MYOFASCIAL TECHNIQUES
that are difficult or particularly
sensitive. Once you've both clearly
felt the psoas' participation in these
various motions, withdraw your touch
just as slowly and deliberately as you
began. Repeat on the other side.
SUMMARY
To review, our goals in this gentle
technique are more (a) options for
movement, which we accomplish by
the easy, active movements; and (b)
refined proprioception, which occurs
naturally when the sensations of psoas
work are gradual and mild enough
to be not only tolerated, but actively
explored by the client. This enhanced
proprioceptive awareness of the psoas
is in itself therapeutic, and the gentle
intensity of experience, the connection
to movement in novel ways, means there
is often something deeply satisfying
about receiving skillful psoas work.
Notes
1. Liz Koch, "Tom Myers & Liz Koch: A
Psoas Conversation Part 1," accessed
June 2015, www.coreawareness.com/
podcasts/apsoasconversation.
2. W. Platzer, Atlas of Anatomy (New York:
Thieme, 2006), 422–23; Liz Koch, "The
Psoas is NOT a Hip Flexor," Pilates Digest,
accessed June 2015, www.pilatesdigest.
com/the-psoas-is-not-a-hip-flexor.
3. A. D. Skyrme et al., "Psoas Major and its
Controversial Rotational Action," Clinical Anatomy
12, no. 4 (1999): 264–5; Robert Schleip, "Lecture
Notes on Psoas & Adductors," Rolf Institute: Rolf
The type of touch needed to sensitively and safely work with the psoas in a
supine position is akin to feeling in a tub filled with water balloons (the viscera)
for a single balloon (the psoas) at the bottom.
4
5
Lines, November 1998; Nikolai Bogduk, Clinical
Anatomy of the Lumbar Spine and Sacrum
(Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1997): 102.
4. Joseph Hamill and Kathleen M. Knutzen,
Biomechanical Basis of Human Movement, 3nd
ed. (Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins,
2008); Ida P. Rolf, Rolfing (Vermont: Healing
Arts Press, 1989); K. Copaver, C. Hertogh,
and O. Hue, "The Effects of Psoas Major and
Lumbar Lordosis on Hip Flexion and Sprint
Performance," Research Quarterly for Exercise
and Sport 83, no. 2 (June 2012): 160–7.
5. D. P. Denmark, "The Psoas is Involved in Most
Back Pain," accessed June 2015, www.bowen.
asn.au/bowen-therapy/articles/psoas-muscle-
and-back-pain.; Paul Ingraham, "Psoas, So
What?," Pain Science, accessed June 2015,
www.painscience.com/articles/iliopsoas.php.
6. Paul Ingraham, "Psoas, So What?"; Liz
Koch, "The Primordial Psoas and the Chakra
System," Positive Health 168 (March 2010).
7. Ida P. Rolf, Rolfing; Liz Koch, "Tom Myers
& Liz Koch: A Psoas Conversation Part 1";
Adam Meakins, "Psoas … Please Release
Me, Let Me Go!," The Sports Physio, March
26, 2014, accessed June 2015, https://
thesportsphysio.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/
please-release-me-let-me-go.
8. Adam Meakins, "Psoas … Please
Release Me, Let Me Go!"
9. A. Hugo et al., "Scoliosis," Clinical
Symposia 30, no. 1 (1978).
10. L. Rassner, "Lumbar Plexus Nerve Entrapment
Syndromes as a Cause of Groin Pain in
Athletes," Current Sports Medicine Reports
10, no. 2 (March/April 2011): 115–20.
F r e e S O A P n o t e s w i t h M a s s a g e B o o k f o r A B M P m e m b e r s : a b m p . u s / M a s s a g e b o o k 109
After some time,
use slow, active
hip flexion or side-
to-side motion of
the raised knees to
gently differentiate
the psoas. Image
courtesy Advanced-
Trainings.com.
11. Antony Lo, The Physio Detective, "Serious
Warning—If You Do Any Releases to Your Psoas
or Abs, You Must Read This," accessed June
2015, www.physiodetective.com/2015/01/21/
serious-warning-if-you-do-any-releases-to-
your-psoas-or-abs-you-must-read-this.
12. Various contributors, Zeel, "Deep Tissue
Massage: Any Benefit From Deep Tissue
Massage on the Iliopsoas Muscle?," accessed
June 2015, www.zeel.com/t/deep-tissue-
massage/expert-answers/any-benefit-from-
deep-tissue-massage-on-the-iliopsoas-muscle.
13. Ida P. Rolf, Rolfing.
14. Til Luchau, Advanced Myofascial Techniques,
Vol. 1 (Scotland: Handspring Publishing, 2015).
Til Luchau is a member of the Advanced-
Trainings.com faculty. He is a Certified
Advanced Rolfer and originator of the Advanced
Myofascial Techniques approach. Contact
him via info@advanced-trainings.com and
Advanced-Trainings.com's Facebook page.
His book Advanced Myofascial Techniques,
Volume 1 has just been released, with Volume
2 slated for publication by the end of 2015.
An expanded version of this column,
including a discussion of body-mind
aspects of psoas work and a side-lying
version of the psoas technique, will
appear in Til Luchau's upcoming book,
Advanced Myofascial Techniques
Vol. 2, to be published early 2016 and
available at Advanced-Trainings.com.
