Why lower back pain is highly evident when the Glutes are not working.

Wednesday?

Newsletter time?

Go on then….. well it’s been one of those weird weeks. I’ll start from where I finished last week. I got really sick over the latter part of last week. I lost my appetite, lost my motivation to do any work, and I just about got through watching my sons sports day on Friday afternoon ??

This week I’ve been searching for quotes on Vinyl flooring for the new studio. And before you know it, with client appointments, the day has gone.

This edition of the newsletter, I thought I would revisit the strongest muscles of the body.

The Glutes.

Their biggest job is in?keeping us upright and pushing our bodies forward.

Strong gluteals are important for proper pelvic alignment, propulsion during walking and running, and even standing on one leg. Gluteals also help support the lower back during lifting, and help prevent knee injuries.

Weak glutes?force your body to rely on other muscles for movement, which puts stress elsewhere on the body and can lead to aches and pains—in many cases, in the lower back.

The piriformis (located in the buttock) helps rotate your hips and stabilise your pelvis.?If your glutes are weak, it becomes overactive as it tries to compensate for the weakened glutes. Over time, this means back and pelvic pain, sometimes including sciatica-like symptoms.

So, as I say to all my clients, no matter what exercise they are doing “squeeze your glutes”.

Just by doing that, you are supporting the entire body.

There is a particular test in assessment that shows if they are firing correctly. We get the individual to lie on their front. I then ask them to lift up from the hip. I’m checking what order the Glutes, Hamstrings and lower back fire. If the Glutes are not going first then there is a fair bit of work to do, to get them back in the sequence of Glutes, Hamstrings and Lower back.

In the video below, I got Richard to try this exercise.

This exercise places a lot of emphasis on getting the Glutes working and to enable them to become strong and active.

If you look closely you’ll see that his pelvis wants to shift to compensate the Glutes inactivity and he mentioned that the hamstrings were really firing up.

For many people, like Richard. They find most of their working day sat behind a desk. There is a strong correlation with sitting and altered posture and mechanics of the body. Simply put, the more you sit the more the body will change to find the easiest way to operate.

You can of course, do some exercises that corrects the problems.

The Banded Glute bridge remains one of my favourite exercises. It’s a simple exercise that can be done with or without a band. It really gets the Glutes firing.

In summery. Work on correcting the problems. The body is designed to move, not sit.

That’s all for today. I’m off to order some flooring for the new studio.

Happy Wednesday.

#businessowner #ergonomics #lowerbackpain