As you’ve probably noticed, I rarely talk about mechanical principles and training principles on social media. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is that I prefer showcasing my actions/principles through what I do and results instead of simply talking about them.
Another reason is that many topics that I would potentially like to talk about aren’t “provable” and are just my interpretation and observations of things. Or at least not easily provable.
Therefore, I might be right… but I also might be wrong. But my guess is that I’m probably somewhere in the middle with some nuances. That said, most people on the Internet don’t understand nuances, so I refrain from discussing those subjects unless I can fully explain all the variables involved.
BUT…
Of all the various concepts and ideas in the movement health industry that I find irrelevant or simply untrue, there is one in particular that keeps tickling my mind:
Doing myofascial release on the psoas or the subscapularis muscles.
I’m not 100% confident enough to say that the idea of doing MFR on those regions is a complete fallacy, but I will say that I fail to see its relevance.
Here’s why:
1️⃣ You can barely reach those regions.
There are at least 4-7 inches of layers of other stuff (muscles and organs) in front of the psoas, and the subscapularis is mainly hidden behind the ribcage.
Some people might have a structure that exposes more of those muscles, but still, AT BEST, there’s probably only 15-20% of these regions that are accessible…
Which leaves 80-85% out of reach, and I fail to see how releasing just a tiny portion of those regions will have a significant impact on the physiology.
Yes, working on those regions might create some changes, but those changes will likely be so small that I wonder if they are relevant.
For me, I’d rather spend time on the stuff that gives me the most bang for my buck.
2️⃣ There are way BIGGER (and more accessible) structures that can cause the same negative effect on the physiology of the psoas and the subscapularis muscles.
The other hip flexors (The quadriceps, the TFL…) can restrict a hip extension much more than a psoas can. And the other internal rotators of the shoulder (Lats, Pecs, Terres major) can also restrict an external rotation of the shoulder way more than a subscapularis can.
That said, I’ve never seen those other regions being “sain” while someone was complaining about a “tight” psoas or a “tight” subscapularis.
I did the test hundreds of times when I was doing manual therapy in pain management clinics, and almost 100% of the time, working on these bigger and more easily accessible regions would mostly fix the restriction problem.
In fact, MANY patients would come and see me because their other therapists were constantly working on their psoas or subscapularis… yet nothing would change after many weeks of work.
Oftentimes, these patients would even tell me that the other therapists never even TOUCHED those bigger and accessible regions (pecs or hip flexors).
Yet, almost every time, these same patients would come out of the office with a major improvement in their ROM simply because I spent all my time in those bigger and more accessible regions.
3️⃣ Fix everything around those regions (psoas and subscapularis), move well… and they will take care of themselves.
If they are restricted, they won’t be at some point if you take care of all the rest.
4️⃣ Most people saying they’re doing some MFR on those regions are actually releasing something else.
As I said, the psoas is so deep that if you try to release it, you will likely release a whole bunch of other stuff in front of it. As for the subscapularis, most people I watched trying to do some MFR on this region are actually releasing their lats, their terres major or a part of the serratus muscle.
Yes, perhaps it can be relevant to release those other structures, but my point is that you aren’t actually releasing the psoas or the subscapularis.
So in conclusion…
As I said, I am open to being wrong with this idea of mine, but as of today, I strongly believe that the psoas and the subscapularis muscles are the subjects of “the other fancy thing.”
These muscles have been around forever, and it’s not like they are new, but it’s only relatively recently that the general public has picked up on them. That said, It’s almost like since everyone knew about the pecs and the lats forever, these regions have become “boring,” so people don’t pay attention to them anymore.
When I was at school, you said out loud that you were going to work on the psoas, and everyone would get high.
But when I told people I was doing MFR on people’s quads and pecs, their reaction was almost always like, “Why would you even bother doing those simple and primitive techniques, Sam?!”
Anyways…
Releasing the psoas and subscapularis absolutely works ON PAPER… but I have big doubts that the idea is applicable and relevant in real life.
These are just my thoughts, and I don’t have any crazy study to back my claims here.
But I hope they can somehow encourage you to think and make up your own mind within this industry full of fancy concepts.
The map is not the territory.
Use the map. But learn to look and study the territory as well.