About 50% of Americans have desk jobs and sitting on your butt all day can lead to a droopy butt, among other issues. Chances are that after sitting on your desk chair for a couple of hours, your butt can become sore. But what can you do?
Sitting all day causes your glutes to shut down and not only that, this part of the body can impact your hip movement, pelvis rotation, and pelvic stability, which is bad for your entire body.
This causes your hip flexors to tighten up and cause reciprocal inhibition, which is when your pelvis is unable to rotate forward, causing compression in the lower back, which is what causes back pain. Over time, it can lead to chronic back pain, something that many Americans suffer from on a daily basis.
When hips and glutes aren’t working properly it can even impact your knees and ankles because when your glutes aren’t pulling their weight, the pressure and force can relocate to these weaker spots and cause pain.
If you’ve noticed that your butt is going flat or is starting to sag, then sitting might be the cause. Years of sitting can change the shape of your butt, this is because the quality of your skin can suffer from not getting enough blood pumping through this area.
What Can You Do?
The immediate answer to your problem might be to get off your butt! This is true because taking breaks can help wake up your butt muscles, so take breaks often and if you can take a walk, even better.
Another thing that you can do is adjust your chair so that your hips are slightly above your knees, with your feet resting flat on the floor. Make sure your lower back is supported by a sturdy chair back or a pillow.
Keep a good posture, with your shoulders relaxed and your computer screen should be at eye level or slightly below, that way you’re not bending down or slouching. Elbows should be about table height and make sure you’re close enough to your desk that you’re not reaching out for the keyboard.
Most importantly, make sure your glutes are getting plenty of exercise and yes, squats can help, but there are many other exercises that you can try, such as pilates, barre classes, which target the hips, and yoga too. Check out this workout to help strengthen your glutes and reverse damage:
