There are any different causes for low back and hip pain, but the underlying cause isn’t always clearly defined. Depending on the how the pain came on, how the pain presents and many other factors will help determine what treatment options may be beneficial to help ease pain and discomfort.
In certain instances, and more so due to our sitting habits that are required at work and then followed by how much sitting we might do at home, we may find that we have a disfunction in our medial gluteal muscle.
Our medial gluteal muscle is one of three gluteal muscles in the posterior hip region. It starts from the surface of our hip bone and attaches to the biggest bone in our leg, the femur. It is responsible for stabilizing our pelvis high we are standing, walking and running, but is also important in order to hold our hips in a neutral position by abducting and medically rotating.
With the amont of sitting or over activeness with large volumes of running or walking we may see something coined as “dead butt syndrome”. This is when of gluteus medius becomes tight or weak and attributes to nerves being pinched and therefore numbness and tingling going down our thighs and legs. If our glute med is tight or weak, we ma also notice a weakness in the glute min and pain and/or tightness in the piriformis muscle due to the piriformis having to compensate for the other two muscles.
Symptoms that may be present with dysfunction in the media glute include:
Discomfort and soreness in the low back and hips while sitting for prolonged periods
Numbness that may start in the gluteal region and go down through the thighs and legs
Pain and discomfort when lying on the affected side
Issues with balance when one leg is off the ground
Over doing it on running/walking/hiking volume may be one reason that this dysfunction might show up, but other causes include:
Sitting at a desk or on the couch for long periods of time
Sitting with one leg underneath you
Weight bearing exercises that use the glutes such squatting, lunging and the like
Twisting and bending with weighted object
Standing for long periods of time with one hip shifted outwards
Leg length discrepancies
Having a Morton’s foot structure
& more.
Although this particular issues can be annoying and painful, we can help reduce pain, and increase strength and range of motion in order to solve the dysfunction.
Acupuncture can be helpful to reduce pain and relieve sore muscles and joints around the area
Stretching and strengthening the glutes and surrounding muscles can be beneficial to stop nerve pinching and improve walking/running gait
If this sounds like you, feel free to book an appointment so we can work together towards reducing pain, improving strength and helping you get back to activities and work without constantly being in pain.
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