Tight Hip, Twisted Core: The Key to Unresolved Pain - by Koth, Christine and Pimas, Masha (Paperback, Aug 13, 2019)

Iliopsoas, iliacus, psoas, hip... the hip I knew about. I found Ms. month's book informative, easy to understand, and useful. The exercises are easy to follow and apply. As an ice hockey goaltender in me early 60s, it natural to feel some aches, pain, and stiffness in the hips and lower back. Understanding how our body is built, then why the pain occurs, naturally leads to curiosity for relief, and this book delivers. Applying the simple terms and using supporting diagrams for direction, has made my life after play, much better. Using this information has also assisted me in making changes in daily activities, so I move a lot more easily. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in having more mobility and less pain in all of your physical activities.

Many years ago, a therapist released my iliacus. It was probably one of the most memorable moments I've ever had. It was super tight and I squirmed as he dug his fingers into there. But within a week of that release, my 400m time dropped from a struggling 2 min to 1:30. What a difference a more relaxed hip makes in running! It was then I truly experienced what a tight iliacus (among other hip flexors) could do for athletic performance. Fast forward a few years, and I had studied a number of rehab disciplines. Some had knowledge of the iliacus, many did not and simply grouped them under the big category of hip flexor. But also I learned a number of things about muscles and treating movement. It is wonderful that many of these concepts that took me years and many courses to learn are all summarized in this book. Also, many current techniques and concepts are highlighted, which are unfortunately not covered in many other texts. They tend towards older techniques and concepts. Things like prolonged pressure, which is something I learned recently at a workshop, and lighter pressure than you would think. So not only do you get a lot of information about the iliacus, you will also get a lot about current thinking on techniques to treat muscles in general. Nicely covered is a deep dive into the iliacus and its function and what happens when dysfunction occurs and other structures are affected. There is a great section on how the iliacus is involved with other conditions like hip arthritis. Many diagrams are provided which, through simple illustration, show the iliacus's action on the various structures of the body, and what happens to you when you have a tight iliacus. As a bonus, the book also covers some other areas, like organs and blood vessel effects, nerve effects, as well as emotions and their role in muscle tightness. I highly recommend this gem - you'll get all you'll want to know about the iliacus and a lot of other great material as well.

I'm a competitive powerlifter and this book has helped so much. After reading just the first chapter I was able to identify my iliopsoas. Then I immediately ordered a psoas release tool off of Amazon and started laying on it before and after training. Not only is pain now gone, but I can squat deeper. Which this book suggests you avoid. But that's the sport I do, so now I've learned that the least I can do is tend to this muscle group diligently. Now when I get bodywork, we don't spend the whole session on hip release. Great info, everybody who is in sport should know this.

I've had a lifetime of foot pain and several years of recurring knee pain, hip pain, lower back pain, arch pain, metatarsal pain, and plantar fasciitis. The pain would move from one area to another, go away inexplicably, and then come back again over and over again. Most recently, I've had excruciating hip and glute pain that prevented me from walking, and a feeling that one leg is longer than the other. The traditional medical community basically failed me. The podiatrist only considered my feet. A sports orthopedist had no interest in a middle aged woman who didn't have an extreme sports injury, and PT only focused on a one body part at a time -- hip OR knee. I started a journey to find out what was happening in my body and why. I first discovered the work of Katy Bowman (Move Your DNA). Aha! Interesting ... alignment and load can create pain and issues in different parts of the body. Her work is fascinating and entertaining, well worth exploring, but a little science geeky and not as approachable as I would like. Then I accidentally came across Tight Hip, Twisted Core on Amazon and bought it immediately. Every page, every symptom, every diagram was like looking in a mirror. I read it as fast as I could. It's easy to read, conversational, and the science is easy to grasp. I couldn't wait to get to the "fix". Even before I got to the section on the exercises and pressure points, I tried just applying pressure to the recommended areas and painful tissues with my thumb. Instant relief! I even watched as I pressed an area on my upper thigh, felt an energy flow into my foot, and saw my ankle swelling go down before my eyes. I am a believer! I ordered the small orange ball that is available with the program (also Amazon). I just received it so have not yet done the movements with the ball, but I have done the pelvic alignment exercise several times today and have no pain at the end of a long day at my desk. The movements are so gentle, easy and short that they will be easy to incorporate into my day. I'm looking forward to what a more regular application of the program will bring. I will put off investing in the Hip Hook until I see what kind of relief I can get using the ball. If this sounds like your story, I encourage you to read this book.

Well written, easy to absorb info: the author displays a wealth of hands on knowledge gained through experience and shared with enthusiasm for the better health of all.

I'm a massage therapist who has hip problems, and I really enjoyed the book, but it was disheartening to finally reach the chapter on "what to do" and find out that the answer is, "buy the tool I make". The book is essentially a longform advertisement. It's great, don't get me wrong, but you need the tool she talks about to fix what she says is wrong in an effective, targeted way. She has TWO other methods for fixing your pain through release of the front of the hip: use a small ball to roll on, or use a friend to help you. That's literally it. Three things to do: tool, ball, or friend. For the ball method, she says that the ball can't reach the muscle itself, but can "create an effect that is therapeutic". So there you go. If you can't buy the tool, you live alone or don't have a friend willing to help you, this book offers you ONE exercise you can do alone at home, that is maybe somewhat effective, but maybe not, who knows, the ball can't really reach the muscle and isn't targeted or as great as the tool, which ironically isn't even available and there is no price listed so we have no idea if it's $20 or $200, but have you seen what PT tools sell for? Especially the ones where one PT decided it was THE tool to have, and created it, and sells it themselves? I shudder to think. This is a really, really crappy way to end to a book that promises to help you fix your pain. Edited to add: I joined her newsletter and her tool will cost $139 (or $69 if you join early). So the $6 Kindle book was basically an advertisement for a tool that will retail for 23 times that. If you think that's worthwhile, go for it.

Very easy to read book. Had a foot then gait walking issue- never had pain before then hip was off- so I thought. Limoed. Massage deep tissue and cupping helped. Physical therapy was all concentrated on my tight hip flexor- left side. Acupuncture was good for my soul however still I was limping. Very active person I started to avoid walking alone so no one would notice. At night left side hurt. I also sit a lot with computer work. I was in good shape yet felt bad and looked funny walking. MAT -muscle activation techinque helps- I was tired of all the appointments an d money spent. This week I fell upon Feldenkrais - huge help exercise and Somatics to gently awaken used parts of my body. The inner part of my thigh still intense with pain and I was looking at my core. So much at once. At home I am able incorporate all I have learned and this book is by far The BEST! I have learned so much and I will continue to learn as I know releasing trigger points is a huge key I was missing. This little over looked area makes a huge difference. The author is brilliant and familiar with all techniques out there. I can now look forward to healing and exercises to do for life and share with others. Psoas is more than we realize and iliacus muscle hidden needs attention. This is something everyone should look at that has experienced hip area pain. We are not being educated enough and I am glad to have found this book when I really was scared that healing was not coming and everyone suggesting things that weren't working and not looking at the complete picture. I also recommend paying attention now to the complete body and incorporating moments from this author that will help long term.

I stayed up until midnight and I binge read this entire book last night (the first book in my entire 30 years I ever binged). It is the first time in the past few months I have cried tears of joy instead of tears of pain and frustration. Everything shared in this book has described my situation to a tee. Following reading the book, I immediately ordered the Hip Hook Release Tool as well as the Ball. This book and these tools have changed my life to say the least. Update: Words cannot describe the first time I used this tool. After 90 seconds of placing this tool on my psoas/illiacus, I instantly felt a release or almost melting feeling of the muscle. I then realigned my pelvis according to the book and stood up to walk around. Wow! My lower back tightness disappeared, my knee and my over pronated foot went into a better position. I still have some work to do in terms of strengthening due to these misalignment issues however, I now know what direction to go in and I will be referencing the book and using the Hip Hook routinely in my practice. I will be sharing the book and tool with my PT because knowledge is power :) My Story: I noticed my right hip felt extremely tight specifically, my hip flexors. It didn’t matter how much I stretched, foam rolled or used a tennis ball I could not get rid of that uncomfortable tightness. That night, I experienced a sharp pain on my right inner thigh. It went away the next morning luckily so I thought nothing of it. Over the next couple of weeks, I began experiencing what I perceived as nerve pain on my right leg and when I would walk I felt misaligned like one leg was longer than the other. It was then I decided to refer out to Physical Therapy. My Physical Therapist suspected I had FAI, pelvic obliquity and lumbar spine derangement. Halfway through my first phase of PT, my PT seemed stumped of why I had new referred pain and why some modalities I would respond successfully to and then the next session, it would not work. I decided to make an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to get a second opinion on my hip. After observation and testing, he concluded there were no signs of hip impingement and my hip seemed functional. Additionally, my lumbar spine MRI was unremarkable. I completed my first 12 visit phase of PT with significantly decreased pain and increased mobility of my hip. I was relieved to be almost pain-free but something still did not feel right with my body. I felt lopsided, my gait was off, when looking down at my legs I looked misaligned and my right knee had difficulty tracking in its groove. Seeing all of these specialists who told me I’m not sure what was going on was an extremely frustrating process and left me perplexed. Being a clinician myself, I felt there were so many puzzle pieces that were not connecting together. I decided to take a different route and looked into seeing a chiropractor who specialized in postural neurology. After hearing my story, my chiropractor suspected all of my concerns were related to my posture. The chiropractor stated I presented with functional leg length discrepancy, lordosis, right QL tightness, and had a right collapsed flat foot. For two weeks and presently (3x/ a week), I would receive adjustments and practicing diaphragmatic breathing, however, I was still experiencing the same “misaligned” feeling after leaving the office. At our last session, she stated, “Your psoas muscles are so tight. Your right psoas muscle is staying contracted for some reason.” After leaving her office, I went home and researched psoas stretches and how to release the psoas muscle. The more I researched the more I realized static stretching would only help temporarily. A video of the Hip Hook and book popped up on my Instagram and the rest is history. Thank you so much Christine!