Pflugerville Gluteus Muscle Weakness Helped by Exercise: Planks

There is so much more to the glutes than being seat cushions! They need to be strong and supportive to keep us, especially us Pflugerville back pain sufferers, walking, balanced, up-right. Pflugerville Wellness Center considers gluteal muscle strength seriously, particularly the gluteus medius muscle, one of the foremost 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 space to talk about them all. Your Pflugerville chiropractor is concentrating on the gluteal muscles this month. 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 – performing exercises that strengthen those while not activating others like the erector spinae and tensor fascia latae is desired. Side bridge while raising the dominant leg is one exercise that demonstrated its ability to be good to activate the gluteal muscle and not the tensor fascia latae muscle. (An aside: Back bridge exercise was helpful in strengthening the multifidus muscle.) (1) A variation of side plank is the side-sling plank. Researchers explained that it enhanced gluteus medius strength post-injury. Side-sling plank with hip medial rotation proved itself superior for patients with gluteus medius weakness  but  dominant 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 aspect for back pain sufferers like those Pflugerville Wellness Center care for in our Pflugerville chiropractic office. Another variation that was described as being better than the others for strengthening a weak gluteus medius muscle was the side bridge with knee flexion. (3) When glute muscles are weaker than their adjacent muscles, exercises concentrated on activating the gluteus max and gluteus medius without involving surrounding muscles like the tensor fascia latae, etc., are key. One easy exercise that triggered the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles while reducing the impact of the tensor fascia latae muscles was the clam exercise. (4) With such a variety of exercises to choose from, allow your Pflugerville 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 Pflugerville Wellness Center

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

Schedule your Pflugerville chiropractic appointment with Pflugerville Wellness Center today. Don’t just sit on your weak glutes. Strengthen them, so they can best support you!