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Writer's pictureCharlotte Sullivan

Getting to know your glutes!

The most common reason that people seek treatment for soft tissue therapy (STT) is lower back pain and coming over the line in a close second is knee pain. Now, it is never just as simple as this hurts here, treat it, fixed it. The root cause is often masked by these referred symptoms/pains and are often a result of an ongoing mechanical issue and in very rare cases a more serious underlying condition.


The gluteal muscles, which are made up of the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, not only make us look fabulous in our favourite pair of jeans but they are the powerhouse of the human body. Our glutes are the largest muscle group and play a vital role in daily activities such as walking and even standing. Unfortunately, due to todays way of living, our work-life balance has seen us spending prolonged periods of time sitting at desks or nowadays sitting on the sofa binging our new Netflix obsession, whilst we await the return of normal life. This causes our glutes to weaken and our hip flexors to tighten. Under performing glutes can also occur as a result of poor posture or over training certain muscle groups such a the quads.


As a result of our lazy butts, we are forcing our other muscles to work overtime and pick up the slack, leading to imbalances throughout the body and between our front & back body causing some of the common issues mentioned earlier. A perfect example of this would be weak glutes causing an imbalance in the hip, potentially leading to exessive rotation of the femur (thigh bone) which can result in knee pain. Another common and simple example would be the under active glutes generating a muscle pull in your hamstring or groin.


If you have ever been treated by me, there is a high chance that I have performed the straight leg raise test on you. If you show signs of under active glutes, within 2 seconds and a very minor but crucial adjustment, we can feel that powerhouse of a muscle group firing up! This is because we have introduced mind to muscle connection. Mind to muscle connection isn't an easy thing to achieve straight away but it is fundamental to correct training and successful results. Completely worth it I say! To successfully work a muscle group you have to feel them working. Focus your mind on contracting and squeezing the muscle with every single rep. Once you have mastered the mind to muscle connection, just watch the difference it makes to your muscle engagement, strength, form and the overall mechanics, which will hopefully reduce any unnecessary pain and injuries.


Fully functioning, beautiful butts..... HERE WE COME!!










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