Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. In the past few years, it's become apparent that sitting at desks all day, followed by hours of sitting on couches while we binge watched The Great British Baking Show is slowly killing us. But what we didn't know is that it's killing us. But first, it's called dead butt syndrome. Well, officially it's called gluteal tendonopathy. It affects the gluteus medius and minimus, which are smaller
muscles than the more well known gluotyus maximus. The glootyas medius is attached to the upper portion of the pelvis and the top of the femur, while the gluteus minimus is attached to the outer surface of the pelvis and the head of the femur. The two work with the gloodyus maximus to form your buttocks, So when the glootys minimus and medius are weak, it puts strain and pressure on other muscles in the hip area, including the hip flexors at the front of your pelvis, to pick up
your butt slack. According to a study published in the Journal Sports med women are two to four times more likely to experience gluteal tendonopathy. A similar study published the same year in the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy noted that few risk factors have been validated by science, but to stand out, being a woman and being over the age of forty, distance runners of any gender who work desk jobs are also likely to experience dead but syndrome.
Not only do they park their rear ends and chairs all day, but they're chosen sport also relies mostly on the quadriceps at the front of the thighs there but is just along for the ride on that Sunday long run.
If you suspect your butt is dead, you'll often notice pain in your hip while in certain positions like sitting with your legs crossed at the knees, or sitting with your knees together but feet apart on the floor, standing with one hip jutting to the side, standing with an ankle crossed in front of the other, or lying on your side with your knees bent. But there is good news. You can resuscitate your butt. A few common glute exercises
can bring that butt back from the dead. Even if you don't have a dead butt diagnosis, doing exercises while you binge watch other people baking can help undo the damage of sitting all day. Various stretches and exercises like dead lifts, the clamshell exercise, lateral bandwalks and bridges, or hip lifts can help. In those studies, most people found relief from these exercises, though it takes time In very painful cases, some people might need to go the extra
step of getting cortico steroid injections or shockwave therapy. I want to know if your butt is dead, Just stand in front of a mirror and lift one leg. If you see your hip dip on the same side as your lifted foot, then the gluteus medius on the opposite side is weak. Today's episode was written by Kristen Hall Geisler and produced by Tyler Klein. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in this amounts of other topics, visit our home planet how
stuff Works dot com. And for more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.