Home Blog Mobility Exercise of the Week: Wall Psoas Hold

Mobility Exercise of the Week: Wall Psoas Hold

Written on November 30, 2009 at 7:13 am, by Eric Cressey

For more mobility exercises, be sure to check out Assess and Correct: Breaking Barriers to Unlock Performance.

7 Responses to “Mobility Exercise of the Week: Wall Psoas Hold”

  1. Chris Says:

    Would you recommed doing this move in all lower body warm ups or sports involving runnig etc? Thanks

  2. Carson Boddicker Says:

    Eric,

    Is this the first step in your psoas retraining progression? If so, what’s the rationale?

    I’ve always started in a supine position so as to limit the stress of gravity.

    Best regards,
    Carson Boddicker

  3. Niel Says:

    I thought since most of are always sitting, the psoas are often in too much flexion resulting in being overly tight, and thus, are supposed to be stretched regularly to lengthen them.

    Wouldn’t this just increase the tightness and be counterproductive?

  4. Carson Boddicker Says:

    Niel,

    In my mind, you are part correct. While you are correct that the psoas is traditionally locked short, the muscle is also typically inhibited. Just because a tissue is short, it does not necessarily mean that it is also facilitated.

    In a sport where a lot of long distance running is done (triathlon, cross country, distance events, etc) the hip flexors that act on the lower range tend to get a lot of activity, while the psoas is left a bit underworked so it helps to facilitate the psoas function to assist in hip flexion as much as possible. Eric references this in the video.

    This falls in line with Sahrmann’s rationale that in the event of a muscular injury, look for a weak or underactive synergist. Instead of being reactionary, however, it’s just a proactive approach.

    Eric may have a different opinion.

    Best,
    Carson Boddicker

  5. Rich Says:

    Just curious to know if the support leg knee should be fully extended?

  6. Niel Says:

    Carson, I understand it better now. I didn’t really see it from that approach, but it makes perfect sense.

    Thanks!

  7. Mike T Nelson Says:

    Thanks for the info EC.

    Have any of you looked at the navicular area in the ankle on the same side? I tend to find in almost every psoas “issue” that area has less than stellar mobility. Get some mobility in that area and the psoas works great 70% of the time in my experience. If you are experienced in muscle tests you can test it that way or watch in gait (or use your favorite eval test).

    This makes sense if you look at the impact of the foot/ankle complex in gait and relation to the muscles of hip to fire at the correct times. Note, this is a barefoot gait; not the standard goofed up gait that most people walk around doing.

    Also, if the foot/ankle is buggered up, it will neurologically start to shut down the hip muscles to protect the foot/ankle from him impact forces (and thus limit performance ala the arthrokinetic reflex).

    Rock on
    Mike T Nelson PhD(c)


LEARN HOW TO DEADLIFT
  • Avoid the most common deadlifting mistakes
  • 9 - minute instructional video
  • 3 part follow up series