Does this picture look familiar? If you’ve ever had me push my elbow into your glutes at the office no doubt you will remember how it felt. Painful. Sometimes excruciating…and then a few minutes, hours or day later…RELIEF!
What I’m doing to the patient in the picture is trigger point work on a very important but often overlooked muscle – the GLUTEUS MEDIUS. This muscle is located under the larger gluteus maximus muscle and is triangle shaped (kind of like a slice of pizza). The glute medius has some very important functions including stabilizing your pelvis during walking and standing. A 2019 study revealed that individuals with low back pain tended to have weakness of the gluteus medius AND more trigger points (tight and tender areas) compared to those without lower back pain. An abnormally functioning gluteus medius also affects the normal function of the hips and sacroiliac joints, which could contribute to low back issues and pain going down the leg (sciatica).
For many of my patients paying attention to this muscle (by introducing it to my elbow 🙂 has made a huge difference in how their lower back, hips and legs function and feel.
Once we get the lower spine and pelvis working better by adjusting and trigger point work, there is a great stretch you can do at home to help keep this area mobile. In my next email I will show you what it is so you can keep your lower back and hips working great!
Dr. Pete
