Have Your Glutes Really “Shut Off”? Let’s Talk About It.

“Your glutes have shut off.”

Maybe you’ve heard this from a health professional. Or perhaps you’ve been told your glutes are “asleep,” “not firing,” or that you need to “turn them back on.”

I understand where this language comes from.

As healthcare professionals, part of our job is taking complicated concepts involving anatomy, movement and the nervous system and explaining them in a way that makes sense to the person sitting in front of us.

But there comes a point where simplifying something stops being helpful.

Because when I tell you that your glutes have “shut off,” what might you actually hear?

My muscle isn't working.

Something is wrong with me.

I need someone to turn it back on.

And in many cases, that isn't actually what is happening.

First, There Are Times When a Muscle Truly Isn't Functioning Normally

Before we go any further, there is an important distinction to make.

Neurological conditions, nerve injuries and other circumstances can absolutely interfere with a muscle's ability to receive or respond to neurological input. These conditions exist, and they require appropriate assessment, diagnosis and care.

That isn't what I'm challenging.

I'm talking about the otherwise healthy person who walks into a clinic with hip discomfort, low-back pain, decreased strength, restricted movement or difficulty recruiting their glutes and is simply told:

“Your glutes have shut off.”

That's where I believe our language as healthcare professionals needs to be better.

Your Glutes Aren't a Light Switch

Muscles don't generally operate as simply as ON or OFF.

If you're walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, stabilizing your pelvis or moving through your day, your glutes are participating in those movements in some capacity.

That doesn't necessarily mean they're contributing as effectively as we'd like.

And that's the important part.

Instead of asking:

“Why aren't your glutes working?”

A better question might be:

“Why don't your glutes currently have the capacity to contribute to this movement the way we want them to?”

Those two questions lead us down very different treatment paths.

Maybe Your Glutes Don't Need to Be “Turned On”

Let's say you're struggling to recruit your glutes.

The common solution might be to immediately introduce clamshells, bridges or banded exercises with the intention of “waking them up.”

But as a Registered Massage Therapist, I'd rather first ask:

Why are they struggling to contribute?

What movement is currently available through your hip?

Are there tissues restricting that movement?

What happens through your pelvis when you try to extend your hip?

What happens when we add load?

Is there pain?

Is another area doing significantly more work to accomplish the movement?

Have you developed enough strength and tolerance in this position to produce what we're asking your body to produce?

These questions give us much more useful information than simply deciding that a muscle isn't firing.

Because you can repeatedly squeeze a muscle all you want, but if we haven't changed the environment we're asking that muscle to work within, we may continue fighting the same battle.

Your glutes may not have shut off at all.

They may simply not have the space, capacity, support or movement options required to contribute effectively to what you're asking your body to do.

Why the Words We Use Matter

This isn't just an argument about terminology.

The words healthcare professionals use become part of the way patients understand their bodies.

If you're repeatedly told that something is “off,” “broken,” “out,” “weak,” “tight” or “not firing,” eventually you may begin to believe that your body cannot function properly without someone fixing it for you.

That's not how I want my patients to leave my treatment room.

I want you to understand what we're finding.

If I believe a restriction is affecting the way you're moving, I should be able to explain that to you.

If I believe you don't currently have enough strength or capacity in a particular position, I should be able to explain why we're going to work on it.

And if what I'm seeing suggests something outside of my scope as an RMT, I should recognize that and refer you to the appropriate healthcare professional.

Using language patients can understand doesn't mean we need to oversimplify the human body.

There's a difference between making something accessible and dumbing it down so much that we've changed its meaning.

Patient education should leave you more informed about your body — not more afraid of it.

Treatment Isn't Enough. We Need to Teach.

This is the part I feel particularly strongly about.

If I identify an area where you don't currently have the movement, strength or support we want, my job shouldn't end with treating it.

I want to teach you what to do with the opportunity we've created.

Maybe treatment begins by addressing tissues that are restricted and creating more opportunity for movement.

Great.

Now what?

Now we need to teach your body how to support that movement.

That doesn't mean sending you home with twelve corrective exercises that you'll forget by tomorrow.

It can be incredibly simple.

Maybe we find one position where you can comfortably recruit those glute fibres.

Maybe we introduce a small amount of resistance.

Maybe it's five intentional repetitions.

Maybe we connect that movement to something you're already doing every day.

Then, as your capacity improves, we build.

Because the goal isn't to make your glutes perform for thirty seconds during an isolated test in the treatment room.

The goal is to build enough capacity that your body can access that support when you actually need it.

Create Space. Create Support. Restore Space.

This is a principle I come back to repeatedly in my work.

Create Space

If tissues are restricted or movement options have become limited, we first work toward creating more opportunity for movement.

Create Support

Once that movement is available, we introduce small, attainable actions that help your body develop strength and control within it.

This is where those glute exercises may absolutely have a place — but now there's a reason behind them.

We're not trying to “wake up” a sleeping muscle.

We're building its capacity to contribute.

Restore Space

As strength, load and movement demands increase, we continue giving the body opportunities to move, recover and adapt.

It's an ongoing relationship between mobility and stability — not a one-time switch from OFF to ON.

Your Body Isn't Broken. It May Need Better Options.

The human body isn't a collection of individual muscles waiting for a healthcare professional to switch them back on.

It's an adaptable system.

Sometimes that system needs treatment.

Sometimes it needs strength.

Sometimes it needs different movement options.

Sometimes pain is influencing how you move.

Sometimes something else entirely is happening and you need another healthcare professional involved.

And very often, your body simply needs time, appropriate load, achievable progression and some good teaching.

So no, I'm probably not going to tell you that your glutes have “shut off.”

I'd rather help you understand why they're having difficulty contributing to the movement we're asking of them and what we can do together to change that.

Because there's a big difference between telling someone their body isn't working and teaching them how to help it work better.

— Lyndsay Budgell, Registered Massage Therapist