So they say “work your glutes”. In fact, I personally say it often. I’ve even ventured to tell you that working your glutes is more important that working your abs. Read more about this here. Today however, I want to focus on a specific glute muscle.
Lately, I’ve been super focused on the gluteus medius. This is located on the side of the hip. The muscle helps the other glutes with their functions (external rotation, hip extension) but it also has a solid role as a muscle stabilizer. Working this muscle is very important for a variety of movement symptoms:
Do your feet pronate (flat foot) and/or are your knees sore? Work the gluteus medius!
Do your hips shift side to side excessively when you walk? Work the gluteus medius!
Do you have a hip that sits higher than the other side? Work the gluteus medius!
You get the picture. Sometimes an “inactive” gluteus medius can cause havoc on the hip alignment and can create a pain that radiates down the body into the back, knees, ankles and feet.
Now this exercise is unique. It feels odd. You won’t know what to do with one of you arms. But check it out below and then I’ll give you some tips:
Here are my tips:
- Stand against a wall. Your inside leg will be lifted into a 90 degree angle. Your inside shoulder should be touching the wall and your inside hand can rest on the lifted leg.
- Make sure you are standing in good posture. The standing leg should be very straight. Your bent leg should be pushing into the wall.
- You will be working both glutes. However each leg will feel different in how it is working.
- Hold this position for at least 1 minute on each side.
Give this Wall Stork exercise a try and tell me what you feel. One client told me her weak glute woke up and she felt it tingling. Another client got so fatigued on one side she was able to immediately identify which glute was weaker. We are all different, so tell me how it affects YOU. Find out more about VerticAlign’s Custom Posture Therapy sessions here.
Please comment below and tell me how this feels in YOUR body!
