Sofa surfers beware: Sort out your saggy bottom!

A strong, supportive bottom is key to a safe, pain-free practice. Here’s what you need to know about the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus muscles and why our sedentary lifestyles are overstretching them! For many people, appearance is the top priority when it comes to their posterior. But, we know they’re the primary players in many of the movements we perform day - day. The gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus, along with many other smaller, supporting muscles, act as a base of support for the pelvis and hips. What’s more, these hard-working muscles stabilise your femur (thighbone) in your hip socket, rotate your femur internally and externally, and draw your leg back. And yes, all of these actions also help us stand, walk and run. They even support us when we sit.

Unfortunately, there are a number of ways we jeopardise the health of this important muscle group. For starters, our increasingly sedentary lifestyles are leading to what experts call gluteal amnesia, in which these muscles become overstretched and underused. Conversely, it’s also possible to overuse and overexert these muscles, whether we’re excessively clenching the buttocks, or pushing too hard while running or hiking. Not only do under- or overworked glutes affect range of motion in the hips and sacrum, but strength imbalances can also lead to instability or pain. This is more noticeable in those who are taking up high impact exercise after a long absence, for example; running. It’s helpful to use the buttocks and adductors (inner thighs) to support the weight of the pelvis, hips, and spine. Anatomy of the Gluteals

The gluteals are made up of three layers of muscles:

Gluteus medius

This muscle sits partway under the gluteus maximus and connects the ilium (hip bone) to the side of the upper femur. It helps you externally rotate your leg when it’s extended behind you, and internally rotate your hip when your leg is flexed in front of you. Together with the gluteus minimus, this muscle abducts the hip (moves it outward). For example: side stepping.

Gluteus maximus

This is the biggest of the gluteals, and it attaches to the side of the sacrum and femur. It’s responsible for extending and externally rotating the hip joint. The maximus creates forward thrust as you walk, run, and rise from a squat.

Gluteus minimus

A smaller muscle located under the gluteus medius, the minimus helps you abduct, flex, and internally rotate the hip. You’ll use this muscle when you make circular movements with your thigh.

Stability in Your Hip Joints

Do YOU have gluteal amnesia? Are you sitting right now? Squeeze your buttocks, then release them: You should feel them tighten, then slacken. While slack muscles aren’t necessarily a bad thing, all of our muscles shouldn’t be firing at all times. After all, resting all of your body weight on your slack gluteal muscles (as you do when you sit) creates a lengthening of the tissues within and surrounding the glutes, which weakens the gluteals’ natural tension.

When the buttocks are excessively weak, the quadriceps, back muscles and hip flexors have to work harder to compensate, and these muscular imbalances often sneakily follow us to cause problems and pain.

Weakened gluteals is a major factor in low back pain. Low back pain is often caused by over-use of the low back muscles, typically in leaning forward to pick something up, because people struggle to squat down and get back up. It can be a viscous cycle: Leaning forward to pick something up because of weak glutes, and because the glutes are weak, we avoid squatting down. Running can prove similar problems. If we have weakened gluteals due to our pre-existing sedentary lifestyles, we can have a tendency to lean forward when we run, increasing the work-rate of the previously mentioned back, thigh and hip flexor muscles. By working on these gluteal muscles, most if not all running related pains can be eradicated. In summary, if you are somewhat guilty of a sedentary lifestyle, one major group of muscles that will be affected is your glutes. Strengthen up your saggy bottom and you will soon be able to perform almost any daily activity, pain free. For more information, please like and follow our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MikeStampPhysiotherapy/