Getting Cheeky about Dead Butt Syndrome (aka: Gluteal Amnesia)

Gluteal amnesia is when your butt muscles forget how to work properly. Just like how you sometimes forget things you learned in school, your bottom muscles can also forget how to do their job. This can happen if you sit a lot, don't exercise enough, or if you have an injury. When your glute muscles aren't working well, it can cause problems like back pain and weakness. So it's important to keep them strong and healthy!

If the glutes aren’t working the way they should be, other muscles in the lower back and legs must compensate for the work the glutes aren’t doing.

Just because you’re doing exercises that are supposed to be using your glute muscles doesn’t mean that they’re activating.  In a principle called, “reciprocal inhibition”, when a muscle contracts, the muscle(s) doing the opposite action lengthen to allow for the shortening to happen.  When we sit too long, our hip flexor muscles stay in a contracted state which in turn keeps the butt muscles long making it harder for them to contract on command.  Sometimes the constant pressure can also make it more difficult to move freely. More often, it’s not that they’re not working at all, they’re just not firing in the correct order.  They should be the first to turn on, but get lazy and let other muscle groups like your quads or hamstrings take the lead while they quietly quit and do the bare minimum needed.

It can be challenging to know if you have gluteal amnesia because it doesn’t cause your butt to hurt.  Because it’s part of your pelvic stabilization, the instability can cause your low back to hurt instead.

How to wake these muscles up???

Prevention

Get your butt up! Making sure you move around during the day can help keep these muscles from going dormant.  Taking stairs whenever possible can also be helpful.

Stretch the Short & Tight Muscles (Psoas)

(While there other muscles (Quads) that could also use the help, we will focus on this one)

Strengthen the Overstretched Muscles (Glutes)

Re-introduce your butt muscles to their main function

Lie on your stomach and alternate squeezing one cheek for 3 seconds and then the other. Do 3 sets -15 on each side

Progression

Squeeze one cheek and then lift leg up

Hold for 3 seconds

Squeeze the other cheek and then lift leg up

Hold for 3 seconds

3 sets -15 on each side

Donkey Kick

On hands and knees, squeeze you right butt cheek and then kick your flexed foot up towards the ceiling.

Do 10-15 reps

Repeat on other side

Do 3 sets on both sides