Strong Glutes Will Save Your Butt While Shoveling
As I write this blog post from the comfort of my snowed in home, I immediately start thinking about the patients who will be in my office on Thursday and Friday with low back pain after shoveling out their homes this afternoon. The act of shoveling is great exercise and shouldn’t hurt you at all — unless you have a weak glute max muscle. If that muscle doesn’t do its job, you will end up with low back pain.
Let me explain. The glute max is the largest muscle in your hip area that makes up most of your buttock region. It’s primary job is to extend the hip (see picture).
This movement is vital to getting up from a seated position, walking, running, jumping, squatting and you guessed it, shoveling! If the glute max muscle is deconditioned, your body will automatically start using your low back and hamstring muscles to create hip extension — a job that they were not built to perform. When muscles do jobs that they weren’t meant to do, pain and spasms result. Hence the visit to the chiropractor after a big storm.
So if you start getting sore while shoveling later today, give our office a call and we’ll get you in tomorrow. First we’ll get to work relieving your pain. After that, have me check your glute max muscle. If his laziness was the reason for your back pain, let’s design a plan to get him back on board so that we don’t have to repeat this tradition next winter!