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You know, I never knew that the iliopsoas -- the primary set of hip flexors in your body, the one that allows you to bend forwards, walk, and would be quite tasty if you were a cannibal -- was the first muscle to develop in utero. (Illustration of the iliopsoas here) It is why is so intimately connected with our flight-or-fight reactions, so linked in to the state of our stress and nerves. When you hear the words, "...and then my back suddenly gave out," you bet that iliopsoas was the first on the scene to cause the back pain. Most of the time, we probably aren't even aware of the stress we place on our low backs, with just a low-grade level of tension. But just one quick ortho-bionomy release, subtle and fast -- not the invasive digging through layers of muscle to directly palpate the muscle that is the province of traditional massage -- gets the first symptoms of back pain out.
I guess, given this, that I wonder why it is that massage therapists have trained their clients to lie face down first. The direct cause of the pain is most accessible when you're face up. But almost every client likes lying face down first, allowing you to access their backs. They all seem to need that psychological reassurance that you heard that their back hurts; that addressing the back directly is the way to go. I don't know of a way that your average LMT can convince their clients that what is at work is being felt in the low back, but contracting at the front of the back, where the psoas muscle is. Other things can be locked in the low back -- L3, L4, L5, those evil masterminds. The sacrum itself can be positioned oddly. But those unwind best after the psoas is released first.
It is a lot of trust to ask of a client, asking them to start face up, because pain makes your brain turn off and you tend to only hear what you want to hear. If I say that the psoas gets almost the whole lumbar region when it's released, only a few people will understand, even with pretty pictures.
So I guess the key is figuring out a psoas release when the client is prone (face down). I think I can adapt the standard O-B release if I can keep the knee straight (calf off the edge of the table). The exception to this is if the client has a knee problem, but if they have a knee problem, then I suspect they'll want me to fix the knee first, starting face up anyway.
Hmm. I need to practice.
I guess, given this, that I wonder why it is that massage therapists have trained their clients to lie face down first. The direct cause of the pain is most accessible when you're face up. But almost every client likes lying face down first, allowing you to access their backs. They all seem to need that psychological reassurance that you heard that their back hurts; that addressing the back directly is the way to go. I don't know of a way that your average LMT can convince their clients that what is at work is being felt in the low back, but contracting at the front of the back, where the psoas muscle is. Other things can be locked in the low back -- L3, L4, L5, those evil masterminds. The sacrum itself can be positioned oddly. But those unwind best after the psoas is released first.
It is a lot of trust to ask of a client, asking them to start face up, because pain makes your brain turn off and you tend to only hear what you want to hear. If I say that the psoas gets almost the whole lumbar region when it's released, only a few people will understand, even with pretty pictures.
So I guess the key is figuring out a psoas release when the client is prone (face down). I think I can adapt the standard O-B release if I can keep the knee straight (calf off the edge of the table). The exception to this is if the client has a knee problem, but if they have a knee problem, then I suspect they'll want me to fix the knee first, starting face up anyway.
Hmm. I need to practice.
