This Back/hip problem can be misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia

I'm trying to catch up on threads from this other forum that I have missed looking at lately. It's actually really old, from 2003, but was bumped up.

So many people here at the Healingwell FMS forum have back issues, I thought I would re-post this.
http://forums.prohealth.com/forums/index.php?threads/wrongly-diagnosed-for-2-years-see-real-cause.85611/


You can google "image psoas muscle" to see where the muscle is. I wonder if the thread author has made a mistake in naming muscles...how can it be by the hips and also share an insertion spot with the trapezius???

Post Edited (Rockon) : 9/8/2015 12:25:47 PM (GMT-6)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s5kBCZgFbs

Shows how to self release the psoas muscle with a theracane.

The psoas is very strong and deep, it will twist the pelvis. And chronic tight conditions from that area can spread over the whole body.

This is one of the reason chiros are not very successful fixing a twisted or tilted pelvis. If the cause is a tight psoas muscle, cracking the hips wont have much in the way of long term benefits. It just wont stay.

I have a tight psoas, and have done whats in the u-tube vid above, its not that easy and must be repeated a lot if your chronic. I need to do this more maybe.

A trained Active Release Technique practitioner can do this better.

This works in Yahoo, but its not direct:

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A0LEVu4sVRhVYk4AWlMnnIlQ;

then look for self psoas release-the guy on the table with a theracane.

Yes , not all therapist are the same. Its a lot of work finding one that does good manual work. cookie cutter PT is a waste of money- and thats what most places want to do on you.

After doing this bothways, laying face down with a soft ball under the psoas is easier if your doing this alone.

If you have someone else lift the same side leg and hip a little, you'll get more stretch. My lower back and hip feel relaxed after this.

I keep forgetting to come back and say thanks to everyone who shared your stories and advice and links. It kept this in my head, and ultimately i needed it. Astroman, I have begun doing a version of your stretch on the ball with a human assist.

No ball and no other human here, so I use a low upholstered chair I have. My shin/foot is in the chair, & I lie on the floor in front of the chair. If I lock my knee I am getting some stretch in the psoas, and after 8-10 seconds, I frog leg my other leg off to the side, and that lets me shift & takes my stretch a little deeper, for 8-10 sec. With the height of my chair being what it is, I am able to get the pelvic bone down on the floor. Then I raise slightly up on my elbows, getting a little more psoas stretch, and pulling forward more, I also get a stretch in muscles below the rub cage.<-- haha, my typos are funny sometimes. Also 8-10 seonds.

I had literally the most painful night of my life, and the massager and a cold bed buddy got me thru. (had to repeat the duo over and over and over) I was using heat, and when I switched to cold, the nerves finally calmed down. I have never had such hard muscle contractions, over and over for hours, but feeling proactive kept me from despair and an unneeded trip to the hospital. By 5:00 am I was so much better.

I thought, OH good! I figured it out. That mid back spot wants cold, not heat. Well, no, it's still acting up, (especially after bus rides) but its not doing the vicious contractions when it does. I'm sure the neighbors in my building are glad. I have decided it's like my jaw when I used a bite guard in '95 and had to constantly switch up the schedule. The Dentist said some other people are like that, too. My back wants change-ups too, I guess. If something doesn't work, try the opposite. My muscles respond to being tricked with unpredictability sometimes.

. I just needed my memory jogged and a little motivation, so thanks, again.

A really good PT guy had me do one exercise every 2-3 hrs for two days, so I may need to do my psoas stretches and low back stretches really often for a couple of days. We'll see if I have to start again. those fibro muscles can get stuck at their shortened length without extreme measures.

Pick of the litter article (psoas):
This was a very interesting load of info.
https://ellismassage.wordpress.com/category/sciatica-and-piriformis-syndrome/step-1-psoas-and-iliacus/

And if you run out of reading material, it's Runner's World, but still interesting.
"...It's not enough to treat the psoas alone...Sitting for long periods puts the psoas in a perpetually shortened state. Muscle memory maintains this shortened state, even when you head out for a run.....". And much more!
http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/runners-guide-psoas


Don't try to aggressively release the psoas. The story of a ruptured appendix:
http://physiodetective.com/2015/01/21/serious-warning-if-you-do-any-releases-to-your-psoas-or-abs-you-must-read-this/

Post Edited (Rockon) : 9/8/2015 12:29:31 PM (GMT-6)

My apologies for one more bump of the thread, but I had to do it. I hadn't finished reading that last link from physiodetective, when I posted it all. Now I'm finished and have also read all the comments on that last link.

That article easily convinced me to keep my plug-in massager off of what I was imagining was the middle of the psoas. It was the middle of me, kind of, but no-way could an untrained person know the scramble of unstructured structures that is there. I may do the illiacus trigger, point, ((keeping well clear of anything interior; I'll decide after illiacus research) but manipulating/massaging or "releasing" the psoas is for a professional, and only a well educated one. Only stretching for me, until I get help one day.

Long story short, there is more than one good article there. The last may be the pick of the litter, for someone who may otherwise have made a mistake.

Post Edited (Rockon) : 5/5/2015 5:44:26 PM (GMT-6)