Many people suffer from lower back pain or soreness due to many reasons—ageing, weakened muscles, or from an injury.
While active treatment for each case may vary (I’ll leave that up to the professionals), one of the best ways to passively alleviate or prevent lower back pain is through our glutes.
How do I know this? I went through an injury in the lower back area and recovered with the help of a physiotherapist.
In this article, I’ll share my experience, how our glutes are connected to our lower back, and what easy glute exercises you can do to strengthen them in order to alleviate lower back pain.
What are glutes and how does it connect with your lower back?
Your glutes are basically the muscle of your backside.
It’s an important muscle, as it is the hinge of your body.
For the lower body: Imagine lifting your leg up, kicking it back, crossing your legs, or opening it to the side—your glutes are responsible for all the hip movements.
The less obvious of the glute function that’s often overlooked is its role in supporting our upper body too.
For the upper body: Your glutes are the foundation for the pelvis and lower back. It stabilises your upper body and helps maintain proper posture so your upper body can do everything freely.
So what happens to your lower back when your glutes are weak?
When performing movements or exercises that require strong glute effort, your lower back will compensate.
Now your glute muscles are supposed to be way stronger than your lower back since it’s a big muscle group, so using your lower back for these movements results in overstretching and potentially serious injuries.
That’s what happened to me when I was doing heavy deadlifts. My glutes were not strong enough, and I overstretched my lower back and spine, causing a sharp pain in the area for months.
Luckily, with the help of a physiotherapist, I worked on strengthening my glutes and was able to alleviate and recover from a terrible lower back pain.
Exercises to strengthen your glutes
These are the stabilising exercises that I did to strengthen my glutes. They don’t require heavy weights, as the focus is on activating smaller muscles that help with stability.
You can do them without any equipment, but to make it harder, a resistance band is recommended.
During my recovery, I tried doing these every other day as I had other fitness goals, but sticking to them every day will make you see even greater results.
1. Clams
Lie down on the floor with your body facing on one side. Your leg should be stacked on top of the other. Then, open up the leg on top; you should feel a stretch in your glutes.
Stop at the point where you feel like your body is going to turn over and try to hold it for a second or two. Finally, slowly lower the leg to the original position. Just like a clam!
Repeat for 10-15 reps each side. You can put a resistance band around your thighs to make it harder.
2. Fire Hydrants
Get on all fours with your knees on the ground. Lift one knee slightly above the ground and open it towards the side. Hold it for a second or two, then return to the original position.
Repeat for 10-15 reps each side. A resistance band around your thighs can make this harder too.
3. Single Leg Glute Bridge
Lie down on your back with your knees bent. Lift one of your legs and straighten it, pointing your toes forward. With that leg in the air, lift your butt off the ground and hold for 10 seconds.
Feel the squeeze in your glutes. Repeat for 6 reps each side.
4. Banded Lateral Walks
Imagine a crab walking; that’s what we’re going to do!
Place a resistance band above your knees and open up your stride to the side to create tension in the band.
With a slight bend in your knees, take small steps to the side while holding that tension. Repeat for 10-15 steps to the right.
That’s it! It sounds simple, and it’s supposed to be. Give it a go and I promise you’ll see improvements if you stick to a consistent routine.
Love your glutes!