Meet Your Glute Medius: the Forgotten Muscle?

These days, people spend a lot of time working on their gluteus maximus. Maybe it’s for aesthetic purposes. Yet, I barely get any love. They must not realize how important I am.

By Gardy Reglas

Hello everyone, my name is Gluteus Medius.  Please spare me a few minutes of your time to explain why you should pay more attention to me.

Let’s begin with where you can find me. I originate on the posterior aspect of the ilium, iliac crest, and the posterior superior iliac spine. I end up on the greater trochanter (a boney point at the top of the femur).  I’m responsible for hip abduction (moving your leg away from the midline of the body). My anterior fibers create hip internal rotation, while the posterior fibers are for hip external rotation. Those are my traditional functions.

As for integrated functions, I’m responsible for deceleration of hip adduction, and dynamic stabilization of lumbo-pelvic-hip complex. Here’s where things get interesting. The traditional functions are still the same, but now my anterior fibers slow down hip external rotation while the posterior fibers slow down hip internal rotation. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

What happens if and when I’m weak?

The best way to know for sure that you have a weak gluteus medius is to get a diagnosis from a medical professional, or an analysis from a certified fitness professional.  If it’s weak, you might feel:

• pain above the knee joint

• pain on the lateral aspect of the hip

• pain in the lumbar spine- specifically the Quadratus Lumborum- to compensate due to lack of stability and hip control.

So here are a couple of exercises to strengthen me!

Hip Abduction. Lie on your side with your top leg straight and bottom leg slightly bent. If you have a loop band, you can place that right above the knee.  Raise your top leg away from the other to approximately 45º. Pause at the top and return your leg to the starting position.

Clamshell. Lie on your side in a comfortable position with your knees bent at 45º.  Slightly pull in your abs to help stabilize your spine and pelvis.  Engage your glute and lift your upper knee with control, without any movement from your lower knee and pelvis.  Pause at the top and return to starting position.