Hot Yoga

[OakLeaf]

My massage therapist is doing most of the hip flexor work. I'm seeing a new guy this summer and we're getting a lot of really good work done. It was actually my Florida LMT who first suggested doing my psoas after a few years of working together and building trust, but now that I know what it's about, I asked my Ohio guy to do them once I'd seen him enough times to feel comfortable. I think he might not have done them if I hadn't asked. Which makes me think about an article in one of their trade magazines I was looking at in his waiting room, talking about how a lot of LMTs don't even do glutes because of the perceived intimacy. The author's take was that that was ridiculous because they're such an important muscle group, and I agree, but then again I think there can be a pretty big divide between LMTs who see themselves as health care professionals, and those who see themselves as working in the beauty industry. Plus, I know for myself I'm shyer about the deep hip rotators and adductors, which probably need more work than I'm asking him for right now.

I also started seeing an AMAZING new chiropractor. She has credentials out the wazoo - among other things, she worked on the US Olympic Team at Salt Lake City, which takes a special certification from the IOC - as well as the Ohio State football team (which she might guilt me out of watching football before it's all over) - and she kind of works more like an osteopath than any DC I've been to before. A lot of ART on the shoulders (ow) and a lot of easing the vertebrae and pelvic bones into position, very little cracking.

I guess all in all, I'd recommend to any cyclist or runner, if you have a LMT you trust, ask them to at least check your psoas and iliacus. Those muscles almost can't help but be involved in any back, hip or even breathing problem (the psoas has fascial connections to the diaphragm too, and I'm definitely breathing more easily and fully since we started working on them). You can get a pretty good idea of the state of your iliacus on your own, by digging your fingers just inside the rim of the pelvic bowl, through the transversus.