The name may inspire a fit of giggles — but “dead butt” syndrome is real — and it can lead to serious problems down the road.
It’s “quite a fun name to say,” Dr. Robert Trasolini, orthopedic surgeon, sports medicine, with Northwell Health, and assistant professor at Zucker School of Medicine, tells us.
“The term itself is trendy but the diagnosis, problems, side effects and risks associated with it are real and have been around for several years, if not longer.”
Trasolini says the official diagnosis is gluteus medius tendinosis‚ and it refers to “significant weakness in one of your gluteal muscles” — specifically the gluteus medius on the side.
Stock image of a person working in a cubicle.
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The syndrome is “something I think that is progressively worsening across the population,” he tells PEOPLE.
While it’s common in athletes, Trasolini said it’s also happening with the “sedentary population; essentially, people sitting at a desk for several hours a day.”
It can be caused by “poor ergonomics,” he explains, adding that people who shifted to working from home might have a less ergonomic environment than an office.
“Sitting with an arched back or slouching at your desk can “put significant pressure on your deep butt muscles as well as your lower back.”
“When you put pressure on your gluteus maximus and medius, these muscles will start to deactivate and not function as well.”
The first sign of a problem, he says, is “a little dull ache in that area.” Next, “you’ll notice more pain with activity — getting up from seated to standing will take a couple of seconds. Think of it like warming up the engine. You can’t just get up and start walking.”
“You feel like you have to give it a few seconds, get your bearings on the floor before you start walking.”
Stock image of someone slumping on a couch to work.
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Those early aches and pains can lead to serious problems down the road, Trasolini says.
“You just start causing some knee pain,” he says. Climbing stairs can start to hurt, and you can develop deep gluteal syndrome where “your hamstring attachment starts to fray and starts to kind of break down.“
“It can actually lead to symptoms where your sciatic nerve starts to play a role. And then once that weakens, it goes.”
The condition can progress to lower back pain where you put stress on your discs, he says, which can lead to herniations.
“If you don’t mitigate this early, it could cause irreversible damage down the line,” Trasolini tells us.
The good news, he says, is “this is a completely reversible problem” — if you pay attention to the early warning signs.
Stock image of a person suffering back pain while working at a desk.
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“There’s a whole host of therapy exercises where we can activate the gluteal muscles,” he said.
“Even at work, you can absolutely start to treat this. It’s taking more breaks, getting up every 30 minutes going for a short walk, standing up and stretching, activating that muscle. When you sit for three or four hours staring at a computer, you’re doing yourself a disservice.”
He advises, “Set an alarm every 30 minutes, get up stretch every hour, take a short walk for between three and five minutes. Those allow the muscle to respond and get this thing stronger.”
Overall, Trasolini advises people to listen to their bodies. “Pain is an indicator of something,” he says.
“Whether it’s mild or moderate or severe, you know, you want to acknowledge that and respect it,” he said. “If these are simple fixes, why not do them before it gets too far gone?”
