People will ask me, “Val, why do the tendons in my butt hurt”?  There could be several reasons, but let’s start with the most straightforward one. 

If you ask someone who does yoga they would explain how the hips shorten and tighten. Through lack of exercise and movement, most of us lose much of our flexibility due to sitting in cars and lying on couches. There is a saying that goes, use it or lose it. It is meaningful for our minds as well as our bodies. But there is more. 

Muscle, once we begin to use it less, this  loss quietly continues until it at a dangerous level. Someone may not notice the loss until they fall and break a bone. Muscle absorbs shock,when the body becomes less dense there is less balance ,less ability to to prevent or withstand a fall. The loss also slows repair because the vascular response is not available. Veins run in and through muscles providing nourishment ,when the muscle is gone there is no reason for the network of vessels to stick around.

Muscle that has been maintained is use to repairing and growing and staying strong. It is there for the metabolism of food and oxygen and movement and quality of life. If you don’t want sore hip tendons don’t let your butt disappear. Pretty simple.

So, get up and move. Stretch your body during the day. Instead of walking down the hall, do squats to get from one part of the house to another. While you,re standing at the stove cooking, lift up one leg at a time, as high as you can comfortably raise it. If you can get to the gym, do some weight bearing exercise. And if all you can do is sit in a chair, that ‘s okay too. Lift one leg at a time, up and down until your muscles get fatigued. Then do the other leg.  Pul our arms up towards the sky and bend gently from side to side. Circle your arms in each direction. Just do a little more each day and you will find yourself getting stronger.

The stronger you get, the more you engage your core, the less your butt and all the other parts of your body will hurt.

 

Valentina Boonstra

Valhealing