Could Your Glutes Be The Key to Pain Free Living?
Sep 10, 2023
Recently, I was waking up each morning with a stiff, sore back. Hmm....was it my bed? An undiagnosed back condition? Something else entirely? So I set out to try some movement experiments and see if I could resolve this issue. As a Pilates teacher, I regularly use my own body to conduct experiments to see which exercises are most effective for certain conditions and situations both for myself and my clients. Fortunately, I found the solution to my morning back pain quite quickly. The last thing I do before bed each night is side-lying glute work and arm openings for thoracic rotation. Takes around 10 minutes and works like a charm! I was practising Pilates in the morning or afternoon and I was delighted to make this discovery that just by adding in some bedtime Pilates, no more morning back pain! My theory is that as I'm teaching Pilates virtually, via Skype until quite late in the evening, which involves sitting, then going to bed maybe 1-1.5 hours later my glutes were getting sluggish and deactivated. Doing the glute work gets them working again before lying in bed for around 8 hours and no more pain! Why is this so and why exactly are glutes so important?
Strong Glutes Can Prevent Pain
In the early days of my Pilates teaching career, an experienced teacher of over 15 years shared an invaluable insight with me. She said, "The GLUTES are the key to overcoming and preventing pain and a lot of Pilates teachers haven't discovered this yet." That was a revelation for me and something I was then able to see in action with my clients. I greatly appreciate being given this information so early on in my career as it has been invaluable for helping hundreds of people to become pain-free. As you can see from my little experiment, when my glutes were working well, my back pain stopped. Overcoming pain is not always as straightforward as this because everything is connected In the human body and everything works together. However, If you have weak, tight or painful glutes they could definitely be a huge contributor to your back, hip, knee, foot, shoulder and neck pain, as they help to support everything above and below them. So the glutes are one of the most important pieces of the puzzle when it comes to overcoming pain and ensuring they are working efficiently for you is essential for moving with ease and creating balance in your body.
How Do The Glutes Support The Body?
The Gluteal muscles, commonly known as the butt muscles, are a group of 3 muscles, Gluteus maximus, Gluteus medius and Gluteus minimus.
They play a crucial role in supporting the body in various ways:
Postural Support: The glutes help to maintain an upright posture by stabilising the pelvis and lower back. They work in coordination with other muscles of the core and lower back to provide stability to the spine and prevent excessive anterior (forward) or posterior (backward) tilting of the pelvis.
Hip Stability: These muscles contribute to hip joint stability. They help control the movement of the hip joint, preventing excessive adduction (movement toward the midline of the body) or abduction (movement away from the midline) during various activities like walking, running, and standing on one leg.
Balance: The glutes, especially the gluteus medius and minimus, are essential for balance. They play a crucial role in maintaining stability when you're standing on one leg, such as when walking or running. Weak glutes can lead to balance issues and an increased risk of falls.
Pelvic Stabilisation: The glutes help stabilize the pelvis during movements like walking, running, and climbing stairs. This stabilisation is vital for smooth and coordinated lower body movements.
Spinal Support: Strong glutes can indirectly support the spine by helping to maintain proper pelvic alignment. This can reduce the risk of lower back pain and injury.
Power and Strength: The gluteus maximus, being the largest and most powerful muscle in the gluteal group, provides significant power and strength during movements like standing up from a seated position, squatting, lifting, and pushing. It is particularly important for generating force when the hips need to be extended, such as in activities involving jumping and sprinting.
Injury Prevention: Strong glutes can help prevent injuries, particularly in the lower back, hips, and knees. They can reduce the risk of strain or injury by providing better support and stability to the musculoskeletal system.
As you can see the glutes are crucial for maintaining proper body mechanics, balance, stability, and strength. Weak or underdeveloped glutes can lead to a range of functional limitations and increase the risk of pain and injury.
How Can I Ensure My Glutes Are Working For Me?
Pain is a big indicator that your glutes aren't working for you, either in the actual glute or glutes themselves or somewhere else in your body. Poor balance is another sign to watch out for. Extremely tight hamstrings can also mean your glutes are locked up and your hamstrings are trying to do the work of the gutes too. Sitting for long periods of time can cause your glutes to become sluggish and unsupportive like I was experiencing. If you stand upright and try to mentally connect with your glutes by gently contracting and then releasing your glutes, can you do this? If not don't be alarmed because unless you have specifically worked to mentally connect with your glutes like we do in Pilates, it might not be possible for you at this stage. Learning to connect with your glutes is about establishing a strong neural pathway from your brain to your glutes and this can take a few weeks or months and is something all of my Pilates clients work towards. This is part of the mind-body connection of PIlates, learning to take control of your body with your mind. It's an exciting moment when a client becomes aware of their glutes and how to consciously control them for the first time. It's also comes down to body awareness which is also a big part of Pilates. Over time, my clients become incredibly skilled at this and know immediately if their glutes are tight or need attention. My 82 year old Mum who has been practising Pilates for many years will often remark that her glutes are tight and she knows she needs to release them and do some glute exercises to get them working for her again. One of the ways of relleasing your glutes is by rolling them out with a ball like the woman in the picture above. This helps to release any tight spots so they can contract and release more efficiently. I always recommend you follow this up with glute strengthening exercsies as constant releasing without strengthening leads to further weakness. There are also other techniques that I use with my clients to ensure their glutes are working efficienty before they do glute exercises. This makes the glute exercises as effective and targeted as possible so they recruit the correct muscles.
If you would like to learn more about how you can ensure your glutes are working effectively to support your your body and overcome or prevent pain my online Pilates studio is for you and you can email me at [email protected] to get started. Alternatively, you can book an Initial Assessment with me here or take the free 10 day trial of JS Mind Body Pilates, my online studio and start straight away. It would be my pleasure to assist you on your Pilates journey to strong glutes and pain-free living!
If you would like to learn more about how you can ensure your glutes are working effectively to support your your body and overcome or prevent pain my online Pilates studio is for you and you can email me at [email protected] to get started. Alternatively, you can book an Initial Assessment with me here or take the free 10 day trial of JS Mind Body Pilates, my online studio and start straight away. It would be my pleasure to assist you on your Pilates journey to strong glutes and pain-free living!
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