Re: my psoas is making me a so'ass..HELP!!!

[Guest guest]

First thing is don't be impatient. It may have taken decades for you to screw

it up and it's going to take maybe a month for each year of that to get it

right.

My best general advice is find a Pilates instructor and do those exercises.

I'm 11 months post-op and still dealing with it, and it gets complicated by a

back problem because the shortened psoas makes you bend over.

Best of luck

Des

In a message dated 4/23/2004 8:32:56 PM Pacific Standard Time,

lylemenendezoneword@... writes:

i know you have all been here, and i know you all found your own ways

of doing this and have therapists that may be a bit more innovative

than the ones i am stuck with. i am 8 weeks post-op but i fear if i

don't get this psoas stretched out i am gonna be walking like this

forever.

[Guest guest]

Hi :

Yeah the " psoas " . I did not even know I had one till 2 months after

surgery (everything was " hip stretching " to me) but one of the

hippies pointed out this excellent website for muscles and exercises:

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html .

I had only one year of limping pre-op due to joint restriction.

Could barely straighten my leg while standing and if I did, it tilted

my pelvis a little and hurt my back. So much for the pre-op

situation. What follows is pretty humdrum and maybe you already do

this. But it is the only thing I know you can do at home for

stretching the psoas. And it has been successful for me, with a lot

of patience and perseverance.

At day 12 post-op I started leg lifts in various directions leaning

on my 2 crutches. For the lift backwards there wasn't enough stretch,

so I put my foot a little behind me, straightened the knee and try to

push the pelvis forward and keep the upper body vertical. (like a

mini " standing lunge " , see later). I did that 3 x a day till wk 8,

when I started doing a more progressive " standing lunge " as one of my

exercises during a 15 min hot shower in the morning. ( Strangely

enough the exrx.net website only mentions the " kneeling lunge " which

I also started doing around wk 11). The " standing " one is a little

more difficult because it requires more muscle control. So,take a

step forward with the good leg. Now keep the knee straight and

transfer your weight to the forward leg by pushing your pelvis

forward and keeping you upper body vertical, bending the forward

knee. The tough thing is to keep the other knee straight while

putting pressure on the psoas. I found that tightening the glutemax.

is necessary.

At wk 10 I could really see improvement. At wk 12 I had about as

much ROM as in my other leg ( I am not very flexible), which is good

enough for walking and running without putting too much pressure on

my back. At wk 13 I started practice hitting tennisballs against the

wall and now at wk 22 I am playing tennis singles at about 80 % of

where I used to (and want to) be.

Hope this information is of some use. Unfortunately, no " silver

bullet " .

Ed Mont RC+, Nov '03

PS. I tried a therapist once and gave up.

---------------------------------------------

> okay everybody...send me your best psoas remedies.

> send to me direct at maryfleas@a... if you want so as not to

> bugger up the boards with redundancy

>

> i waited way too long for my resurf..(left feb 27th...and i am

still

> walking over top of my hip from the shortened pulling aching psoas.

>

> i know you have all been here, and i know you all found your own

ways

> of doing this and have therapists that may be a bit more innovative

> than the ones i am stuck with. i am 8 weeks post-op but i fear if

i

> don't get this psoas stretched out i am gonna be walking like this

> forever.

>

> HELP!!!!!

>

> MLW...left feb27th, Mont (and, by the way...the guy who says mont

is

> a hack is just plain stupid. he's a kind, caring, dedicated

> doc...not to mention obviously brilliant, as is his assistant...and

> if it weren't for him i would still be a crippled wreck.)