Managing the Iliopsoas Syndrome

Managing the Iliopsoas Syndrome: strengthen and stretch of the Iliopsoas muscle for dancers

For dancers, the iliopsoas is a very important muscle because, at the beginning of the hip flexion, it pulls the femoral head slightly downwards creating space in the joint and improving the mobility. This allows to perform steps, such as developpé, correctly.
Repetitive flexion of an externally rotated hip, as during a dancer’s passé developpé, often results in painless internal snapping hip syndrome. When accompanied by weakness or/and anterior pain (symptoms typically caused by tendonitis or bursitis) it is referred to as iliopsoas syndrome.
To prevent and treat the iliopsoas syndrome, besides manual therapy, it is important to execute iliopsoas-specific dynamic stretching and strengthening exercises.