Gluteus Medius Strengthening

If I'm being honest, I'm not a huge fan of side lying glut medius strengthening exercises. Where possible, if you're trying to get a good dose of exercise into the glut medius, standing single leg exercises such as a single leg squat have been shown to produce high levels of glut medius activity, moreso than traditional gluteus medius exercises such as clams (Moore et al, 2019).

However each exercise has a role to play depending on the patient's pain and function. In Moore et al (2019), the side lie hip abduction was shown to be very effective in recruiting high levels of gluteus medius activity. But if you're going to do it, make sure you do them well.

In the video, you'll see 2 options using a foam roller and a wall to encourage pure hip abduction, rather than allowing the hip to drift into hip flexion and abduction.

[juanmablaine]

This is one of those moments when I think "why didnt I think of that?!"