Iliopsoas discovery
May. 4th, 2010 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urocyonAwesome discovery of the week: some iliopsoas stretching has already improved my quality of life remarkably.
I had no idea how much they'd been contributing to keeping other muscles unhappy, until I gave them a good stretch a couple of days ago, trying to get some cramp relief. The difference was absolutely amazing. (Heck, I didn't realize how much the range of motion in my right hip was restricted until that loosened up.) The nagging groin and thigh pain, temporarily horrible with the cramps, totally stopped. The nagging burning pain and weakness--mostly covered by the iliopsoas referral pattern--in my right thigh also went away; that's the main reason I've been needing the cane lately, since that thigh has been prone to suddenly giving out/seizing up and dumping me on the ground if I'm not careful. That knee will give out too, and I know that's from the spasmy inner thigh muscles.
The iliopsoas are exactly what has been throwing my back completely out one week a month; apparently, it's often responsible for "back labor" too. I think the iliacus and psoas have been keeping the piriformis (psoas can directly cause sciatica, too), sartorius, and other inner thigh muscles going.
I felt kind of silly not having figured this out until now, but getting the piriformis and quadriceps happier helped unmask this pattern. Also, apparently I'm hardly the only one who's neglected the psoas: "Out of sight because it is deep in the body, and does not show up on a chart of the surface muscles. Out of mind because every function the psoas performs can be duplicated by one or more of these surface muscles. It is also difficult to feel inside yourself unless your attention is specifically called to it, and even then it can take some sustained effort." Yep. I probably also missed it because, with my hypermobility, a lot of the recommended stretches just don't extend the hip enough to feel a stretch in there! That doesn't mean it's not really tight.
One thing still has me a little irritated, though: I've had trouble out of these muscles since I was a kid, and it got explained away by a variety of things. (Including my being a whiny PITA.) What made me repeatedly afraid I had appendicitis when I was 8 or 9? Iliopsoas pain (see psoas sign used in diagnosis!). And yes, it was excruciating when prodded right over the appendix; "the right iliopsoas muscle lies under the appendix when the patient is supine, so a positive psoas sign on the right may suggest appendicitis." In fact, it looks suspiciously like an inflamed appendix irritating the psoas may be responsible for a lot of the characteristic pain from appendicitis. Which only makes sense, if you look at how the body's systems fit and work together.
I do wish there were more medical emphasis on and knowledge about muscular pain; that would save a lot of people a lot of grief and, erm, pain. :-| Chronic back pain immediately comes to mind; something is yanking the spine around, when vertebrae or disks are noticeably out of alignment. Besides all the cases in which nothing unusual is visible on the x-rays, so it couldn't possibly be serious, right? *grumble*
Mostly out of trainwreck fascination,vatine and I have tried to watch a couple of the Deadliest Warrior episodes. How could anyone resist a title like "Shaolin Monk vs. Maori"? *g* (Indeed, it's annoyingly trainwrecky, and I don't plan to see it again.) One thing that struck me was their ballistics gel torso with skull, ribcage, and organs inside, used to demonstrate damage from weapons. It bears an eerie and unfortunate resemblance to the usual medical model, where pain is concerned: there's the skeleton and internal organs--where the Real Problems lie--and then there's this ill-defined fleshy mass encasing them. And Ingvar didn't understand why I was laughing like a loon at their hideous gel torso, even after I tried to explain.
At any rate, I'm hopeful that continued stretching will help get things back on track, so I can get back to doing more. Yay. (No wonder getting back into cycling just about killed me, especially on a bike designed for somebody with longer arms!) Massaging the iliacus isn't so difficult, but the psoas are hard (and painful!) to get to. If the stretching doesn't do the trick--and it might not, with the long-term trigger points--I may try it anyway. This has been hard to live with, but I'd just about resigned myself to it. Some indication that it can improve is welcome, though I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, the asthma/allergy coughing is definitely helping keep this problem going--as I noticed when I had a coughing fit right after stretching. :-| They have always acted up in response to strong coughing, to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if the coughing were what got those muscles so touchy in the first place. (Never mind all the situps and crunches I used to do--ouch!) But, with any luck, I can get the asthma and post-nasal flood ("drip" does not describe it), which also makes me cough a lot, under better control.
This was supposed to be a short note at the beginning of something else (about quilting and new art projects, actually), but it grew. :)
I had no idea how much they'd been contributing to keeping other muscles unhappy, until I gave them a good stretch a couple of days ago, trying to get some cramp relief. The difference was absolutely amazing. (Heck, I didn't realize how much the range of motion in my right hip was restricted until that loosened up.) The nagging groin and thigh pain, temporarily horrible with the cramps, totally stopped. The nagging burning pain and weakness--mostly covered by the iliopsoas referral pattern--in my right thigh also went away; that's the main reason I've been needing the cane lately, since that thigh has been prone to suddenly giving out/seizing up and dumping me on the ground if I'm not careful. That knee will give out too, and I know that's from the spasmy inner thigh muscles.
The iliopsoas are exactly what has been throwing my back completely out one week a month; apparently, it's often responsible for "back labor" too. I think the iliacus and psoas have been keeping the piriformis (psoas can directly cause sciatica, too), sartorius, and other inner thigh muscles going.
I felt kind of silly not having figured this out until now, but getting the piriformis and quadriceps happier helped unmask this pattern. Also, apparently I'm hardly the only one who's neglected the psoas: "Out of sight because it is deep in the body, and does not show up on a chart of the surface muscles. Out of mind because every function the psoas performs can be duplicated by one or more of these surface muscles. It is also difficult to feel inside yourself unless your attention is specifically called to it, and even then it can take some sustained effort." Yep. I probably also missed it because, with my hypermobility, a lot of the recommended stretches just don't extend the hip enough to feel a stretch in there! That doesn't mean it's not really tight.
One thing still has me a little irritated, though: I've had trouble out of these muscles since I was a kid, and it got explained away by a variety of things. (Including my being a whiny PITA.) What made me repeatedly afraid I had appendicitis when I was 8 or 9? Iliopsoas pain (see psoas sign used in diagnosis!). And yes, it was excruciating when prodded right over the appendix; "the right iliopsoas muscle lies under the appendix when the patient is supine, so a positive psoas sign on the right may suggest appendicitis." In fact, it looks suspiciously like an inflamed appendix irritating the psoas may be responsible for a lot of the characteristic pain from appendicitis. Which only makes sense, if you look at how the body's systems fit and work together.
I do wish there were more medical emphasis on and knowledge about muscular pain; that would save a lot of people a lot of grief and, erm, pain. :-| Chronic back pain immediately comes to mind; something is yanking the spine around, when vertebrae or disks are noticeably out of alignment. Besides all the cases in which nothing unusual is visible on the x-rays, so it couldn't possibly be serious, right? *grumble*
Mostly out of trainwreck fascination,
vatine and I have tried to watch a couple of the Deadliest Warrior episodes. How could anyone resist a title like "Shaolin Monk vs. Maori"? *g* (Indeed, it's annoyingly trainwrecky, and I don't plan to see it again.) One thing that struck me was their ballistics gel torso with skull, ribcage, and organs inside, used to demonstrate damage from weapons. It bears an eerie and unfortunate resemblance to the usual medical model, where pain is concerned: there's the skeleton and internal organs--where the Real Problems lie--and then there's this ill-defined fleshy mass encasing them. And Ingvar didn't understand why I was laughing like a loon at their hideous gel torso, even after I tried to explain.At any rate, I'm hopeful that continued stretching will help get things back on track, so I can get back to doing more. Yay. (No wonder getting back into cycling just about killed me, especially on a bike designed for somebody with longer arms!) Massaging the iliacus isn't so difficult, but the psoas are hard (and painful!) to get to. If the stretching doesn't do the trick--and it might not, with the long-term trigger points--I may try it anyway. This has been hard to live with, but I'd just about resigned myself to it. Some indication that it can improve is welcome, though I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, the asthma/allergy coughing is definitely helping keep this problem going--as I noticed when I had a coughing fit right after stretching. :-| They have always acted up in response to strong coughing, to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if the coughing were what got those muscles so touchy in the first place. (Never mind all the situps and crunches I used to do--ouch!) But, with any luck, I can get the asthma and post-nasal flood ("drip" does not describe it), which also makes me cough a lot, under better control.
This was supposed to be a short note at the beginning of something else (about quilting and new art projects, actually), but it grew. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-04 07:36 pm (UTC)I've had some hip/lower back problems for a while, although they're not serious, I'm worried it'll get worse.
Totally off topic, sorry: How do you add the little icon when you link to someone else on DW?
no subject
Date: 2010-05-05 11:33 am (UTC)One tip: especially if you're actively in pain, take the stretching slow. If you stretch until it hurts, that can make the situation worse. Even with warnings, Little Miss Impatient here had to learn that the hard way. ;)
Totally off topic, sorry: How do you add the little icon when you link to someone else on DW?
No problem. With a DW-specific tag: <user name=username> The same one works for communities and feeds, apparently. It took me a while to figure that out after I started on LJ. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-05 11:56 am (UTC)I totally didn't think of browsing the FAQ first, d'oh!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-05 03:48 pm (UTC)