Montreal Gluteus Muscle Weakness Helped by Exercise: Planks

There is so much more to the glutes than being seat cushions! They must be strong and supportive to keep us, especially us Montreal back pain sufferers, walking, balanced, up-right. Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic 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 space to talk about them all. Your Montreal chiropractor is focusing on the gluteal muscles this month. More to come on the others!

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 desirable. Side bridge while lifting the dominant leg is one exercise that showed itself to be good in activating the gluteal muscle over tensor fascia latae muscle. (An aside: Back bridge exercise was helpful in strengthening the multifidus muscle.) (1) One variation of side plank is the side-sling plank. Researchers explained that it improved gluteus medius strength post-injury. Side-sling plank with hip medial rotation demonstrated itself better for patients with gluteus medius weakness  but  stronger tensor fasciae latae. (2) Side bridge exercises were described to strengthen hip, trunk, and abdominal muscles in addition to being able to challenge trunk muscles without high lumbar compression, an important item for back pain sufferers like those Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic takes care of in our Montreal chiropractic practice. 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 neighboring muscles, exercises focused on triggering the gluteus max and gluteus medius without involving surrounding muscles like the tensor fascia latae, etc., are vital. 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 such a variety of exercises to pick from, allow your Montreal chiropractor to help isolate which of your supportive muscles are weak and determine which exercises - natrual parts of chiropractic care - are most beneficial in strengthening them.

CONTACT Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic 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 degenerative disc disease and back pain who attained relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management that included exercise.

Schedule your Montreal chiropractic appointment with Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic today. Don’t just sit on your weak glutes. Strengthen them, so they can support you best!