If you have chronic low back pain and hip pain, daily activities and athletic pursuits may become a struggle. If you’ve tried other therapies without success, it’s time to see a chiropractor! In my office in the Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, I prioritize comprehensive care for your spine, nervous system, and muscles, ensuring your body operates at its best. I even have a great example of this – I’ll let Olivia tell you in her own words!
What Are the Psoas Muscles and Why Are They Important?
The psoas muscles are a large pair of muscles on both sides of the spine. They connect the back portion of the lumbar spine across the pelvis to the upper portion of the femur. These muscles are hip flexors which means they help to lift your thighs upwards so you can take a step, sit up, and climb stairs. This is even more important if you’re an athlete, repeatedly doing these actions in training.
When these muscles become tight, they pull too much on the lower back causing pain through a problem known as hyperlordosis. This puts excess pressure on the discs in the spine and can cause future problems for spinal health. The psoas also helps to keep the head of the femur in its joint socket. A disruption to this stability can lead to future hip and joint problems.
When a muscle is unable to work properly the other muscles may compensate, causing a higher risk of injuries in the knee, hips, and thighs.
In other words, it’s all connected, and we need a neuromusculoskeletal approach!
How Olivia Found Relief and Healing
“I was referred to Dr. Josh by a good friend who had heard me complaining about chronic back/hip pain while training for a half marathon. I’d had this pain on and off for about 6 years and had tried everything – massage therapy, physio, acupuncture, and even another chiropractor – but nothing seemed to fix the issue. The pain sometimes got so bad that I couldn’t comfortably sit in a chair, let alone run.
Although I was a bit skeptical to try yet another “fix”, I put my trust in Dr. Josh and have now been going to him for sessions for the last 10 months. My episodes of pain are now very infrequent, and both the intensity and the recovery time are way down.
My experience with chiro has been so positive, even just coming to the office and getting to chat with Grace and Dr. Josh is such a lovely experience. I’m thrilled to make chiro a regular part of my life and will sing Dr. Josh’s praises to anyone who will listen!” Olivia P.
How Can Chiropractic Help?
Although it is more common in athletes and runners, psoas hypertonicity can affect all types of people. This is because increased tension and tightness of psoas muscles can also occur from repeated periods of prolonged sitting over time such as sitting at a desk to work.
Chiropractic works holistically to correct muscular and spinal health. With specific adjustments to the lower back, we can correct the vertebra of the lumbar spine and adjust any pelvis misalignments that were causing the psoas muscles to become too tight.
When the nervous system is aligned, the brain can communicate with the nervous system to regulate the body. When communication is decreased or slowed down, dysfunction occurs.
A well-adjusted spine can release the tension in the psoas muscles, allowing them to relax rather than fatigue and eventually start to waste away.
When your nervous system is clear, it’s better able to keep tabs on all the muscles and make sure that they can contract and relax at the proper times.
At Annex Family Chiropractic, I want to make sure that we’re finding and correcting the cause of low back pain rather than masking it and allowing the problems to get worse further down the road.
Ready to have your nervous system function checked? Call 416-967-4466 for an appointment at our midtown Toronto office, or schedule online here: https://bookedin.com/book/annex-family-chiropractic
Interested in learning more? Check out, “What a Pain in the Neck! Chiropractic in Toronto”
References:
https://dynamicchiropractic.com/article/52363-the-psoas-and-iliacus-functional-testing
Kryzhanovskiĭ G. N. (1990). Narushenie nervnoĭ trofiki kletki [Disorders of neural atrophy]. Vestnik Akademii meditsinskikh nauk SSSR, (2), 4–7.
