Tonawanda 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 Tonawanda back pain sufferers, walking, balanced, up-right. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation 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 time to discuss them all. Your Tonawanda chiropractor is focusing on the gluteal muscles in this article. 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 – performing exercises that strengthen those while not using others like the erector spinae and tensor fascia latae is desirable. Side bridge while raising the dominant leg is one exercise that showed itself to be good to activate the gluteal muscle over tensor fascia latae muscle. (An aside: Back bridge exercise showed itself beneficial in strengthening the multifidus muscle.) (1) One variation of side plank is the side-sling plank. Researchers explained that it increased gluteus medius strength post-injury. Side-sling plank with hip medial rotation proved itself better for patients with gluteus medius weakness but dominant 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 detail for back pain sufferers like those Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation care for in our Tonawanda chiropractic practice. Another variation that showed itself 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 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 easy exercise that activated the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles while minimizing tensor fascia latae muscles was the clam exercise. (4) With such a variety of exercises to choose from, allow your Tonawanda chiropractor to help pinpoint which of your supportive muscles are weak and determine which exercises - natrual parts of chiropractic care - are best to strengthen them.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
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 Tonawanda chiropractic appointment with Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation today. Don’t just sit on your weak glute muscles. Strengthen them, so they can best support you!
