By Henry Vandyke Carter - Henry Gray (1918) Anatomy of the Human Body (commons Wikipedia)
Hello to this week’s 3M in 3Minutes.
Past 7 days I felt a surge of positive energy in me. One morning when I woke up, suddenly that nagging feeling around my lower back and hip is gone.
I was cautiously optimistic. I knew somehow that this is probably temporal. I decided to see a new sports osteopath as my usual one just went on indefinite leave. The appointment was earlier this week, and in a span of 45 minutes, he left me with this diagnosis.
”Well it looks like this is a classic case of your psoas shortening that’s causing all these pain and symptoms you have been describing. Nothing too major. It’s a classic textbook case study.”
“OH!”, I replied immediately. “That’s…good, I suppose.”
Inside my heart, two voices were speaking to me.
1) “Great, I just spent a couple of hundreds of dollars for someone to tell me what I already know.”.
2) “Well, at least it’s nothing unusual. So that’s good news.”
That’s the thing with medical or health-related issues. Before we can design the best plan to alleviate or eradicate the problems, we must first have the right diagnosis.
But the thing with coming up with the right diagnosis is, that more often than not, we are limited by what we know, trained in, or experienced.
In other words, if you see an orthopedic surgeon, he/she will most likely tell you it’s a bone misalignment issue and suggest surgery. If you see a massage therapist, he/she will tell you it’s your tight lower back muscles and so will keep kneading the tight spots of your back, while this may offer some relief, it’s often temporary, that’s why one tends to return for more back massages.
Another recent anecdote: When I saw a chiropractor earlier this year, the first thing he did was to order an X-ray for me to “rule out” any bone cancers, according to him. Then he palpated my tiny spinal vertebrae and went to do joint subluxation as he deemed fit.
Session after session, he never once said it’s my psoas problem but instead said it’s my spine misalignment that needs adjustment. He even said I have a leg length discrepancy without even measuring my legs to confirm from X-rays. He didn’t even tell me what exercises to do after each correction.
Nothing worked effectively after 20 sessions. Obviously, I quit seeing the chiropractor and did not sign up for further sessions despite what the sales receptionist was trying to sell me.
And this week the sports osteopath told me it’s my shortened psoas problem, without looking at any diagnostic images (X-rays) even though I had them ready and eager to show him.
I know a thing or two about the psoas muscle a few years back in my functional anatomy, movement, and Pilates training. And I remembered how I loved learning about this beautiful piece of muscle.
The psoas muscle cannot be too short nor too lengthened, it has to remain “juicy, supple, and fluid”, because it’s the only muscle that connects your upper body to your lower body.
If you tend to sit down often, chances are your psoas muscles tend to be shortened or tight. If you tend to have a poor posture while walking or standing, chances are your psoas could be overstretched and weak. Or it could be a combination of both.
Either way, if the psoas muscle is not taken care of, over time, there is a range of symptoms that can happen, including lower back pain, hip pain, difficulty in digesting food, bringing your knees up to your chest, breathing impairment, and many more.
Well, now that I know it’s nothing neurological or organ-related, at least now I have peace of mind. Hopefully, I will find a routine to restore the length and suppleness of my psoas again, like a delicious piece of seared juicy tenderloin. That is if his diagnosis is the truth of what’s happening inside of me.
Meanwhile, I am onward and upward to listening to what my body and the Universe are telling me this week.
As always, I hope today’s 3M in 3 minutes will inspire you today.
Yours, Yan
Set a timer for 1 minute each.
1: Movement - Cat-Cow Lower Hip Distraction
Start timer.
Place both hands on a bench/chair and lean slightly forward, keeping your spine in a neutral position.
(If your back is good, you can go on all-4s on the floor, i.e. both palms and knees are on the floor, 90 degrees at all joint angles.)Bend both knees slightly.
(If you are on the floor, hover both bent knees over the floor.)Gently rock your pelvis forward and backward ONLY, without moving the rest of your body in any direction.
(Think of your pelvis as a bowl with water and you are trying to oscillate the bowl forward and back.)Repeat again until 1 minute is up.
In my demonstration above, I use a TRX to substitute the chair or table. I also showed three different angles you can lean your body forward to do this. The more your body bends towards the floor, the more core control is required hence the difficulty of this movement increases. Work at your own pace.
This really trains your body to isolate your pelvis movement. Another great mind-body movement.
Other Tips for this movement:
Coordinate your cat-cow with your breaths.
Inhale as you go to a cat position (tailbone towards the sky, your lower back is making a U shape.)
Exhale as you go to a cow position. (tailbone gently tucked in, towards the floor. Your lower back is making a ∩ shape.)
2: Mantra - “I Am At Peace With Myself In Every Moment.”
Start timer. Repeat the above statement, “I Am At Peace With Myself In Every Moment” either silently in your head or out loud.
Do this with slow and deep breaths whatever feels comfortable for you. Repeat until 1 minute is up.
3: Mindfulness - 👂 Ear, What Do You Hear?
(Working with our senses mini-series)
Start timer.
Find a comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed for a minute.
Sit comfortably in whatever way you like.
Count to 4 as you inhale, hold for 2 counts, exhales for 8 counts.
Repeat again and on your last breath, just breath as per normal.
Now, as you breathe again, gradually notice the sounds around you.
Is it your breath, is it the fan, is it the air conditioner?
Or could it be conversation chatter, or someone drinking their beverage, or birds chirping?
Could it be the sound of a passing motorcycle or the ring of a bell or the loud thumping sound of a nearby construction?
Without as much judgment as possible, just notice all the sounds.
Observe what your ears are taking in.
Which sounds do you enjoy more? Which sounds don’t bother you? Which sounds did you hear for the first time? Which sounds were particularly louder than usual?
Repeat this listening practice at your own comfortable pace for a total of 1 minute.
Smile and say “Thank you”, when the time is up.
Other things I created for you:
Why We Should Cry For Humanity’s Sake? (Short Poetry)
Appreciate your likes and comments.
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Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great week ahead.
Yours,
Yan