Sitting for long periods of time can be uncomfortable.
Eight hours at an office job can mean hours of sedentary work.
And now Chris Kolba, an Ohio State University physical therapist, has put a name on the leg and back pain associated with those long days spent in an office chair: Dormant Butt Syndrome.
"That glute muscle is a big shock absorber, and it controls a lot of motion," Kolba said. "When it's not working properly, it can cause other tissues to work harder and break down."
The condition causes a reduced range of motion and pain in the lower back, hips and knees.
The phenomenon has also been called Dead Butt Syndrome. Neither term is an official medical diagnosis.
But Kolba says workers can take steps to combat the "syndrome."
"The important thing is keeping your hips mobile and loose through stretching and flexibility exercises," he said. "And then doing specific exercises to strengthen the glutes such as squats, bridges and lunges. Prolonged inactivity causes muscle imbalances, so when people do get up to go walk or try to play with their kids things start to break down. That leads to this pain they think is coming out of nowhere."
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