There is a good chance that right now you and I are participating in activity that contributes to weakened butt muscles. Both prolonged sitting and inactivity turn our back sides into mush.
There are three major butt muscles: The gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. All three act as to stabilize the hips and pelvis. Since the medius is often the weakest of the three, we’re going to start there.
The muscle connects the upper part of the tailbone (sacrum) to the hip and functions to stabilize your hip and pelvis during walking. When contracted, the muscle moves your hip laterally away from your body and at the same time acts to turn the leg inward. When weakened, it can become irritated causing pain that seems to come from the lower back. Weakness will also contribute to hip and sacroiliac joint dysfunction.
Our video will demonstrate how to tell if the muscle is overactive and in spasm. For this find your trusty lacrosse ball (or other favorite muscle digging device). Then I will demonstrate a simple exercise to strengthen the gluteus medius.
Have fun!
-Jason Lauer, DC