Nashua 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 Nashua back pain sufferers, walking, balanced, up-right. Moriarty Chiropractic 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 talk about them all. Your Nashua 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 using others like the erector spinae and tensor fascia latae is desirable. Side bridge while raising the dominant leg is one exercise that demonstrated its ability 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 explained that it improved gluteus medius strength after injuries. Side-sling plank with hip medial rotation demonstrated itself better in patients with gluteus medius weakness  but  dominant 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 Moriarty Chiropractic care for in our Nashua chiropractic office. 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 adjacent 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 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 choose from, depend on your Nashua 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 Moriarty Chiropractic

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 Nashua chiropractic appointment with Moriarty Chiropractic today. Don’t just sit on your weak glutes. Strengthen them, so they can support you best!