“Glutes are important for any kind of movement, whether that’s walking or weight lifting,” says osteopath Anisha Joshi. “The problem is that we tend to spend so long sitting on them that they can become weak, and that can result in your quads, hips and lower back taking a lot of load during day-to-day activities.”

During my gymnastics days, I was throwing my body around without having enough glute strength to power my moves, meaning that my lower back was taking on a tonne of extra load (on top of what it was already carrying from my scoliosis). “Having glutes that aren’t engaged also means that they can’t support your posture when sitting, so you end up with poor posture,” adds Anisha.

Not only does the glute strength itself help alleviate some of this back pain, but the very act of exercising your glutes can teach you some important cues. “When doing glute strengthening the work, you learn so much about your body’s correct alignment. You can’t lift weights properly with tension in your lower back; you need to be able to neutralise your spine and release the flare in the ribcage. This encourages people to move out of excessive lordosis, a common posture which sees you stick the bum out and arch the spine, but which is terrible for the back,” says personal trainer Nancy Best.

Back pain: “How strengthening my glutes reduced my lower back pain”