What is a psoas, anyway?

At one point in my long and storied life, I studied exercise physiology.  It was actually quite enjoyable, and very rewarding helping folks get fitter, recover from heart issues, and lose weight.  I did find, despite the satisfaction factor, I had a hard time paying the bills.  I eventually ended up getting my PhD in health services research, which has much more in the way of earning a living wage (though quite a bit less in the whole person to person interaction arena).

All that being said, I think I used to know what a psoas was.  I knew it was in my leg somewhere, but I doubt I would not have dredged it up from my memory without an injury that occurred quite a while ago.

Back in October, I was out running with the boys (they were on their bikes) at the local trail system.  Being on foot was great, because I could help my youngest through the tough spots, and keep up with them both (that will not last for long, I fear).  About 2.5 miles into the 5 mile loop, though, I tripped on a root and fell (literally) head over heels.  At the time, I thought I was fine (besides my pride, of course) and finished the loop with the boys.  After sitting down to lunch, I soon realized I did more damage than I thought.   It became quite painful to move my leg at all for a few days, let alone do any type of activity.

Naturally, I went to see a physician at the first opportunity to figure out went wrong and how to get better.  Wait, no, actually I didn't--despite working at a doctor's office, I waited for more than a month (with some acute pain relief, but no real progress in returning to baseline). As it turned out, I strained my psoas (as well as my gluteus media), and was prescribed motrin, prednisone, and physical therapy.

So, here I am more than three months post injury, and I am just now getting back into being able to run.  It's been a slow process, and my 5 mile run yesterday (if you want to call it that) was a good step back to being normal.

All that time off over a simple, weirdly spelled, muscle that I may or may not have know even existed.