The gluteus medius muscle is the key stabiliser of the hip. This is part of the buttock complex of muscles. Sarah Connors gives her top tips about this important group of muscles in running.The gluteus medius muscle is the key stabiliser of the hip. This is part of the buttock complex of muscles. Sarah Connors gives her top tips about this important group of muscles in running.
The glut med stops the hip dropping when standing on one leg and stops the leg turning in at the knee. Lets have a look to see if yours is working.
Stand with you back against the wall feet slightly apart and about a foot distance away from the wall. Now try lifting one knee, this is quite a general test but you very quickly get the idea if you can keep the hip still or not, do you find your leaning your upper body or shifting the weight to keep you upright??
If you are not able to do this then you certainly won’t be running correctly the pelvis will be dropping and or shifting across. This will cause an abnormal posture and loads the joints and muscles incorrectly. Think how many times this is repeated when running.
If the glut isn’t turning the thigh out then there are a lot of torsional forces happening in the lower leg and knee. It can cause the runner to think they are overpronating, where the foot collapses. This can lead to wearing the wrong shoes and further problems. It’s a wonder how we all run!
Try this simple exercise to start strengthening the gluts called bridging:
- Lay on your back with the knees bent.
- Roll the pelvis back so the back is flat on the floor then slowly lift the spine form the floor till the hips are in line with the knee. Make sure the gluts are doing the work by squeezing the buttocks. Hols for 10 seconds and repeat x 10.
