The gluteus medius and low back pain

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We see this one ALL the time. We are sure you do as well. “Gluteus medius weakness and gluteal muscle tenderness are common symptoms in people with chronic non-specific LBP.” It is often more on the side of pelvic frontal plane drift. The abdominals and spinal stabilizers also often test weak on this same side.

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We often see compromise of hip rotation stability as well because , since the hip is relatively adducting (because the pelvis is undergoing repeated frontal plane drift, hence no hip abduction) there is often a component of cross over gait phenomenon which can threaten rotation stability of the lower limb (type “cross over gait” into the search box of our tumblr blog for an sample of work we have written on that phenomenon). Eur Spine J. 2015 May 26. [Epub ahead of print]


Prevalence of gluteus medius weakness in people with chronic low back pain compared to healthy controls.
Cooper NA1, Scavo KM, Strickland KJ, Tipayamongkol N, Nicholson JD, Bewyer DC, Sluka KA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26006705

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