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.

With some extra free time I was able to read this book in just a couple of days. I appreciate how well Christine explains complicated anatomy and body mechanics in terms anyone can understand. I am a health care provider so these concepts aren't new to me, but her descriptions gave me a new visual understanding that even I find helpful as I consider sensation and movement in my body. A new way of looking at form layered over function. I also appreciate that the book is laid out in a way that you can read the parts that are more specific to your needs. You don't have to read the whole book cover to cover to be well informed and have a solution. I tweaked my hip a few months ago in my yoga practice. I spent a lot of physical and emotional resources on extra appointments to my usual healing practitioners, significantly modifying my practice for a couple of months, and worry before the issue resolved. I really wish I would've had this book at that time! I'm glad to now have the information and solution for the future. Christine's advice on attention to the Iliacus will also help my partner address his ongoing lower back and knee challenges. He's an avid runner and tennis player. Yoga definitely helps mitigate his issues, but they still flare up, so I'm looking forward to seeing if some regular attention with the Hip Hook will be the ultimate solution. As one reviewer acknowledged, the primary solution offered in the book is a product Christine also sells. We have one on order and are looking forward to giving it a try. She does offer a couple of other solutions that don't involve buying her product. Most importantly for me, I appreciate having a better understanding of something that is little understood about the body and managing injuries and pain. I know a lot of active people who all have nagging back, hip, and knee pain. I'll be passing this resource on for sure!

I am a physician and I read Ms. Koth's book with a great deal of medical knowledge. All I can say is wow!!! This book is so informative and helpful. I have had a significant reduction in my own hip pain through the release of my Iliacus muscle. She is absolutely right that in many ways unfortunately my profession has become too reactive in treating symptoms rather than root causes. Our sedentary life style is not only the root cause of hip pain but many other physical and mental health issues. Please take care of your Iliacus and all of the other physical and mental aspects of self. If we all just took some time each day for self care big pharma might just have less opportunity to take your money. Thanks Christine for unlocking my hip and reminding me about the best aspects of medicine!

Well written and good visuals.

This book resonated so much. Bells going off in my head the entire way through. Finally an answer to all my hip and back problems. Thank you Christine. An excellent, easy to read book with clear, easy to understand explanations as to the problems and a simple way to fix them.

Easy to understand, this comprehensive book provides good depth to help resolve problems in the body related to tightness in the hips.

Hip pain

For most of my life I’ve suffered back pain and abdominal pain. So with massage therapists and physios, chiropractors, etc. have finally starting to get better. Over time these therapists have helped work through all the muscles mentioned in this book. The old left short leg syndrome with heel lift, then fascia late, hip flexors, etc and biggest step forward release the Psoas, but wait the greatest step forward is the Iliacus. Once releasing this the psoas relaxes, then the back and abdominals just go loose and pain free. So instead of spending years and lots of money trying to fix back and pain... just follow this book, and also give it to your therapists. The more that read this the more everyone will have relief.