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Lower Back Pain Causes & Solutions Gluteus medius and minimus Stretch

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Gluteus medius and minimus Stretch:- Start Position
  1. Sit on the ground. Keep your left leg straight out in front, and rest the sole of your right foot against your left knee.
  2. Keep your hip, torso and face square, and make sure that your left knee cap is pointing directly up to the ceiling.
  3. Scapulas anchored and back long.
Gluteus medius and minimus Stretch:- Action
  1. Breathe in, and zip and hollow.
  2. (Breathing out): lengthen up through the spine, and curl your spine forward, starting with your neck, and working down to your lumbar spine. Do not twist over one leg, but stay in the centre.
  3. Take four wide full breaths in this position. Long neck, chin gently tucked, and scapulas anchored.
  4. Let your arms rest gently in front, with palms up.
  5. (Breathing out): zip, hollow, and rebuild your spine, uncoiling fro the hip up.
  6. Twice both sides.
Comment: This exercise stretches the Gluteus minimus and anterior Gluteus medius.
You should feel a tightness along the side of your pelvis.
(ruptured gluteus medius, ruptured gluteus minimus, tendinopathy, Scroll right>>>>....)
The Sitting Gluteus medius and minimus Stretch - Start Position
BchBllHStrngStre1 Action
BchBllHStrngStre2
Watch Points
  • Do not pull on the neck and head. Think rather of gently cradling!
  • Keep the upper chest open.
© Bruce Thomson, EasyVigour Project 		Diagrams:
Gluteus minimus pglutmin
Gluteus medius
pglutmin
Gluteus maximus with its tendinous portion cut away to show the Gluteus minimus: The top portion of Gluteus maximus is able to take some of the workload off the Gluteus minimus.
pglutmaxmin
Rupture of Gluteus medius and minimus:-
The Gluteus medius and minimus are the side struts for the pelvis. They bear the brunt of stabilization when you stand on one leg - as for example during "stance phase" of walking. In modern man they are prone to shortening and weakening, with the results of tendinopathy, tendonitis, bursitis, and rupture or tear of the Gluteus medius and minimus muscles themselves. Trigger points are common, and the Gluteus minimus trigger points in particular can transmit pain all the way down the side of the leg - which is extremely misleading, but that is the nature of trigger points! (More info...Triggerpoint Therapy Workbook). The Solutions:-
  • Stretch the Gluteus medius and minimus! - The exercise on this page is very good because it also mobilises the spine and hamstrings!
  • Get your lazy Gluteus maximus working: This large muscle should provide a major component of side support to your pelvis!
Reference
  1. Shirley A Sahrmann: Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes; Publ. Mosby 2002
  2. The Official Body Control Pilates Manual Available from: http://www.bodycontrol.co.uk/
  3. LaBan, Myron M. MD, MMSc; Weir, Susan K. MD; Taylor, Ronald S. MD: 'Bald Trochanter' Spontaneous Rupture of the Conjoined Tendons of the Gluteus Medius and Minimus Presenting as a Trochanteric Bursitis. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. 83(10):806-809, October 2004.