Importance of Glute Stability

Core Strength & Glute Stability

Learn how Core Strength & Glute Stability can be important with your local Gold Coast Physiotherapist and Exercise Physiologist at Functional Health.

Functional Strength & Stability

When we think of “core strength”, we typically only think of the muscles surrounding the abdomen and the spine. However, being ‘stable’ to reduce the risk of injury when performing physical activity or sports requires more than just a strong abdominal core. Poor stability of both the upper and lower limbs via the shoulder and hip joints respectively can also lead to an increased risk of injury.

You can quite easily check your hip stability with a simple test that you can do at home. First find yourself an area with something to hold on to in front of a mirror. Then stand on one foot with your knee slightly bent (so that it is not locked) and see how long you can hold your balance for.

If this is too easy, try taking a step forward and then balancing on one foot. When you are doing this test, be careful to watch the level of your hips and whether both sides stay at the same height. When standing on your left foot, if you notice your right hip drop down or your left hip move to the side, this might indicate a weakness in a group of muscles responsible for stabilising the hip joint (gluteals and hip abductors).

When these muscles are particularly weak, this can even influence the knee joint, causing the knee to collapse inwards when standing on one foot.

This is a very common test that our Exercise Physiologists and Physiotherapists use at Functional Health.

– Hip stability is crucial at all ages, regardless of whether you are just trying to stay active or playing some type of sport.

– Hip stability is particularly important when it comes to any types of dynamic activities that involve movement (walking, jogging or sprinting).

– Poor hip stability means that there are often excessive and unwanted movements at the hips, with possible flow on effects to the knees, ankles and back to help to compensate.

A good (albeit extreme) example that can be used to illustrate the effect that poor hip stability can have on the rest of your body is to imagine a model walking on a catwalk or the classic walking style of Kath and Kel (from ‘Kath and Kim’) where there is plenty of unwanted movement through the hips.

Poor hip stability leading to increased movement at the hips and other joints during each step when walking or running can lead to injuries through repetitive overuse. These issues become even more prominent as the speed of running increases, which is why any athletes involved in running sports need to have strong gluteal muscles to maintain hip control at high speeds to reduce the risk of injury.

Hip stability can also be important in older adults. Good hip control will lead to greater stability of the entire lower limb and can make a significant impact on reducing the risk of falls.

Weakness in your hip?

So, if you noticed some weakness in your hip stabilisers, what can be done to improve this?

Well it starts with some basic exercises focusing on reactivating the correct muscles to ensure that they are able to activate at the right times. Next, we focus on developing the strength and endurance of these muscles. Then we look at performing stationary and then dynamic (moving) exercises to promote good activation of the hip muscles into normal posture and walking.

For individuals with sporting goals, we then also look at improving gluteal activation and control in sport specific activities to assist with improved performance and reducing the risk of injury.

If you think you could benefit from improved hip stability, consider giving us a call at Functional Health and making an appointment to see one of our highly trained and experienced Exercise Physiologists or Physiotherapists.