Baton Rouge 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 those of us who suffer with Baton Rouge back pain, walking, balanced, up-right. Spine & Sports Rehab Center takes gluteal muscle strength seriously, especially 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 time to discuss them all. Your Baton Rouge chiropractor is focusing on the gluteal muscles in this article. 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 – doing exercises that strengthen those while not activating others like the erector spinae and tensor fascia latae is advantageous. 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 showed itself beneficial in strengthening the multifidus muscle.) (1) A variation of side plank is the side-sling plank. Researchers found that it enhanced gluteus medius strength post-injury. Side-sling plank with hip medial rotation demonstrated itself better in patients with gluteus medius weakness  but  stronger 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 detail for back pain sufferers like those Spine & Sports Rehab Center takes care of in our Baton Rouge chiropractic practice. 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 focused on triggering the gluteus max and gluteus medius without involving surrounding muscles like the tensor fascia latae, etc., are vital. One easy exercise that triggered 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 Baton Rouge 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 Spine & Sports Rehab Center

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 incorporated exercise.

Schedule your Baton Rouge chiropractic appointment with Spine & Sports Rehab Center today. Don’t just sit on your weak glute muscles. Strengthen them, so they can best support you!