This statement from page 170 of Dr. Rolfs book “Rolfing: The Integration of Human Structures” is in clear contrast with probably all current medical anatomy texts which describe the psoas as an external(or lateral) rotator. Since the lesser to chanter, the insertion of the psoas, is located on the posterior aspect of the femur, it made sense to me that a psoas contraction would pull the lesser to-chanter forward and thereby cause an external rotation of the femur.

It seems quite possible to me that Dr. Rolf was not infallible; and just like other truly outstanding geniuses whom I deeply admire be it Newton, Paracelsus, Dar win, Freud, or Einstein she may have made a few mistakes which other people could correct later in history. Would such reasoning be considered “heresy” in our school? Let’s see…. After several discussions with other Rolfers, I was finally convinced that Dr. Rolf’s statement about the psoas being an internal rotator was such a mistake. After all, it is rather un likely that all medical textbooks-many of which are based on detailed electro myo graphic studies are wrong and only Dr. Rolf’s statement would be right.

So I wrote an article for ROLF LINES with the following headline:

$1,000 REWARD OFFERED FOR ANATOMICAL EXPLANATION

The subtitle was, “Is it possible that Dr. Rolf could be fallible?”

In this article, I offend $1,000 to the first person who convinced me (or alternately mom than 50% of our instructors or anatomy teachers) that Dr. Rolf’s statement could be true. I finished my long article with the words, “I will inform all of you in the ROLF LINES as to who the first person is to come up with the answer(and wins the $1,000). I will also inform you if within twelve months I have not received an acceptable answer.”

Then, I leaned back in my chair with a deep sigh and a gratifying feeling of what a great hero I’ll be….something along the lines of “Robert Schleip improves upon Ida Rolf” or “German Rolfer challenges religious dogma of Rolfing school”.

I sent the article to. Anna Hyder last December and patiently waited for the story to unfold.

Sometime in March, I was sitting in Bill Smythe’s Rolfing class in Munich and was looking at the skeleton. As an anatomy teacher, I had looked at this specific skeleton many, many times be-fore, so it was nothing new. Then suddenly without looking for any thing specific it dawned upon me that Dr. Rolf’s statement could actually be right! I immediately burst into a cold sweat. Could it be true that the psoas is indeed an internal rotator and all current anatomy texts are wrong??! Could it be true that I just lost $1,000 and made a fool of my-self? The longer I looked at it and thought about it, the more doubts I had about the smartness of my article.

At the next break, I rushed to the telephone and called Anna Hyder. I was lucky to reach her immediately; and when I told her about my sudden insight, she laughed and said, “Oh, Robert, you are really lucky-you’re just in time. Only two hours later, and it would be too late. I am on my way to the printer, and I can still pull your article if you want me to. Would you like for me to do this?” Of course, I urged her to do so, but I also promised I would describe my insights into Dr. Rolf’s statement in a future ROLFLINES article. So, here it is.

The trick is to look at the hip joint from below, let’s say, looking from the knee towards the pelvis in a normal standing position. Then it is obvious that the lesser trochanter is posterior in relation to the “eminentia ilio pubica” on the superior pubic ramus (i.e. the “leverage point” of the psoas fibers where they cross or “touch” the pelvis and change their direction). The psoas will try to pull its insertion towards this leverage point while it contracts. So a contraction of the psoas fibers will tend to pull the lesser trochanter forward, assuming that hip flexion and adduction are restricted in order to study the effect on rotation only.

Taking into account that the psoas fibers lie mostly on top (anterior) of the fibers of the iliacus while both of them cross the superior pubic ramus will help to make this even more evident; but even without the underlying iliacus fibers as a cushion, the psoas will tend to pull the lesser trochanter forward.

The key point now is the fact that then on-moving turning point (or axis) of any hip joint movement is clearly at the acetabulum (and not somewhere in the middle of the femural shaft…as most people, including myself, assumed when considering this questions)! Then it is suddenly clear: a forward movement of the lesser trochanter in relation to the non moving turning point at the acetabulum will also pull the greater trochanter forward; and this is, of course, an internal rotation of the femur.

This is true for the “standard anatomical position”, i.e. in a normal standing position. As soon as the hip joint is considerably flexed or the thigh adducted, the relative spatial position of the lesser trochanter will change; and the psoas will no longer function as an internal rotator. (But this is the same with all other muscles when somebody describes their main function: unless specified otherwise, the description of the function of a muscle is related to the “standard anatomical position” and could very well change in other positions.) It is also obvious that the psoas is primarily a hip joint flexor and that its intentional effect on the femur is only secondary and minimal compared with hip joint flexion.

So Gray’s Anatomy, Sobotta, Platzer, Clemente, Lockhart, Rauber/Kopsch,Netter, Kapandji, you am all wrong, and Dr. Ida P. Rolf is right: the psoas should be described not as an external but as aninternal rotator.

I am not sure if Dr. Rolf’s reasoning was along those lines I have described. Maybe she used to think-just like every one else that in rotation of the femur, the lesser trochanter and the grater trochanter would move in opposite directions (when one goes forward, the other would move backward); and maybe she combined this usual (and wrong) under-standing with her specific vision of the psoas that she described in chapter 7 of her book: that the psoas could actively lengthen its fibers, not as a passive lengthening, but as an active action of the muscle fibers (which still doesn’t make sense tome …). Or maybe she just “knew”, not by specific anatomy, but by felt-experience.

The moral of the story: I am glad I wrote that original article with the $1,000reward; otherwise, I probably would not have learned so much about the psoas. I am also glad this “learning experience” did not cost me the $1,000 that I had designated for this purpose; since I am quite sum somebody else in our member-ship would have finally come up with the above considerations.

I will send these insights on the function of the psoas to several prominent anatomy textbook authors, together with a reference to Dr. Rolf’s statement.

Advanced Rolfer Robert Schleip divides his time as a private practitioner and an Institute fascial anatomy instructor between Germany and AustraliaThe Psoas as an Internal Rotator