What Butt Strength Has To Do With Back Pain
Or more specifically- what the lack of derriere strength has to do with back pain.
We do a TON of glute work in my classes- and it’s not just because I never get sick of a sidling leg lift (it’s literally ALWAYS hard no matter what kinda pro you are). I emphasize glute strength in every workout because we are a society of butt grippers (and I’m including myself in that sweeping generalization)!
You may have heard of the piriformis muscle before- that’s what you’re feeling release when you do a figure 4 stretch (at the end of this video)- more on that in a minute. Sneakily, our priformis is actually a “deep rotator” and is part of your pelvic floor. When it’s overly tense, it can compress the sciatic nerve causing that radiation shooting pain in the butt and down the leg. Another fun side effect of a tense piriformis is that it often affects our posture- causing us to tuck our pelvis under dramatically- and any extreme position held for too long can negatively affect the nearby muscles (the reverse of a tucked pelvis and how that affects the body, explained here in this blog about swayback posture) Our happy place is neutral spine, though we will always move in and out of this position—(How To Actually Find Neutral).
How does the piriformis get overly tense?
I’m so glad you asked! Because your butt muscles are probably weak and piriformis feels it has to take over. stretches help relieve this pain temporarily, but without strengthening the entire glute hip complex, you’ll have to rely on stretching over and over and over again because the actually problem hasn’t been solved- just a symptom. (More stretching and self myofascial release work on HPS)
So, are you a butt gripper?
Next time you’re standing for an extended period, like washing the dishes or brushing your teeth, notice if it’s your core or your butt that’s keeping you upright- do you feel way less stable when you release your butt muscles? Like, almost floaty? That’s probably because you rely on your glutes for things you should be relying on your core for. Like I said, more so than the temporary relief of stretching (though I love it and it feels amazing, which is it’s own act of self care), learning to functionally activate the glutes, in this case eccentrically load (lengthen) will help support the weight of your pelvis and spine in a way that works better for your body.
What does lengthening a muscle mean?
No, I don’t mean “long lean lines”— that phrase should set off a BS alarm in your brain— when I say lengthening- I mean what the muscle is literally doing. When you concentrically contract a muscle, it shortens (think the bending part of a bicep curl) when you eccentrically contract a muscle, it lengthens (think the controlled extension of the arm). If you continuously grip your butt, when you do an action that is supposed to eccentrically lengthen the glute muscles, you wind up compensating with strained hamstrings and an achey low back — ow!
How do I make sure I’m not gripping?
While standing, so a few squeezes and unsqueezes of your butt to bring your awareness and attention to the glute muscles- and literally feel for it! I’m huge on putting your hands on your own body for tactile feedback- and placing your hands on your glutei will tell you straight away even if your body awareness and brain don’t catch it right away. This is the same logic behind why runners activate their glutes before a run, so that they’re alive and ready to perform the way they are supposed to when they get running, versus compensation with stress in the hip flexors. (Check out more workouts geared specifically for runners in the Pilates for Runners collection on HPS)
Check out the Release and Restore collection on HPS to relieve pain in the hips and back, and the Healthy Hips Collection to build that hip strength we’re talkin bout!! Get over 100+ pilates, cardio, and meditations on HPS, free for the first 10 days here.