What you should know about the hip flexor

How to activate your Psoas

By Emma O'Toole

Yoga Teacher

With anything you do in your life, your body has two basic functions to survive.To breathe and to move; everything else is secondary. If you are not breathing properly, you are not moving properly, and injuries happen.

The Psoas, better known as the hip flexor, is one of THE most important muscles in your body. Here is a challenge for you. From standing, can you get to the floor, safely, without bending from the hips?Well just in case you’re attempting it, you can’t! It’s impossible. You must bend from the hips, or bend the knees, but you still must bend from the hips to reach the floor.

About Emma O'Toole

Emma O’Toole has been a yoga teacher for 8 years and has been sharing these yoga poses to 100’s of people across all levels of fitness and flexibility. She offers online group yoga classes, private online coaching and corporate yoga classes. Email info@yogawithemma. ie or visit yogawithemma.ie for more details. So the Psoas is fundamentally the most important muscle for moving your body. The other piece to our basic functionality is our breathing diaphragm. You know that belly breathing is imperative to a calm mind and the best performing body. In these uncertain and stressful times, you might feel your breath in the upper chest. A lot of people are stuck in this stress breathing as a coping mechanism, or in “survival mode”.

DIAPHRAGMIC BREATHING

Diaphragmic breathing works hand in hand with the Psoas because they are both connected. If the diaphragm and the Psoas aren’t working in harmony, other parts of the body want to be the “special one”. If you suffer from tight hamstrings, quads, calves, weak glutes, stiff neck (I could go on), it’s possibly from inactive Psoas. But how can that be when you are running? Put simply, your body is amazing! When the hip flexor is inactive, smaller muscles ‘act’ as the Psoas.

TRY THIS TEST

Try this test: stretch your hamstrings as you usually do. It feels nice and your legs feel longer and you’re ready to go. Do the stretch again and feel your quadricep. Is your quad active as you stretch your hamstring? If the quad feels solid, it is acting as the hamstring when it should be malleable. Slightly bend your knee to turn off the quad and stretch the hamstrings only. This is one of many tests to check your body’s compensation pattern.To activate your Psoas muscle is what I have learned and called “Rub-a-dub-dub”.

01 Find your hip bones

Let’s find your baseline from this moment. If you are sitting, stand up and sit down 3 times. Notice if your body feels heavy. Did you have to push down on the table to get up? There is nothing wrong, just noticing. Stand again and find your hip bones.

02 Place your hand below naval

Place your dominant hand below your naval and between your hip bones.

03 Press hands down firmly

And then your other hand on top and press hands firmly, not too much that it will affect your bladder, but enough to feel the muscular tissue. As you press your hands against the tissues, make a circle motion as many times as you need to and then reverse the motion. You should feel your hip bones brush off the heal of your hand and the tip of your fingers. That’s how you know you are in the right place and using the power of your hands to activate your hip flexor.

Now, sit down and stand up again, 3 times.Do you feel lighter and does it feel easier to stand up? You’re activated!

Now, sit down and stand up again, 3 times.Doing this as part of your warm-up routine tells your body that the hip flexor is functioning correctly. Notice your stride and speed. I guarantee you will feel a difference.