When your glutes feel switched off and your back is doing too much
Nicola Tik
If your lower back feels like it is constantly working, and your glutes feel flat, weak, or slow to engage, the two things are almost certainly connected. This article explains the mechanism behind both and what it means for how you approach them.
The gluteal muscles sit directly under the body when you are seated. Unlike most muscles, which shorten or lengthen during sitting, the glutes are compressed directly against the chair. That sustained pressure reduces blood flow through the muscle tissue, which in turn reduces the signal the nervous system sends to keep them active. The glutes do not switch off entirely, but they become significantly less responsive than they should be.
This is not a permanent change and it is not a sign of weakness in the conventional sense. It is a temporary response to sustained compression, and it is remarkably common in people who spend a large part of their day seated. The problem is that it does not automatically reverse the moment you stand up. The glutes can remain partially inhibited for some time after the compression is removed, which means they are underperforming during activities where they should be doing significant work.
The glutes are the primary driver of hip extension, the movement that propels you forward when walking, helps you stand from a chair, and stabilises the pelvis when you are upright. When they are underperforming, the lower back steps in to compensate.
The lumbar extensors, the muscles running along either side of the spine in the lower back, are not designed to be the primary mover in these tasks. They can do the job, but at a cost. Sustained overcompensation means they are working harder than they should be across a wide range of everyday movements, not just during exercise. Over time, that accumulated load translates into fatigue, tension, and for many people, persistent pain.
This is why lower back pain that seems to have no clear trigger is often tied to what the glutes are not doing, rather than anything the back has done wrong.
The back pain itself tends to make the glute inhibition worse. When the lower back is painful or sensitised, the body instinctively reduces movement through that region, which further limits the opportunity for the glutes to re-engage. Less glute activation means more load on the back. More load on the back means more sensitivity. The cycle continues.
This is why addressing the back in isolation tends to produce limited progress. The back is reacting to a load it should not be carrying. Until the glutes start contributing again, that load does not reduce.
Recognising the pattern in your own body
A few signs suggest glute inhibition may be contributing to your back symptoms. Back pain or fatigue that is worse after long periods of sitting, and does not ease quickly when you stand or walk, is a common indicator. A sense that your glutes are slow to engage during movement, or that your back feels like it is doing the heavy lifting even during simple tasks like climbing stairs, points in the same direction.
You may also notice that your glutes feel less responsive on one side than the other. Asymmetric inhibition is common, particularly if sitting posture or load tends to favour one side.
Starting with re-engagement rather than strengthening
The instinct when glutes feel underactive is to strengthen them. That is a reasonable longer-term goal, but during a flare or when the back is reactive, the more useful first step is simply encouraging the glutes to re-engage before asking them to work hard.
Gentle movements that prompt the glutes to activate without loading the lower back directly tend to be the most accessible starting point. The aim is to remind the nervous system that the glutes are available, rather than to build capacity straight away.
If you would like a guided session focused on glute re-engagement alongside back recovery, VIDA has 5-minute videos you can follow.
How progress in one region helps the other
As the glutes begin to re-engage, the load on the lumbar extensors starts to reduce. Many people notice a shift in how the back feels relatively quickly once the glutes begin contributing again, not because the back has changed, but because it is no longer compensating alone. That reduction in load gives the back an opportunity to settle that it did not have before.
Progress here tends to feel gradual at first and then noticeably compound. Small improvements in glute responsiveness have a disproportionate effect on back symptoms over time.
It is worth paying attention to how your back and glutes respond together across different activities and times of day. If the back consistently feels worse after seated periods and the glutes feel slow to engage when you first stand, that pattern points clearly towards the compression mechanism as the starting point.
Your VIDA pain check-in is a useful way to track how both regions shift as you introduce changes, particularly if you are working on re-engaging the glutes alongside managing back symptoms.