The psoas muscle is very complex. It doesn’t work like a typical muscle. The psoas muscle attaches to multiple vertebrae in the lumbar spine. A typical muscle has a tendon on each end that connects it to a bone. The general psoas muscle is made up of a psoas major and a psoas minor. We have one of these on each side of our spine. At its highest point, the psoas muscle begins at the lumbar vertebrae. It runs downward through the area of the hip flexors. At its lowest point, the the psoas attaches to a tendon on the back side of our upper leg, which also adds to the complexity of it. The tendons of the psoas all connect in the posterior (back) side of the body. However, the psoas muscle uniquely travels through the anterior (front) side of the body.
How To Sit With Psoas Pain
When the psoas contracts, it allows us to rotate the hip externally. It also gives the ability to life your leg, as well as move it laterally. The psoas muscle is a major force that helps the spine and legs move together effectively. It’s a major force when it comes to any full body movement like running and squatting.
It also provides a large amount of stability that helps us keep our spine and torso upright. This is a crucial variable required to sit for long periods of time with good computer posture. The psoas muscle is one of the few muscle groups that connects our upper body to our lower body. Sitting can affect the psoas muscle because it is very prone to overuse. The average computer worker is at a desk 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, 2000 hours a year. That’s a massive amount of repetitive strain, regardless if we are sitting with good or poor computer posture. When we sit for long periods of time, it can cause a tight psoas.
I personally don’t feel pain in my psoas muscle. But I can tell when it is tight. When I have a tight psoas, it causes pain and dysfunction in other places. The pain usually occurs in my legs and lower back. The dysfunction usually happens in my hip sockets, which causes all kinds of other issues. There are ways you can help release tension and relieve psoas pain while sitting. So, I’m dedicating this post to how you can properly sit with psoas pain and prevent it from getting worse.
Create a Healthy Workspace
I always follow 3 basic guidelines when creating an ergonomic workspace. These rules apply regardless if I have to sit for long periods of time, or if I’m working at my stand desk. In order to get my eye level and elbow height correct, I might be using a fancy, adjustable desk. Or, I could simply stack my monitor, keyboard and mouse on books, boxes, anything that will help me get my devices at the correct height.
1. My eye level is even with the top of my monitor screen.
This allows me to comfortably keep a neutral spine when I stand or sit for long periods of time. I used to have my monitor too low. This caused me to look down at an excessive angle. Holding my head in this compromised position 8 hours a day led to all kinds of pain and dysfunction in my neck and lumbar verterbrae. It may not seem like this bad habit will cause a tight psoas. However, it’s entirely possible. Everything in our bodies is connected. Especially when it comes to the spine. If we have poor posture at the top of our spine, it sets off a chain reaction throughout the rest of the spine. All the way down to the lumbar spine, which is where the psoas attaches.
2. My elbows are slightly above my desk level, keyboard and mouse.
I never let my elbows go below desk level. I made this mistake 8 hours a day for years. So, I had to lift my hands to get them on the keyboard and mouse. Lifting my hands required me to contract my biceps all day, which led to overuse of the bicep tendons that attach to my shoulder. This caused a lot of shoulder pain, inflammation, and dysfunction.
3. I always keep my feet on the floor flat.
Stress would cause me to contract my hamstrings while I was sitting. This would pull my feet underneath my body. I had part of my feet on the floor, but not my full foot. My toes would touch the floor, but my heels were up in the air. Since I’ve improved my computer posture, keeping my full feet on the floor has decreased a lot of muscle confusion throughout my entire legs, into my lower back and psoas muscle.
Always Check Your Form While Sitting
A common mistake I tend to make is not sitting evenly on my sits bones. I’ll check in on my posture occasionally, realizing that I’m leaning more to one side or another. This can happen for multiple reasons. The important thing is that I realize it quickly, then correct it right away. It’s okay to be a little bit off center for a short time. The main thing we need to avoid is making these mistakes while we sit for long periods of time. I try to keep my posture as symmetrical as possible. Using a mouse is the only variable of my workstation that’s different on one side of my body. With that said, my computer posture will never be fully symmetrical. But I still check in often to make sure that everything else is in a balanced alignment.
Give Your Muscles a Break
This tip especially applies to a tight psoas muscle. When I take a break from sitting, I like to get in some light movement. Walking is a good low intensity movement for me because the psoas muscle is used in a more dynamic way. The psoas is activated while walking, however not in a static, repetitive strain type of situation like working at a computer workstation.
Let Your Psoas (and Iliac) Muscles Relax
At it’s lowest point in the body, the psoas combines with the iliac muscle to form what is called the iliopsoas muscle. The most effective way for me to let these muscles relax is when I’m in a reclined position. I don’t have to recline all the way back. A 45 degree angle is just right. There are many ways I get my torso in this position. They include sitting at a recliner, leaning back a car seat, or going out to the pool for a quick 30 minute break. I’ll recline in a lounge chair out there. This allows me to relax my tight psoas, while also getting some vitamin D from the sun.
Conveniently, I happen to have a tight psoas this week as I’m typing this article at my stand desk. I’m often outdoors, doing some sort of heavy physical activity. So, I like to go to the chiropractor once a week, regardless if I have an injury or not. I’m lucky enough to go to a chiropractor that also does soft tissue work. She has helped a lot to get my psoas released and relaxed.
Do Stretching Exercises
This final tip is not paid promotion. I’m not compensated by Pso-rite. It’s simply a product that has improved my quality of life. I paid my own money for my Pso-rite.
The psoas muscle is very complex. It’s not easy to stretch your psoas. One thing that helped me stretch and get my psoas released is called a Pso-rite. It’s basically a piece of plastic that puts pressure on a psoas muscle. The Pso-rite lays flat on the floor. The user lays face down on the floor, with the Pso-rite putting pressure on the psoas muscle on each side. When I do it, I have my elbows and feet on the floor, kind of like a plank position. But the psoas contracts during a plank. So the difference is I try to relax my psoas and focus on breathing deep. I also put some pillows under my chest. This takes some of the strain off of my lumbar spine, because I don’t have to support my upper body as much when resting on the pillows.
This is just a brief description of the Pso-rite and how it helped get my tight psoas released. It’s not complete instructions on how to use one. To stretch your psoas, do so very carefully at your own risk. To learn more about the Pso-rite, visit pso-rite.com.
This article is not medical advice. I’m simply sharing my experience. I tell my story how poor computer posture destroyed my body. I also share the computer posture fixes I’ve implemented to decrease my pain and improve my quality of life.
Thanks for your interest in sitting posture. If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps that will help get your tight psoas released. That’s something to be proud of.
If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen
P.S. You can sign up for my free computer posture newsletter here.