Health
'Dead butt syndrome' could happen after sitting too long, here's how to avoid the condition
Sitting for prolonged periods is known to raise the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity — but it can also contribute to “dead butt syndrome,” according to health experts who specialize in musculoskeletal injuries.
The condition, otherwise known as gluteal amnesia, involves numbness or pain in the buttocks, or pain in the upper thigh and hip, after prolonged sitting.
“The term gluteal amnesia, or ‘dead butt,’ can correlate with difficulty feeling or accessing glute activation in a particular exercise or activity,” Dr. Carrie Pagliano, a physical therapist in Arlington, Virginia, and spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), told Fox News Digital.
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Causes and symptoms of ‘dead butt syndrome’
Over time, sitting for long periods can result in a “tug of war” scenario between muscles in the front (hip flexors) and those in the back of the hip (the glutes).
Sitting for prolonged periods can contribute to “dead butt syndrome,” according to health experts who specialize in musculoskeletal injuries. (iStock)
“The hip flexors shorten and tighten, and the gluteal muscles get over lengthened, leading to inefficient muscle activation,” Tamar Amitay, a licensed physical therapist and owner of Thrive Integrated Physical Therapy in New York City, told Fox News Digital.
This muscle imbalance can literally become a “pain in the butt,” especially for those who sit for long hours on a daily basis, experts agreed.
“The term ‘dead butt syndrome’ is simply a weakening and deconditioning of the glute muscles and associated tightening of muscles opposing them, creating an imbalance of the musculature and function,” Edward Farrell, an orthopedic physical therapist at Physical Solutions Physical Therapy and Fitness on Long Island, New York, told Fox News Digital.
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Farrell often sees patients who suffer from pain and tightness in the hips and buttocks, along with discomfort in the lower back.
“Older patients will often report long days at work sitting at their desk, and younger patients may have a habit of spending hours playing video games or social media surfing,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Once we can resolve the acute issue, the take-home message is to get up and move around every once in a while.”
With dead butt syndrome, the glute muscle doesn’t actually die, but rather “shuts down,” meaning it does not contract as efficiently, the experts said. This can lead to other issues down the road.
“The condition can actually become quite serious,” Farrell warned.
The muscle imbalance can literally become a “pain in the butt,” especially for those who sit for long hours on a daily basis, experts said. (iStock)
“The glutes — the gluteus medius in particular — act as stabilizers, providing lateral support with walking and running,” he said. “If these muscles become weakened and less efficient, more stress is passed onto the lower back and other areas of the hip and thigh.”
When the pelvis is not stabilized, the hip can drop on one side, causing stress and pain in the hip and spine and even down the kinetic chain to the knee, according to Amitay. This can also affect how a person walks.
Diagnosing the condition
If someone is experiencing dead butt syndrome, a physician may recommend the Trendelenburg test, which can indicate weakness of the glute muscles responsible for hip abduction, according to experts.
With the test, the patient stands on one leg (holding onto an object if needed to avoid falling) for up to 30 seconds. If the pelvis drops on the contralateral side (the side not bearing weight), it indicates weakness in the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscles, according to peer-reviewed studies.
In many cases, physical therapy sessions may be needed to properly strengthen the muscles and help with flexibility, an expert said. (iStock)
Some patients may complain that they don’t feel their gluteal muscles contract strongly when performing glute-targeted exercises, such as a bridge, physical therapists noted.
“If you’re doing glute exercises and can’t feel your glutes, it’s worth consulting with a physical therapist to determine why you’re experiencing difficulty accessing these muscles,” Pagliano told Fox News Digital.
Recommended treatment
Treatments for gluteal amnesia may include therapies to help alleviate pain and tightness, such as moist heat, electrical stimulation, ultrasound and ice, Farrell noted.
“Once symptoms lessen, exercises [are performed] to strengthen the abductors and glutes, such as squats, side clamshells and side leg lifts, as well as stretching for the hip flexors, ITB band and piriformis,” he said.
“Once we can resolve the acute issue, the take-home message is to get up and move around every once in a while.”
Using a standing desk is one way to help prevent dead butt syndrome, experts advised. (iStock)
In many cases, physical therapy sessions may be needed to strengthen the muscles and increase flexibility, according to Pagliano.
Targeted exercises that optimize core strength and muscle balance can also help to prevent and reverse dead butt syndrome, she said.
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Lifestyle changes, such as using a standing desk and setting a timer to remind you to get up from your chair and move around, can also help, Amitay advised.
Several physical therapists recommended getting up every 30 minutes and walking around for a minute or two to help mitigate the negative effects of sitting for too long.
“Once symptoms lessen, exercises [are performed] to strengthen the abductors and glutes, such as squats, side clamshells and side leg lifts, as well as stretching for the hip flexors, ITB band and piriformis,” a physical therapist said. (iStock)
Standing during phone calls and taking walks during lunch hours can also help decrease the amount of time spent sitting, they advised.
Following a general exercise routine that incorporates stretching, strengthening and cardio workouts is also widely recommended.
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Those who are experiencing symptoms of dead butt syndrome should contact a physical therapist or physician who specializes in musculoskeletal injuries.
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A new injectable therapy is showing positive results in reducing melanoma throughout a five-year period.
The personalized mRNA cancer therapy, called intismeran autogene, combined with the cancer immunotherapy drug KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), is a collaboration between Merck and Moderna.
The results from the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 27.
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After about a five-year follow-up, the combo drug was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone.
The researchers analyzed data from 157 patients with high-risk stage 3 and 4 melanoma whose cancer had been removed via surgery. The participants were split into two groups — one received the combo therapy and the other only received pembrolizumab, according to a press release.
The therapy was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone after a five-year follow-up. (iStock)
The findings revealed that the combination group saw benefits that were “sustained and durable over time.”
Intismeran autogene is designed using mutations identified in a patient’s own tumor, with the intention of teaching the immune system what the cancer looks like so that it can recognize and attack it.
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According to the researchers, intismeran is “well-tolerated” with a “manageable” safety profile.
The most commonly cited side effects of the personalized mRNA vaccine plus KEYTRUDA were fatigue, injection-site pain, chills, fever and headache. The researchers reported no new long-term safety concerns and no severe vaccine-related adverse events.
The combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study — the final confirmation stage.
Patients with late-stage melanoma have a “significant risk” of cancer recurrence, according to an expert. (iStock)
In a Merck press release from January, Kyle Holen, MD, Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, oncology and therapeutics, noted that this data highlights the “potential of a prolonged benefit … in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.”
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“We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, also commented that for many patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma, there is a “significant risk of recurrence following surgery.”
Researchers confirmed that the combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study. (iStock)
“As such, demonstrating the longer-term potential of intismeran autogene and KEYTRUDA to reduce the risk of recurrence for certain patients with melanoma is a meaningful milestone,” she said.
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The company cited encouraging five-year follow-up data and pointed to upcoming late-stage INTerpath trial results with Moderna in several hard-to-treat cancers.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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