S E11: Ep 11 – Is Your hip/ groin pain due to your dodgy Hip Flexors?
Did you know that your psoas hip flexor could be a source of your hip
and groin pain?
Welcome to the Pain Free Living Podcast with me, your host Bob Allen. I’m an osteopath who has been successfully treating people’s pain problems since 2008.
During that time, I have treated a few clients who came to me with hip and groin pain with no clue why, after many examinations, including MRI scans. The results of all the testing came back negative, so they generally came to me while still in pain with no idea of what to try next. Most of their issues were a result of an undiagnosed psoas hip flexor problem, which resolved after a few treatments together with some specific exercises.
The primary focus of today’s podcast is the psoas, looking at the anatomy and functionality and what can happen if things go wrong.
Your psoas muscle is a long, ribbon-shaped muscle that starts either side of your spine and runs through your pelvis to the top of your thigh bone. Its key role is hip flexion, i.e. helping bring your upper leg towards your body or helping you bend forward when you are standing. It can also help with side bending your upper body when the muscle on one side contracts
Due to the complex attachments of the psoas muscles to your spine and thigh bone, the symptoms of any problems can vary significantly ranging from low back pain when you go from sitting to standing or lying down to sitting up, pain in your pelvis and hip or pain and numbness radiating down your upper thigh.
The good news is that once a psoas problem has been identified it can be a relatively easy fix with the right treatment and exercises.
Takeaways:
- The psoas muscle is crucial for connecting the upper body to the lower body, facilitating various movements.
- Problems with the psoas can lead to low back, hip and groin pain, particularly for runners or those who sit for long periods of time
- Identifying psoas-related issues can be done through simple tests that guide effective treatment.
More about Bob
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Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Pain Free Living Podcast with me, your host, Bob Allen.
Speaker A:ve been treating people since:Speaker A:graduated as an osteopath in:Speaker A:And today I'm going to talk to you about hip flexors.
Speaker A:Now, when I talk about hip flexors, you're probably thinking if you know about anatomy, you might be thinking, okay, quads.
Speaker A:That's what the quads do.
Speaker A:Quads are the muscles at the front of the thigh.
Speaker A:Yes, they are a hip flexor.
Speaker A:The reason that I thought I'd cover it today is because over the last six to eight months, I have seen a lot of people that are having hip and groin pain because they're having issues with the hip flexor.
Speaker A:Now I've got your interest.
Speaker A:I thought I'll do a little bit of a dive into the anatomy and how it works, and then hopefully, if you have a similar problem, you'll know what to do about it.
Speaker A:So when we talk about hip flexors, we're talking about.
Speaker A:Well, most of the time we talk about hip flexors.
Speaker A:Most people know about the quads.
Speaker A:The quads and the muscles at the front of the thigh, they go from hip down to knee.
Speaker A:I'm pointing, even though you may be listening on audio, but the quads go from hip down to the knee, and they're responsible for a brink.
Speaker A:When you walk as a quads contract, it brings the knee, it brings the leg up and forward, and then you put the foot down.
Speaker A:So that is the primary hip flexor.
Speaker A:But what a lot of people don't realize is that you have two hip flexors.
Speaker A:So the primary one is the quad.
Speaker A:But actually you have a second hip flexor which is much deeper.
Speaker A:It's so deep, it's almost.
Speaker A:Well, it's so deep it almost runs along the back.
Speaker A:Along the back.
Speaker A:It's like it attaches into all of the lumbar vertebrae and discs and the transverse processes of your lumbar spine of your low back.
Speaker A:So the second hip flexor, it's a muscle called the psoas, which is psoas, if you want to look it up.
Speaker A:And it's a key muscle for hip flexion.
Speaker A:If your leg is straight and you lift your leg up, that's the quad.
Speaker A:If your leg, if your knee is bent and your hip is bent, then when you lift the leg up the.
Speaker A:That's your psoas, hip flexor.
Speaker A:So it attaches into all your lumbar vertebrae, all the important structures in your low back and then comes down and attaches onto the inside of your thigh bone.
Speaker A:Now, if you have an imbalance between your left and right, deep hip flexors, that can cause some problems.
Speaker A:People that I've seen with psoas issues, hip flexor number two are runners.
Speaker A:If you, or if you spend a lot of time sat at a desk, that muscle is actually shortened and, and then it can exert different pulls on the pelvis.
Speaker A:And if the psoas hip flexor has issues, it can be responsible for low back pain, it can be responsible for hip pain, it can be responsible for groin pain, or it can be responsible for all three, depending on how angry and upset that hip flexor is.
Speaker A:So if you are getting groin pain or hip pain, you've not got any issues with the hip hip, you've got full range of movement in the hip.
Speaker A:It could be the psoas that's causing the problem.
Speaker A:And like I said, the reason that I'm bringing it up is because not a lot of people know about it and even a lot of physical therapists.
Speaker A:And the reason I'm highlighting it is because I saw.
Speaker A:I saw.
Speaker A:I've seen three or four clients over the last few months that have had psoas issues, but they've also had groin pain and hip pain.
Speaker A:And one of the people I have seen, he was training for a marathon.
Speaker A:He got to the point where he couldn't run because he was in so much pain from his hip.
Speaker A:Now, when he came to see me, there's a really, really simple test which I will probably ping into the show notes on this one.
Speaker A:It's a really simple test you can use to see whether it's the psoas hip flexor that's causing the problem.
Speaker A:Something else.
Speaker A:So it's a really easy, really simple test to do.
Speaker A:And if your physical therapist knows what they're doing, they will check that as well.
Speaker A:If you've got groin pain or hip pain and you've got full range of movement in the hip, they should be checking that as well.
Speaker A:So, like I said, I'll leave a little link in the show notes to a test that you can do to find out whether that is what the problem is.
Speaker A:And yes, if you're getting hip or groin pain, it may not be the hip or an issue with the groin that's a problem.
Speaker A:It could well be this psoas, the hip flexor.
Speaker A:So hopefully you found that useful.
Speaker A:If you've got any questions, drop them in the comments for me.
Speaker A:And yeah, if you found it handy, tell your friends.
Speaker A:If you know somebody that has an issue sounding similar to that, let them know that their therapist or their GP may be looking at the wrong problem.
Speaker A:And yeah, like share, subscribe.
Speaker A:Like I said, tell all your friends and I will see you at the next one.