are you having low back pain with a keenest usefully one side have you
heard about the gluteus medius welcome back to my channel any Pilates physical
therapist this video I will be discussing the anatomy the function of this muscle and some
demonstrations so you can follow along and strengthen this lovely muscle that
will help support your spine so get your mat ready and join me [Music]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] let's discuss first the anatomy of the gluteus medius it's a muscle that's part of your
glutes muscles so it's underneath and on the side of the gluteus maximus which is the largest muscle
of our body so if there's the midis the Maximus and the minimus so the medius starts on the origin
of the iliac crest the ilium fibers so it's like a fan shape all the way down to the sciatic notch
so this muscle has done tear fiber middle and posterior fiber is almost like the deltoid of
the hip if there's a deltoid upper shoulder that helps stabilize this shoulder this muscle is so
important to stabilize the pelvis so if there's weakness in one side it causes the drooping on
the pelvis that causes that shift cause a sub sacral iliac dysfunction on your pelvis area as
well as the foundation of your spine on your sacrum and lumbar area because of the origin
of the muscle if there's weakness then it gets really painful in a tee and stiff then two fibers
help thee during flexion for medial rotation or internal rotation so you'll be surprised it's not
just an major abduction off the hip so it helps initiate the abduction as well as stabilize the
pelvis and then the posterior fibers of the muscle firs help expansion and external rotate and then
the middle fibers helps a B duction just imagine there's so much function on this muscle so if you
don't strengthen this muscle to limit your flexion and medial rotation abduction and extension and
external rotation and because there's so much fibers so there's a tear middle and posterior
fibers it's almost like your deltoid of your shoulder there's anterior middle and posterior
deltoid fiber has a different function so that's the gluteus medius it helps stabilize your pelvis
and it helps to Center it like a heart-shaped pelvic bone and if there's weakness it causes a
lob sided pelvis and there's more impact rotation on your spine so I even have low back pain
sometimes bursitis on your hip so this is a very important muscle to strengthen and usually gets
really weak fast not like your minimus and your maximus muscles that the maximus is the largest
muscle that helps for squatting and hip extension so the first exercise is sideline you're gonna lie
on your right side so I'm gonna focus on my left which is Mary her side and this is the heel slide
so you're gonna slide your heel on your chin area underlying side take a deep breath bellybutton in
and slowly extend your leg to extension and then slowly go down and blow you engage your core by
taking a deep breath pulling a belly button in so slide inhale one breath is one motion and blow and
then slowly Gotha my recommendation is to do this up to ten repetitions but if you're beginner and
this is too difficult especially with tightness it's okay it's not that straight yet if your first
time because of weakness it's okay just to slide it let's try your best straighten up and down boom
the slower the better and more muscle contraction you're gonna feel your gluteus medius working hard
and you might feel some spasm and pain and let's find as long as you're doing it gently and you're
doing a contract relaxed so take a deep breath lift gently and down low so if you notice I'm
not plopping my foot down I'm doing it gently inhale through your nose belly button in and
lift and down so you feel that lovely stretch take a deep breath belly button in so when you're doing
this position you feel it contracting and extend you lengthen the muscle and down blow it slowly
build it up up to 10 reps and it's okay making sure engaging your core stable with your hip or
else you're gonna lose your balance and blow now will to reverse this time we go up twist inhale
if you feel your gluteus medius band and slowly go down and blow keeping your back in neutral
with your breaths inhale belly button in and blow feel that lovely stretch and contract relax off
the muscle inhale through your nose we'll do 10 reps again focusing on my left side and this is
for demonstration only and my recommendations 10 repetitions and it's okay to start with a
few reps if you feel like it's so weak on your gluteus medius inhale through your nose belly
button in engage your core muscles inhale and blow take a deep breath through your nose belly button
in and blow you kneel slowly and surely a swan you take a deep breath and then hold it on this
position and if you're leaning forward like this you're targeting your hip flexor so you want to
make sure your back is straight neutral looking forward not upward and gonna slowly do small
circle clockwise first like a size of a small dish sound repetition and you're gonna really feel the
burn on that muscle inhale belly button in engage your core and blow breaths inhale fear and those
feel the burn and you know it's really weak and my recommendation is also to target the other side
but you can see the difference of the strength of that muscle now reverse counterclockwise
small circle the slower the better making sure you're not rocking your hips control targeting
that muscle and you can put your head down if your neck is hurting you don't have to lift your head
up inhale you can use a pillow to support your neck belly button in and blow take a deep breath
through your nose feel the burn last four and one who filled the bird and the next one is clamshell
so this muscle torque is also being targeted with this exercise and you open lip here and
move up so with your knees bent just like a shell opening and my recommendation is ten reps and hold
it for five four three two one and down and the progression of this exercise you can put a pan
around your thigh area not on your knees so you won't hurt your knee and do it as well with the
pan and there's different resistance band you can start with and my recommendation is start with the
yellow band that's usually the lightest before you go to the darker color bands the therapeutic Faro
bands that you can purchase online for some of them are a different variety of strength pants on
the resistance they can tolerate so you and this is the progression with your feet up so this has
more range and really targeting that area this is the origin of the muscle remember I said it
starts on the iliac area and you can feel it here so it feels like a low back pain and even though
it's not your spine it's your hip it's amazing how it causes pain if it's weak so hold it for
five four three two one and my progression again is to progress with the band around your thighs
wraps around and I'll show it to you next video the progression and I'll do a follow along program
take a deep breath belly button in and so the next one because the gluteus medius is an internal
rotator with your leg up like this such reverse clam and blow so this helps target the gluteus
medius when your hip is in slight inflection so when your knees bent lifting your heel and take
a deep breath and hold it for 5 4 3 2 1 and the progression again is placing a thera-band around
your ankle and resisting it in this way and you feel more on the origin of the muscle your low
back area take a deep breath don't forget your breath belly button in engage your core and blow
three more to go Abel is sleeping well snoring loudly two more take a deep breath belly button
in and blow last one take a deep breath inhale through your nose and blow so this is the last
exercise we call it the gluteus medius targeting it with your knee bent all the way down to the mat
keeping your back in neutral and gently kick back it's almost like a pmf pattern with your heels
up internal rotate toes pointing down the map and you really target that muscle and blow take a deep
breath through your nose belly button and feel the burn so this is the hard one huh as you progress
and you can do only a few rep repetitions that's fine and I could feel it now on my left side which
is my bigger side so in my next video I will be showing in both hips I recommend doing it both so
that you are balanced and your hip your pelvic will not be unstable so next B there will be a
follow along program targeting the gluteus medius and I'll add the therapy end so you should bring
a thera-band as well on their progression as you continue doing this daily for a week and I think
you're ready for the progression two more to go take a deep breath through your nose belly button
in and lift gently toes pointing down heels up to the sky last one feel the burn then we're gonna
hold it for five four three two one and down and that's it I'm hoping you learned a lot on this
gentle gluteus medius below the space physical therapy treatment plan please like the video
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again for watching I'm hoping you feeling much better in your low back area with our
simple gentle the lattice based physical therapy have a great and healthier you bye