Found this useful article and wanted to share it. One of the most useful ones I’ve read on the matter because it goes beyond telling you what’s going on to telling you how to address it. .
Searching ‘gluteus medius’ on Pubmed I found these three abstracts that can add to the picture.
“The direction of the fibres of the anterior and middle parts of the gluteus medius and the anterior part of the gluteus minimus suggested that they have vertical pull and initiate abduction which is then completed by the tensor fasciae latae. The function of the posterior parts of the gluteus medius and minimus, being parallel to the neck of the femur, would be stabilization of the femoral head in the acetabulum during the different stages of the gait cycle. By resolving the line of action of the tensor fasciae latae muscle, it was found to help the muscle to fix the hip and femur together during the stance phase and to counteract the weight of the body during standing position.”
The functional anatomy of hip abductors.
Al-Hayani A.
Folia Morphol (Warsz). 2009 May;68(2):98-103.
================================================================================
” Functional exercises are often used in strengthening programs after lower extremity injury. Activation levels of the stabilizing hip muscles have not been documented. OBJECTIVE: To document the progression of hip-muscle activation levels during 3 lower extremity functional exercises. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: 44 healthy individuals, 22 women and 22 men. Intervention: Subjects, in 1 testing session, completed 3 trials each of the lunge (LUN), single-leg squat (SLSQ), and step-up-and-over (SUO) exercise.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Root-mean-square muscle amplitude (% reference voluntary muscle contraction) was measured for 5 muscles during the 3 exercises: rectus femoris (RF), dominant and nondominant gluteus medius (GMed_D and GMed_ND), adductor longus (ADD), and gluteus maximus (GMX).
RESULTS: The RF, GMAX, and GMed_D were activated in a progression from least to greatest during the SUO, LUN, and SLSQ. The progression for the GMed_ND activation was from least to greatest during the SLSQ, SUO, and then LUN. Activation levels of the ADD showed no progression. CONCLUSION: Progressive activation levels were documented for muscles acting on the hip joint during 3 functional lower extremity exercises. The authors recommend using this exercise progression when targeting the hip muscles during lower extremity strengthening.”
Hip-muscle activation during the lunge, single-leg squat, and step-up-and-over exercises.
Boudreau SN, Dwyer MK, Mattacola CG, Lattermann C, Uhl TL, McKeon JM.
J Sport Rehabil. 2009 Feb;18(1):91-103.
===============================================================================
OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of additional strengthening of hip abductor and lateral rotator muscles in a strengthening quadriceps exercise rehabilitation programme for patients with the patellofemoral pain syndrome. DESIGN: Randomized controlled pilot trial. SETTING: Clinical setting with home programme. PARTICIPANTS: Fourteen patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome. INTERVENTION: The subjects were randomly assigned to the intervention group (strengthening of quadriceps plus strengthening of hip abductor and lateral rotator muscles) or to the control group (strengthening of quadriceps). Both groups participated in a six-week home exercise protocol. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The perceived pain symptoms, isokinetic eccentric knee extensor, hip abductor and lateral rotator torques and the gluteus medius electromyographic activity were assessed before and after treatment. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to compare the groups before and after treatment with alpha=0.05.
RESULTS: Only the intervention group improved perceived pain symptoms during functional activities (P=0.02-0.04) and also increased their gluteus medius electromyographic activity during isometric voluntary contraction (P=0.03). Eccentric knee extensors torque increased in both groups (P=0.04 and P=0.02). There was no statistically significant difference in the hip muscles torque in either group. CONCLUSION: Supplementation of strengthening of hip abductor and lateral rotator muscles in a strengthening quadriceps exercise programme provided additional benefits with respect to the perceived pain symptoms during functional activities in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome after six weeks of treatment.
The effect of additional strengthening of hip abductor and lateral rotator muscles in patellofemoral
pain syndrome: a randomized controlled pilot study.
Nakagawa TH, Muniz TB, Baldon Rde M, Dias Maciel C, de Menezes Reiff RB, Serrão FV.
Clin Rehabil. 2008 Dec;22(12):1051-60.
====================================================================
