Vancouver 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 Vancouver back pain sufferers, walking, balanced, up-right. Vancouver Disc Centers takes 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 Vancouver 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 – 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 showed itself to be effective 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) One modification of side plank is the side-sling plank. Researchers found 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 documented to strengthen hip, trunk, and abdominal muscles in addition to being able to challenge trunk muscles without high lumbar compression, an important point for back pain sufferers like those Vancouver Disc Centers takes care of in our Vancouver chiropractic practice. Another variation that showed itself 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 concentrated on triggering 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 Vancouver chiropractor to help pinpoint which of your supportive muscles are weak and decide which exercises - natrual parts of chiropractic care - are most beneficial in strengthening them.
CONTACT Vancouver Disc Centers
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 back pain due to degenerative disc disease who found relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management that incorporated exercise.
Schedule your Vancouver chiropractic appointment with Vancouver Disc Centers today. Don’t just sit on your weak glutes. Strengthen them, so they can best support you!
