You may have heard before that your bum (glute maximus) is the biggest and most important muscle in the body. It plays a important part in almost all movements in the body, even a lot of upper body movements as it stabilizes the pelvis and supports the back. But without any glute strength we lose this ability to support our back.
Often times, we find ourselves sitting for long periods at work, sometimes up to 9 hours a day sitting and when getting up from the desk we feel that ache in our low back or even our knees. This amount of sitting is causing your glutes to become underdeveloped and mainly your gluteus Medius is underworked.
But what is the Glute Medius?
What is role of the glute Medius?
- Abducts your leg to the side. (brings your leg straight to the side)
- Stabilize the pelvis and maintain the trunk upright when standing on one leg, running, and walking when one leg is off the ground
When these muscles are weak, you overcompensate by using the muscles in your back to stabilize your body.
This adds stress, pressure and tension to the low back, thus increasing the load on the spine, and creating gluteus Medius pain and significant discomfort.
By sitting on our bums all day, we are essentially losing the ability to use our glutes as they are not needed for 9 hours of the day. Then when we try and walk or run they are just not ready.
If you are a runner or sportsperson it is especially important to train this muscles. Every step we take where our glutes are not ‘fired up’ we risk injury as the pelvis is not stabilized and the back muscles are being overworked.
Below are a few exercises listed;
- Glute clams
- Hip bridge with mini band
- Mini band side walks
There are of course over factor that come into play with back pain so this isn’t a one size fits all. if you are unsure please book in an appointment to to get assessed.