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The REAL 'Purpose' of the Butt Wink | Week 66 | Movement Fix Monday
Oh the butt wink, such a hot topic.
The butt wink is typically thought of as the low back rounding during the bottom of the squat. Now, while that IS true (the low back does round during the butt wink), there actually is a purpose to the butt wink.
The purpose of the butt wink is to re-orient the hip socket
There is a difference between moving IN the hip joint and moving the hip joint itself.
First, let's look at a few picture where motion is happening purely at the hip joint itself.
The picture on the left and right have the same spinal curvature, same hip socket orientation, the only difference is there was motion in JUST the hip joint.
Now let's take a look at what happens when you move the hip joint itself in the pictures below.
In both of these pictures, femur is in the same position relative to the hip joint, however, the picture on the right would appear as a 'deeper squat' position. The reason for that isn't because more hip motion occurred, its because the hip joint ITSELF was re-positioned. That re-positioning requires the low back to round.
Let's take the femur out of the picture to more carefully look at how the socket of the hip is moved in space.
These pictures are the same as the 2 above, except I took the femur out of the socket. Now you can see how the hip socket itself is repositioned during the 'butt wink'.
The PURPOSE of the butt wink is re-orientation of the socket. The question would be WHY does the athlete reposition the hip socket? Is it because they have a hip joint mobility issue? Since they can't move in the hip joint, they have to move the socket?
- Do they have limited adductor flexibility?
- Do they have limited ankle range of motion?
- Do they just not know how to do it?
I put together a detailed document on how you can do a basic squat assessment. Click the link below to get access to that document.
Now, the question is, is the butt wink such a bad thing? The answer depends on the situation.
If someone is doing hip rep squatting or heavy squatting, I want the motion to occur IN their hip joint rather than repositioning the hip joint.
If someone is just hanging out to relax in a squat, I don't care that much.
Interestingly, in the shoulder, we re-position the shoulder SOCKET all the time!! We call that scapular or shoulder blade motion.
Normal shoulder mechanics REQUIRE the re-positioning of the shoulder socket. Since the shoulder blade isn't connected to the cervical spine the way the pelvis is attached to the lumbar spine, there is no spinal consequence of re-positioning the shoulder socket.
I hope you found this interesting.
Thanks for reading.
Watch the video.
-Ryan
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Mind blown! Let's say ankle mobility is not a problem, can t-spine mobility be what is the problem? I know about the 5-inch rule where you try to pass your toes in half kneeling to rule out ankle mobility. Just trying to figure out what is the next step or where to look if I see a lot of loss of lumbar lordosis in the squat? Thanks!
T spine could be a culprit. Implementing something like the functional movement screen to assess mobility with a movement such as the over head squat can be beneficial. In my very limited experience I have always thought butt winking to also possibly be the culprit of tight hamstrings and loss of core stability. Just another angle to consider. Not the gospel by any means. Just like with dead lifting of the hamstrings are tight this could pull the pelvis into a posterior tilt "butt wink" causing the loss of lumbar lordosis due to a moment of relative lumbar flexion. Loss of core stability can only exacerbate this. Be interested to hear other thoughts.
What are your thoughts on the ideas of joint cavity also being a possible contributor to the "butt wink?
I have found that I can significantly reduce the amount of butt wink in my female clients when I encourage them to get really tight in their lower abs and pelvic floor. When I have them move slowly into their squat, usually with a kettlebell, they can feel when they lose the tension in their abs at the bottom of the move. With strong focus on maintaining the tension throughout the movement pattern, their butts have limited, if any, wink.
That's a great point. There is a cross linking that goes on at the limbo pelvic region during a squat to maintain proper mechanics. If the butt wink is pathological or not it puts the lumbar spine in suboptimal alignment and can potentially lead to injury. I was wondering while reading this article if tightening the core would help control. the cross linking between the abdominals and hamstrings and then the hip flexors and erector spinae during the squat to maintain optimal alignment is ongoing. Thanks for helping answer one of my questions
thank you for your videos - we look forward to them. Is the butt wink okay - ever? or should we always be looking to fix it? I generally see a little bit of it at the very bottom (butt to ankle deep squat). thanks again Ryan!
Great article. Thanks for not being an information hog and sharing. If the cause of the butt wink happens to be repositions of the hip socket, would you still consider this to be pathological or at least suboptimal form since with the tilt of the pelvis and its connection to the L spine as it tilts posteriorly it creates relative lumbar flexion which when loaded repeatedly especially with heavy squats sets the client or patient up for injury. Or is it something that we tolerate as someone's bony anatomy and know we cannot alter it therefore we only work on hip mobility core strength and reduce depth of the squat? Thanks in advance and look forward to reading your response.
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