How often have you just finished a good 3-4 hour ride, only to be greeted by a sore, stiff back that isn’t too happy that you’ve decided to move from your usual hunched-over position on the bike? Do you have a hard time standing up after sitting for more than just a few minutes? Does your back occasionally “grab” on you if you bend over to pick up something you dropped? If any of these apply to you, it’s time for you and your psoas muscles to get intimately acquainted.

The psoas (pronounced SO-UHS) is a large muscle, deep in the core of your body. It originates from all of the vertebrae and disks (in between the vertebrae) in your lower back. It inserts deep in your groin area, on the inside of your femur, or thigh bone. It’s a thick muscle. Well developed, it’s about as big around as your lower forearm. This means the psoas has power. Power to move, and power to do damage.

If you’ve ever seen a sailboat mast you’ve probably noticed that the mast doesn’t just stick up out of the boat with no other support. There are usually wires, called “stays”, that run from the mast to the front, back, and sides of the boat to provide stability. Your spine needs similar help. Your back would not be stable if your spine simply stuck straight up from your pelvis with no assistance from other structures. Your psoas muscles provide a great deal of this support. In addition, the psoas is one of your primary hip flexors. This means one of it’s main jobs is to bring your knees closer to your chest. Anytime you’re bent over on the bike, sitting, or performing your best cannonball into the pool, the psoas is potentially in a contracted, or shortened, position.

This is significant for any cyclist. The psoas, just like any other muscle, can cramp or spasm. If you’ve ever had a cramp in your calf or the back of your thigh, you might have noticed that these muscles tend to cramp when the muscle is shortened, not when it’s stretched out. You also probably intuitively stood up to stretch out the muscle to relieve the cramp.

Since the psoas runs down the front of your spine, the only way to really stretch it out is to bend over backwards. Most of us don’t do this very well. So if you happen to be in the middle of a good hill climb, and your psoas decides to go into full-blown spasm, you don’t have an easy remedy! It’s exactly like having a cramp in your calf but not having any way to relieve it.

For anyone with back pain this means the psoas should get a lot of attention. On most people, psoas muscles that aren’t working well are usually (painfully) obvious. A psoas in spasm will not function to full capacity like a healthy, relaxed muscle, and will usually test very weak after a sustained contraction. A bodily “lean” to one side or the other is common. If you can’t stretch this muscle and relieve the cramp yourself, techniques need to be used that help relax the muscle without forcing you into a yoga-like move to bend over backwards.

Adjustments of the lower back and addressing pelvic torque can definitely help calm down the spasm. As with any muscle cramp, dehydration can be a key causative factor. Many of the stories I hear of people who’s back suddenly “grabbed” on them start out with a description of a long day in the saddle.

So the next time you have back pain, while on the saddle or anywhere else, ask yourself a few questions. Are you dehydrated? Have you had other lower back “twinges” or discomfort that might have been your body’s way of telling you that everything wasn’t quite perfect? Do you feel “twisted”, with one hip or shoulder higher than the other? If you can’t clearly answer questions like those and address the problem, get some help to do just that. Your body will thank you!