September 29, 2009

3-D Hip with a focus on the Ililopsoas (Functional Muscle Function)

(Technical Level: Beginner-Intermediate)




First, thank you to everyone who has been reading the blog and commenting. It's been great to get the feedback.

A few of my friends have asked me about the psoas and I thought it would be a great topic to dive in to.

FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY: The iliopsosas is actually two muscles. It consists of the Iliacus and Psoas. However, it is usually referred to as the Iliopsoas. For the most part, I will concentrate on the psoas though.

As we look at function through 3-D glasses, we already know that the psoas is a 3-D muscle. If you take a look at the picture, you will see that the psoas is attached to the spine. Specifically, it is attached to the front-side aspect of T-12 to L-4 and the TRANSVERSE processes of L-1 to L5 as well as a smll slip that crosses the Sacroiliac (SI) Joint.

The iliacus originates from the interior surface of the Ilium.

Now the coolest thing of the ILIPSOAS is that the two muscles combine via the psoas tendon, passes over the ramus portion of the pelvis, twists MEDIALLY and inserts into the lesser trochanter.

Many of the books do very accurate drawings of the Iliopsoas but what I failed to recognize was that the muscle actually does do a little twist as it inserts into the femur. That is HUGE in terms of function. This muscle is pretty biased in rotation or the Transverse Plane.

September 28, 2009

3-D Hips

(Technical Level: Beginnner)

The hip joint is truly amazing in its architecture. It is composed of two bones: the femur (thigh bone) and the pelvis.

It is known as a "Ball and Socket" joint, well, because that's what it looks like.

Because of the construction of the joint, it has a very large range of motion. However, unfortunately, because of factors like: sitting down all day in chairs, specializing in sports at an early age, inadequate stretching and strengthening programs, etc, we are diminishing our range of motion significantly.  So how do we create mobility and stability of our hip joints so that we do not start developing the various hip pathologies that plague many people?

September 25, 2009

Principles of Function

I am very excited to start blogging again, and I wanted to the first post to be one that I am very passionate about.

As health-care providers, whether you are an MD, DC, PT, ATC, LMT, CPT, etc, we are committed to encouraging transformation and growth in our clients and patients. Unfortunately, there are so many diseases and dysfunctions that exist, many of people are reactively driven to us. Whatever their situation may be, our jobs are to help them back on the road to transformation. To that regard, having principles of function will set a foundation for the way we treat them.