"Glute Amnesia": Why Your Sleeping Butt Muscles Are Causing Your Sciatica

You feel a sharp, shooting pain down your leg. Or maybe it’s a dull, nagging ache in your lower back that flares up every time you stand up after a long day at your desk.

You might treat the back. You might stretch the hamstrings. But the real culprit is likely a muscle you are sitting on right now.

You might be suffering from "Glute Amnesia" (clinically known as inhibited gluteal muscles).

At Phelts Chiropractic, we see this every day. And we have a solution that does what voluntary exercise often can't: Emsculpt Neo.

The Sitting Epidemic: How Your Glutes Fall Asleep

Your gluteus maximus is the largest, strongest muscle in the human body. Its job is to hold you upright and propel you forward. But modern life has put this muscle to sleep.

When you sit for 8+ hours a day, two things happen:

1. Hip Flexors Tighten: The muscles in the front of your hip shorten.
2. Glutes Turn Off: Through a process called Reciprocal Inhibition, when the front muscles get tight, the brain tells the back muscles (the glutes) to relax.

Eventually, your brain "forgets" how to fire your glutes properly. This is Glute Amnesia.

The Sciatica Connection

When your glutes stop working, they can't stabilize your pelvis or support your spine. Your lower back muscles are forced to take over a job they aren't designed for. This creates massive compression on the lumbar spine, often pinching the sciatic nerve.

To fix the back, you must wake up the butt.

The Solution: Emsculpt Neo

If your glutes are neurologically inhibited, doing squats in the gym often won't fix it. Your body will just "cheat" and use your lower back and other muscles instead, making the pain worse.

Emsculpt Neo solves this by bypassing the brain.

• Forced Activation: It uses HIFEM energy to force the gluteal muscles to contract supramaximally—up to 20,000 times in 30 minutes.
• No Cheating: The machine forces the glutes to fire 100%, re-educating the neuromuscular connection that sitting has destroyed.
• Pain Relief: As the glutes become active and strong, they immediately take the load off your lumbar spine, often providing rapid relief for sciatica.

Book Your Emsculpt Neo Consultation

The Phelts Difference: Applied Kinesiology (AK)

Simply putting paddles on your glutes isn't enough if your hip flexors are still locked up. This is where Dr. Phelts’ expertise in Applied Kinesiology ensures you get the best results.

We unlock the hips before we strengthen the glutes:

1. Muscle Testing: We test your glute strength against your hip flexor tightness to confirm "Glute Amnesia."
2. The Reset: We use AK corrections to release the tight hip flexors (Psoas/Iliacus) that are inhibiting the glutes.
3. The Activation: Once the "brakes" are off, we apply the Emsculpt Neo. Because we removed the neurological inhibition first, your glutes can finally contract fully and restore stability to your spine.

Complete Regenerative Care: EMSELLA and EMFACE

Restoring your body’s function rarely stops at one muscle group. At Phelts Chiropractic, we look at the whole picture:

• EMSELLA for Pelvic Stability: Your glutes and pelvic floor are neighbors. A weak pelvic floor contributes to the same instability that causes back pain.
  • Sexual Health: Beyond pain relief, Emsella is a breakthrough for intimacy. It treats men with erectile dysfunction and women who want to improve vaginal tightness, lubrication, and comfort.
  • Function: It treats urinary and fecal incontinence and improves gait, helping you walk pain-free.
  • Book Your EMSELLA Consultation
• EMFACE for Jaw Tension: Chronic pain often causes us to clench our teeth.
  • TMJ Relief: EMFACE is FDA-cleared for the treatment of TMJ. It relaxes the jaw while toning the lifting muscles of the face.
  • Aesthetics: It reduces wrinkles, firms sagging skin, and lifts the corners of the mouth, eyebrows, and under the chin, restoring a youthful look naturally.
  • Book Your EMFACE Consultation

Wake Up Your Glutes. Stop the Pain.

You don't have to live with sciatica or back pain. Sometimes, you just need to remind your muscles how to do their job.

Ready to wake up your sleeping glutes?

Schedule Your Consultation at Phelts Chiropractic

References

1. HIFEM for Musculoskeletal Enhancement: Clinical studies show that HIFEM technology (the energy in Emsculpt Neo) effectively strengthens muscles and improves musculoskeletal function, providing a non-invasive solution for conditions driven by muscle weakness.
   Source: PubMed - Non-invasive HIFEM technology for musculoskeletal system enhancement
2. Glute Inhibition and Back Pain: Research confirms the link between gluteus maximus inhibition ("Glute Amnesia") and chronic lower back pain, emphasizing the need for targeted neuromuscular re-education.
   Source: PubMed - The relationship between gluteus maximus activation and low back pain
3. Pelvic Floor and Gait (EMSELLA): Strengthening the pelvic floor has been shown to improve gait and stability, which works synergistically with glute strengthening to protect the spine.
   Source: PubMed - Noninvasive High-Intensity Focused Electromagnetic Therapy in Women With Urinary Incontinence
4. TMJ and Facial Muscle Tone (EMFACE): EMFACE is FDA-cleared to treat TMJ by normalizing the tone of facial muscles, providing relief from jaw tension and pain.
   Source: PMC - The Efficacy and Safety of Synchronized Radiofrequency and High Intensity Facial Electrical Stimulation