In America today, more and more people are inactive and sit for long periods of time.  Many jobs require people to sit all day.  When you are sitting, your hip flexors are shortening and stiffening and your glutes become dormant.  When you have overly stiff hip flexors (in this case usually psoas, rectus femoris, tensor fascia latae or a combination) and glutes that are weak, don't fire, and are virtually non-existent, your low back, knees, and/or hamstrings tend to pick up a lot of the slack. 

People with back pain often have very weak glutes that don't turn on when they are needed.  With no support from these hip muscles, the back absorbs much of the force that is created with various movements, which in time is bound to lead to back problems. 

If hip flexors are too stiff and you can't get your hip into full extension with the glute muscles, anterior hip pain can also occur since the hamstring will try to perform the extension instead of the glutes, and cause the femur to rub against the joint capsule.  

If you are talking about athletes, those with no glutes often perform movements in a strictly quad dominant fashion.  With no assistance from the glutes, the knee joints end up taking extra stress and pain and injuries can result. 

Glutes are one of the biggest, strongest, and most powerful muscles in the body (at least they should be) and athletes that don't use them to their full potential are not only asking for pain and injuries, but also are hindering themselves from their ultimate performance potential. 

So what needs to be done to fix this problem?  The hip flexors (and any other stiff areas) need to lengthened and mobilized, and the glutes need to be activated and strengthened.  I will give some examples of how to accomplish this in my next post.  Stay tuned!

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