Is too much time spent sitting on your lazy bum ruining your joints?
Working your bottom's muscles won't just give you a toned behind like Leigh-Anne Pinnock, it could prevent health problems and even help you live longer
HERE is the bottom line for men and women.
If you suffer from dodgy knees, clicky hips or a touch of backache, the culprit may be right behind you — a lazy, underused bottom.
An increasingly sedentary lifestyle is being blamed for a condition dubbed dormant bottom syndrome (DBS).
It occurs when the three major muscles in your bottom, collectively known as glutes, weaken — leaving other muscle groups in your body to pick up the slack.
But spending time working on these muscles could give you a toned behind just like Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock.
Personal trainer Julie Buckley says: “Largely down to the ridiculous amount of time we spend sitting down, it is very common for men and women to have weak gluteal muscles.
“DBS causes tightness in the hip flexors and the muscles connect your hip and trunk. It can also lead to a hunched upper back.
“It’s particularly common in people with desk jobs.”
And physiotherapist Andy Curtis says DBS could be causing problems and injuries for thousands of people who are not aware of it.
He says: “There’s evidence that bad posture has far-reaching, long-term effects which can result in very serious health problems.
“So if you suspect you have issues, it’s best to get checked out.”
One Australian study estimates that nearly SIX PER CENT of all deaths can be attributed to how much time is spent sitting each day.
If true, that would mean sitting too much is as bad for you as smoking and being overweight in terms of deaths.
Andy says: “If anyone suspects they could be at risk of mechanical problems because of DBS, they need to get a physio check.
“A full assessment will get to the bottom, literally, of what’s going on and you’ll come away with a management plan.
“I’d say only ten per cent of the people I see are mechanically as efficient as they should be. I suspect there are plenty of undiagnosed issues out there because of lazy glutes.”
If you suspect you have DBS, it is best get it sorted. Lazy glutes can lead to a host of seemingly unrelated physical and mental health conditions.
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But if you do suffer from a lazy bottom, there are exercises you can do to fix it.
Andy says: “Squats, lunges, bridges — where you lie on the floor with your knees bent, then raise and lower your bottom — can all help.
“So can straight-leg deadlifts, where you keep your legs, arms and back straight then hinge at the waist to lift and lower a weight.”
But make sure you are doing the exercises correctly. Targeting the wrong muscles could make any existing problems worse.
Andy says: “When you are doing squats, you want to have your weight on your heels, your back concave, your chest high and to move as if you’re sitting down on a bench.
“If your glutes are weak, you will fall over — so begin by putting a chair under your bottom. Squat, sit on it, squeeze the muscles in your bottom and stand up again.”
Here are a whole host of woes caused by lazy glutes...
Shoulder pain/ sciatica
THEY might seem a long way from your bottom but your shoulders and pelvis work with each other.
Andy says: “When one doesn’t work the other tries to compensate to stabilise your core.
"If this goes undetected for a long time, it can lead to further changes in your spine resulting in problems such as sciatica.”
Rebecca Grierson, who is founder of a posture-improving pilates called Ergolates, sees this injury a lot and says the shoulder bridge exercise can help to prevent it.
She says: “Lay on your back, bend your knees inline with hips, and feet close to your bottom. Press the pelvis into the floor and gently peel your spine off the floor to form a ski-slope shape. Repeat.”
Knee ligament trouble
WEAK glutes mean your knees have to work harder.
Andy says: “In an ideal posture world, the way your knee takes impact will be the same every single step you take.
“This isn’t the case when your glutes don’t work like they should, though.
“A big proportion of your posture is controlled by your glutes, so if they’re weak and you step off a kerb or jump, you are at risk of damaging your knees.
“The worst-case scenario is that you step off something and rupture cruciate ligaments, which can lead to surgery and being laid up for a long time.”
Bad back
LIGAMENTS are what hold us upright and run from the spine down the whole body.
Andy says: “If your glutes aren’t doing the job they should, the sacroiliac ligaments in the spine get inflamed.
“If you’ve ever had that pain just above your bottom in your back, it is likely you have got DBS and your sacroiliac ligaments are at risk.
"At its worst, you are looking at a three or four-month recovery from this kind of injury – and that’s only if it’s corrected properly with physiotherapy and exercises.”
Hamstring pain
THE glutes also affect the rotation and the stability of your pelvis, your knees and ankles.
Rebecca says: “They are all at risk of aches, pains and also injuries if the glutes are weak.
“The glute muscles also help to stabilise your pelvis while you walk or run.
"If they are weak, then other muscles such as your quadriceps, calves and hamstrings will try to overcompensate and will often become stronger – creating a muscle imbalance in your lower body and potential injuries.”
Chest infections
DORMANT bottom syndrome could have implications beside just mechanical issues.
So says Dr Helen Webberly of .
She says: “In good posture, the thoracic spine should be at a neutral position, as it extends into the lumbar spine. This means not leaning forward or back and not slouched.
“If we don’t look after our thoracic spine, it can lead to restriction in the lungs, which could leave us more vulnerable to chest infections and breathing troubles.”
Weaker ankles/ peroneal tenosynovitis
THE soleus muscle deep in your calf is responsible for 50 per cent of your propulsion upwards and 30 per cent of your propulsion forwards, says Andy.
He adds: “With DBS, this stability and force is compromised leaving you at risk of injury. Symptoms of this include constantly spraining or going over on your ankle.
“Over a period of time, you could also get peroneal tenosynovitis.
“This is an inflammation of the tendons around the ankles due to uneven loading on the joints.”