The psoas muscles attach in the front of your thighbone and finish in several of the lower vertebra, or lumbar spine. Due to poor walking or lifestyle habits, the psoas tends to tighten and shrink, unbalancing the entire hip region and leading to chronic hip pain. A tight psoas is common in people over forty.
This exercise will stretch the psoas muscles, relieving hip tension and the resulting back pain. When the psoas muscles are healthy and well stretched, you’ll have greater ease of movement when walking, running, and climbing the stairs.
1. Stand beside your chair. Place one foot flat on the seat of the chair with your knee bent and the other leg straight behind you. Note: Don’t stand too close to the chair.
2. Holding the back of the chair for support, raise the heel of your standing leg.
3. Bend the knee of your standing leg, and tuck your bum under your hips while shifting your weight forward, toward the seat of the chair.
4. Try to lock your bum in the tucked-under position while simultaneously trying to straighten the back leg and press the back heel into the floor. (You probably won’t be able to put your back heel on the floor if you lock your bum in the tucked-under position. That’s okay!) You will most likely feel a stretch somewhere in your thigh; everyone feels the stretch in a different place.
5. Return to the starting position.
6. Repeat the psoas stretch very slowly 3 times on each leg.