Burlington and Hamilton Gluteus Muscle Weakness Helped by Exercise: Planks

The glutes are for more than just sitting! They must be strong and supportive to keep us, especially us Burlington and Hamilton back pain sufferers, walking, balanced, up-right. Spinal Care Clinic considers gluteal muscle strength seriously, particularly the gluteus medius muscle, one of the more prominent supportive spine muscles along with the gluteus maximus, tensor fascia latae, lumbar multifidus, external oblique, erector spinae, and rectus abdominus. So many muscles, so little time to talk about them all. Your Burlington and Hamilton chiropractor is focusing on the gluteal muscles in this article. The others will be discussed in the future.

FOCUSING ON WEAK GLUTEUS MUSCLES WITH SIDE PLANK OR BRIDGE

When supportive muscles are weak – gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, multifidus and transverse abdominus – doing exercises that strengthen those while not activating others like the erector spinae and tensor fascia latae is advantageous. Side bridge while raising the dominant leg is one exercise that showed itself to be effective to activate the gluteal muscle and not the tensor fascia latae muscle. (An aside: Back bridge exercise showed itself helpful in strengthening the multifidus muscle.) (1) One modification of side plank is the side-sling plank. Researchers found that it increased gluteus medius strength after injuries. Side-sling plank with hip medial rotation proved itself superior in patients with gluteus medius weakness  but  stronger tensor fasciae latae. (2) Side bridge exercises were documented to strengthen hip, trunk, and abdominal muscles as well as challenge trunk muscles without high lumbar compression, an important point for back pain sufferers like those Spinal Care Clinic takes care of in our Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic office. Another variation that was described as being superior to the others for strengthening a weak gluteus medius muscle was the side bridge with knee flexion. (3) When glute muscles are weaker than their surrounding muscles, exercises concentrated on activating the gluteus max and gluteus medius without involving surrounding muscles like the tensor fascia latae, etc., are key. One simple exercise that triggered the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles while keeping to a minimum tensor fascia latae muscles was the clam exercise. (4) With so many different types of exercise possibilities, depend on your Burlington and Hamilton chiropractor to help pinpoint which of your supportive muscles are weak and determine which exercises - natrual parts of chiropractic care - are most beneficial in strengthening them.

CONTACT Spinal Care Clinic

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Robert Krause on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he discusses care of a patient with back pain due to degenerative disc disease who found relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management that incorporated exercise.

Schedule your Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic appointment with Spinal Care Clinic today. Don’t just sit on your weak glutes. Strengthen them, so they can best support you!