It is pronounced so-as so as to confuse you. Ha, Ha! What is unique about this muscle? Let's take a look.
No matter how much you work out the psoas muscle you will never notice any visible improvement. This is one of the most hidden muscles in the body yet it is quite large whether you work it out or not. When the psoas is not happy it can be quite painful but usually responds quickly to treatment. For the record that is where I come in. Hint, hint.
If you get pain in the crease between your thigh and the groin on either side think unhappy psoas muscle. This pain could also run down the front of the thigh but it's probably less painful than in the thigh. You could also get pain along either side of the spine from the tail bone, sacrum, up to the bottom of the rib cage. You could also feel deep pain in the whole area of the right or left hip area. This is not the psoas itself but what is called the illiopsoas muscle which lines the inside of the pelvis, hip bone, on each side. The illiopsoas and the psoas come together as one muscle where they hook onto the thigh bone, femur, in the groin. The psoas goes up from the femur through the inside of the hip on each side and hooks to the 5 vertebrae of the low back and to the lowest 1 or 2 vertebrae at the bottom of the rib cage. It hooks to the vertebrae on the inside of the bone not on the back side. This is 2 to 3 inches into the body from the surface of the back.
The psoas muscle helps stabilize your thigh on each side when you walk. When you lift your thigh upward to take a step the psoas is helping you lift that whole leg.
Have you ever eaten filet mignon or tenderloin of pork? That is the psoas muscle. It is the most expensive cut of meat. the round shape of filet mignon is the shape of the muscle. There is also a good stretch for this muscle. It is bit tricky to master this stretch but well worth learning. Next time you are in for a visit ask me to show you this stretch.