Your Glutes

Your glutes are amazing...they really are. To put it simply, if you have a strong butt, you are less likely to sustain injuries to your low back, knees, and ankles (three of the most commonly injured areas). ^(1,2,3,4,5) This means that performing glute strengthening exercises will most likely allow you to spend more time performing what you love. Which is why Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician, stated a quote you should remember: "a strong butt is a key to a happy life". ⁽⁶⁾

Case and point on how glute strength impacts your life: Tiger woods in the 2015 Farmers
Insurance Open. 
 

After he withdrew from the tournament, he explained: "My glutes are shutting off. Then they don't activate, and then, hence, it goes into my lower back," he said. "So I tried to activate my glutes as best I could, in between, but...they never stayed activated". ⁽⁷⁾ In summary, Tiger's deactivated glutes kept him from enjoying his round of golf and kept him from loads of potential prize money.

Tiger's quote brings up a great point though, we do not only need a strong butt, we also need to be able to "activate" the muscle. This is the ability of the nerve to tell the muscle to turn on and start producing force. Think of the nerve as the road for the signal to travel down. If you rarely focus on training your glutes, it's like driving along a gravel road, the signal is slow and weak. Your glutes are going to be sluggish which means the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joints above and below the hip have to pick up the slack...which they can for a short period of time.  But, the wear and tear will catch up with you, you're truly gambling with nagging low back pain.  However, if you focus on training your glutes regularly it's like driving down the highway...the signal is quick, so the glutes are able to activate quickly and on time to perform your activity pain free (which means you are definitely able to enjoy your golf outing a little more). And, in the eyes of Dr. Metzl, you just invested in a happier life.

A well-timed glute contraction can be the difference between back pain or a 350 yd drive.

Lack of training though, is only one of many reasons your glutes will not activate. For Tiger, it is because of low back tightness. His glutes deactivated after a 2 1/2 hour fog delay in the first round. He said his back tightened up during the delay and "never loosened back up again". ⁽⁷⁾ So, is it possible the glutes and the back interact like this? Take a look at the image below:  this is called Lower Crossed Syndrome.(8)

Erector Spinae = Back Muscles

The tight back muscles tip the pelvis forward.  

This lengthens and deactivates the glutes, 

placing them in a weak position.

As you can see, the glutes are without a doubt related to the low back.  If the low back muscles are angry and don't ease up, the glutes cannot activate to create power through the hips for hitting the golf ball.  Instead, as Tiger mentioned, the torque goes through his low back because the spine is excessively arched with the tight .  So in Tiger's case, he should of been doing glute activation exercises and low back stretches during the 2 1/2 hour fog delay.


Next post will be HOW to activate your glutes properly for all activities.


See you soon.


References:  

Please make sure what you read online has references or you are most likely just reading opinions.

(1) Leinonen V, Kankaapää M, Airaksinen O and Hanninen O (2000): Back and hip extensor activities during trunk flexion/extension: effects of low back pain and rehabilitation. Archives of Physical Medical Rehabilitation 81, 32-37.

Conclusion from the article: "The activity of the gluteus maximus muscle during the flexion-extension cycle was reduced in patients with chronic low back pain. The gluteal muscles should be taken into consideration in the rehabilitation of these patients."

(2) Bullock-Saxton JE, Janda V and Bullock MI (1994): The influence of ankle sprain injury on muscle activation during hip extension. International Journal of Sports Medicine 15: 130-134.

Conclusion from the article: "Analyses revealed that the pattern of muscle activation in subjects with [a previous ankle] injury differed markedly from normal control subjects, and that changes appeared to occur on both the uninjured and the injured sides of the body."

(3)  Friel K, McLean N, Myers C, Caceres M. Ipsilateral hip abductor weakness after inversion ankle sprain. J Athl Train. 2006;41:74-78.

Conclusion from the article: "Our subjects with unilateral chronic ankle sprains had weaker hip abduction strength and less plantar-flexion range of motion on the involved sides. Clinicians should consider exercises to increase hip abduction strength when developing rehabilitation programs for patients with ankle sprains."

(4) Fredericson M, Cookingham CL, Chaudhari AM, Dowdell BC, Oestreicher N, Sahrmann SA. Hip Abductor Weakness in Distance Runners with Iliotibial Band Syndrome. Clin J Sport Med. 2000 Jul;10(3): 169-75

Conclusion: Long distance runners with ITBS [knee pain on the outside of the knee, on the IT Band] have weaker hip abduction [Glute] strength in the affected leg compared with their unaffected leg and unaffected long-distance runners. Additionally, symptom improvement with a successful return to the preinjury training program parallels improvement in hip abductor [Glute] strength.

(5) Santos TR, Oliveira BA, Ocarino JM, Holt KG, Fonseca ST.  Effectiveness of hip muscle strengthening in patellofemoral pain syndrome patients: a systematic review.  Braz J Phys Ther. 2015 May-Jun;167-76. Epub 2015 May 29.

Conclusion:  Hip muscle strengthening is effective in reducing the intensity of pain and improving functional capabilities in patients with PFPS [pain on or around your kneecap].

(6) Remy, Mark.   Strong Butt, Happy Life.  Runner's World 2010 Nov 3. <http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/strong-butt-happy-life> Accessed on 2015 Sept 29.

"I preach preparing your body by cross-training. Strength training, jumping, landing. I always say if you want to keep running, a strong butt is a key to a happy life." - Dr. Jordan D Metzl

(7) Bissell, Kathy. Tiger Woods' Glutes: Is There Anything to His Comment About Their Deactivating? Bleacher Report 2015 Feb 7. <http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2357757-tiger-woods-glutes-is-there-anything-to-his-comment-about-them-deactivating> Accessed on Sept 29, 2015.

 

"My glutes are shutting off. Then they don't activate, and then, hence, it goes into my lower back," he said. "So I tried to activate my glutes as best I could, in between, but...they never stayed activated."

 

(8) Kolomvounis S. I Love Physical Therapy. 2013 Feb 16. <http://ilovephysicaltherapy.blogspot.com/2013/02/lower-cross-syndrome.html> Accessed on Oct 9, 2015.