Semimembranosis


Good luck working out those tight knots.

If you have any questions, please post a comment. We try to respond within 24 hours.

We're here to help you get more out of your training!