If you’ve ever experienced a deep front hip or lower back ache that just doesn’t seem to go away, it might be stemming from a little muscle called the psoas muscle. This muscle is deep within your body and is part of your hip flexor. Chronic pain and discomfort can significantly impact your daily life, and it’s important to figure out what’s going on.

You might not realize that the source of your discomfort is psoas muscle pain, but understanding how it functions and how it can get irritated might help you pinpoint your hip pain. From there, you’ll be positioned to apply targeted relief or get professional help to relieve the deep hip or back discomfort. 

What is the Psoas (and Why Does It Hurt)?

The psoas muscle actually isn’t small. It’s a muscle that runs all the way from your transverse process at the bottom of your thoracic spine all the way down to your femur. It extends to join the iliac crest, which is the medical term for your hip bones. 

The psoas muscle is part of your hip flexors, which are a group of muscles in the front and back of your hip and pelvis. In addition to the psoas muscle, you have the iliacus. There are major and minor psoas muscles. Together, these muscles work to help you move your legs and hinge at the hip. They help maintain your posture and keep your lower spine stable.

If you work long hours sitting at a desk, you’ve probably experienced hip pain before. The prolonged tension on this muscle can cause the muscle to remain in a shortened, contracted position that, over time, causes the muscle to adapt to that length. Basically, your muscle is saying, hey, this is the movement we do the most (sitting), so we should be the most efficient at it. Except, the problems occur when you go to move it— the muscle pulls at the bones because it can’t easily lengthen to accommodate movement or standing up. Ultimately, your range of motion is reduced, which causes pain when you go to move beyond it.

Key Symptoms of Psoas Muscle Dysfunction

When your psoas muscle isn’t working as it should, most commonly due to sitting for long periods of time, people often find they feel pain or a deep ache in their groin, lower back, or the front of their hip. It will get aggravated when they stand up after sitting, especially for a long period of time. It can also hurt with hip extension or when walking uphill. Ultimately, this shortening weakens the muscles, which then leads to pain with movements beyond sitting. 

With weakened hip flexors, the psoas muscle also tightens up to help protect your lower spine. This affects everything you do, from walking and running to even just going up and down stairs. You’ll feel tightness and pain, and it can even radiate. Another symptom of psoas muscle irritation is that an individual’s posture can even shift to an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt. This shifts your hip forward and down. 

Common Causes and Triggers

As mentioned, a sedentary lifestyle with long periods of sitting is the most common cause of psoas muscle pain. The stiffness you feel when you stand up after sitting for a long time is a telltale sign of psoas muscle shortening. Whether you’re sitting at a desk or in the cab of a truck or vehicle, prolonged sitting commonly causes the problem. 

If you don’t lead a sedentary lifestyle, you can still experience pain in your psoas muscle. Hip flexor pain can result from running, cycling, and core workouts done with improper form. Those working out but have neglected their glutes can also experience pain because the psoas has to work to compensate for the weak glutes. 

Evidence-Based Treatment & Relief Options

The good news is that if your psoas muscle is not happy about sitting all the time, there are things you can do to relieve the pain and get your muscles into better shape. Many of these things you can do on your own at home.

To get immediate pain relief, you can use heat therapy and stretches to help start lengthening that tightened muscle. These stretches should be gentle and gradual — you’re not trying to stretch it out in one go. Mobility and stretching techniques are great methods for pain relief.

Outside of stretching and mobility, you may want to start adding some strength training to help activate the muscles surrounding the hip flexor so it doesn’t have to do as much work. Of course, this depends on the person, your muscle tone, and your hip flexor muscles as well. 

Finally, you may want to have a physical therapy assessment to determine exactly what’s going on with your muscles and why you’re feeling psoas muscle pain. They can then treat the issue, working out a plan that works for you and will help solve your problems, and even recommend supplementary care, such as dry needling and massage. 

Prevention Strategy for Psoas Muscle Pain

If you know that you have to stay sedentary for work, you can implement strategies to help prevent your psoas muscle from tightening up. Making sure you move every 45 minutes to an hour will help prevent your muscles from wanting to stay in the contracted position all the time. Additionally, a balanced lower-body strength routine can help.

Schedule a Consultation for Your Psoas Muscle Pain

If you’re still not quite sure what’s causing your psoas muscle to hurt, or whether that is indeed the problem, it’s best to consult a professional. The physicians at the Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute can determine the source of your pain and offer solutions to get relief, which could be as simple as some physical therapy to more invasive remedies, depending on the problem. If you’re ready to stop experiencing pain from your psoas muscle but aren’t sure how to fix it, JOI can help! Reach out today to schedule your consult.