I thought I was making up the name of this condition, but it turns out that if you google it, you will get hits. It seems to be a common condition these days, for both men and women. It can be caused from sitting too much. While I was a massage therapist in New Jersey, I thought it was a caused by tight hamstrings. When I moved to New York and had to go back to massage school to get my NY massage license, my Myology teacher cleared up that misconception. He explained that it was from under developed gluteal muscles. Chances are that tight hamstrings are also present with Flat Butt Syndrome, but they are not the cause. So as a massage therapist, loosening up the hamstrings will not save someone's butt. That was disappointing news for me because I like the idea of making someone look better in pants.
In Esther Gokhale's book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, she says that walking incorrectly causes under-developed gluteal muscles, in particular, the gluteus medius muscles. She goes into great detail about how to walk correctly. As she explains it, "Walking should be a series of controlled forward propulsions. The buttock and leg muscles contract strongly to propel the body forward, thus getting the exercise they need while the back is spared unnecessary wear and tear." So walking correctly not only makes our backsides more appealing it also reduces back pain. In her book she has many pictures of people walking correctly and some walking incorrectly. The difference in body physique is amazing.
Yesterday I was out and about and noticed a woman with a concave butt. I didn't even know that was possible. If I didn't have laryngitis I would have given her my card, because it looked like her lower back must be in constant pain. Maybe I will run into her again on a day when I can talk.
I did see a lot of interesting stuff when I did my google search, including some great youtube videos from personal trainers who know much more about building glutes than I do. Here is a link I particularly like: 4 exercises to get rid of Flat Butt Syndrome
The quality isn't great, but the content is very good. I started doing these myself, because who doesn't want a better looking backside? Esther Gokhale also has an exercise in her book to help develop the gluteus medius which looks very similar to one of the exercises on the video except that it doesn't use weights.
So if you have Flat Butt Syndrome, there is hope. But it does require some effort on your part. Why not get started today?
