Tips for the Adjusting and Releasing the Psoas, Sacrum, and Piriformis

The past few days my left side has been off again. From the leg to the knee, and the hip front and back at the sacrum, as well as the whole back everything was not in alignment and uncomfortable. I was so tight I didn't run Thursday and Friday before today's Applefest half-marathon. The whole race was uncomfortable alignment wise although my muscles did well enough to get me a decent place and time for my fitness. It was no fun running, however, with my hips not lining up and moving correctly. I was trying to adjust things the whole race. The resistance stretching is loosening up my muscles but now I am frequently back to having that left leg unbalanced. It just felt stuck at the back of the left sacrum and that shifted my whole running form. I couldn't figure out how to fix it so I looked at some new things online. I found these to try later. However I tried one and all the tightness seemed to go away instantly. I don't believe it for now and will see how long it lasts, but I will be definitely trying that sacrum release again when or if I need it to see if it really does work that simply.

Here is a video that shows how to roll on a ball like a tennis ball or even a harder ball to release the piriformis muscle and loosen up tight hips.



Here is a psoas stretch using the theracane. I have had one of these for years but have found that it sometimes does more harm than good if you don't know how to use it. This looks interesting and I may give it a try. It seems to work similar to the ART (Active Release Technique) psoas release.



This is a theracane. It is used to work on trigger points.



This video shows how to find the psoas and release it. It comes from a site called http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/.



From the same person this shows a kid doing a sacrum self-adjusting yoga pose. This one is interesting as my hip in the sacrum region has been tight for 4 days. I just did this once and it loosened up even though it didn't seem like I did anything major. I'll have to check it out again it would be pretty good if this is something that could work easily on me and it not being just a coincidence.



This shows the resistance stretch for the hip flexor. The interesting thing I learned here is that the stretch starts and is most powerful when the hip is flexed. I have been doing this but thinking that it was going to work best once the hip is extended. My arms never seemed long enough, but I guess that is not where most of the stretch happens.