T Nation

Tightness/Injury in Gluteus Medius

Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
#1

Coach, i have a few more questions.

  1. My friend injured his Gluteus Medius during a game of rugby. Whenever he bends down, there is an ache which have not subsided in a few months. What kind of recuperative work should he do? Any exersizes he should forget about? Like squatting or deadlifting?

  2. The same friend does DL and feels tightness in his Gluteus Medius when deadlifting(after he got that injury.) and feels the ache in his Gluteus Medius subsequently. What kind of recuperative work should he start on? Any kind of special “recovery” program?

#2

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#3

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Why not try foam rolling the area, or if that is too soft (as it would be for me) use a tennis ball or hockey ball.

I don’t know if you regularly read this site. If you did, you might notice that CT is not an injury specialist and as such, wisely stays away from injury-related questions.

BBB[/quote]

Correct. A lot of strength coaches improv on injury rehab because it’s an open market and saying that you are good with rehab will get you more clients. While some rare strength coaches ARE great with rehab clients, most aren’t even if they claim to be. As a result they often make the matter worse.

I know how to get people strong… I know how to get people bigger… I know how to get people to perform better … I know how to get someone leaner. I know how ot REFER people to someone better than I am when it comes to injuries :slight_smile:

#4

I second the tennis ball. I swear by it to get knots out of my glutes. I also own a section of PVC pipe for rolling at home. The gym foam rollers are like gentle massages to me now. :slight_smile:

#5

First things first… Are you sure it is the Glute medius? If your friend has not been checked my a doctor do it. The next step would be to start a rehab/strengthening program. The first issue to address is tissue quality. Foam roller, tennis ball anything of that sort. The next issue to address is hip mobility. You stated that your friend is a Rugby player.

I am only making an assumption but your friend probably has tight hips in all directions. There are great articles on here on how to address that. As for strengthening I would stick with the DL and Squats but add in a lot of activation work before and during the work out. When a muscle in the body is injured tissue quality decreases and so does the activation of the muscle. Dispelling the Glute myth series of articles does a great job covering both activation and strength of the glutes.

My plan for myself would be 1. Tissue quality 2. Mobility/flexibility 3. Activation 4. Strength 5. Flexibility 6. Ice. If your friend still has pain after a few sessions of that I would get checked out for an SacroIlliac issue. A chiropractor can do that. An SI issue can either be secondary to a strained glute or sometimes can be the cause of one. Hope this helps.

#6

[quote]leezw88 wrote:
Coach, i have a few more questions.

  1. My friend injured his Gluteus Medius during a game of rugby. Whenever he bends down, there is an ache which have not subsided in a few months. What kind of recuperative work should he do? Any exersizes he should forget about? Like squatting or deadlifting?

  2. The same friend does DL and feels tightness in his Gluteus Medius when deadlifting(after he got that injury.) and feels the ache in his Gluteus Medius subsequently. What kind of recuperative work should he start on? Any kind of special “recovery” program?[/quote]

Think I have the same injury as your friend. Not sure if I injured it playing Rugby or in the gym but the pain has got progressively worse over the past few months. Just bought a foam roller and will also get physio work done soon.

For some reason I don’t really have a problem squatting or deadlifting, but when I try to lay my feet flat on the floor for leg drive on the bench it’s fucking agony.

Recommend that your friend do more lower back/hamstring work in addition to hip mobility stuff.

#7

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#8

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:

[quote]trentmeister69 wrote:
For some reason I don’t really have a problem squatting or deadlifting, but when I try to lay my feet flat on the floor for leg drive on the bench it’s fucking agony.

. [/quote]

Agony where? On the heels?

BBB[/quote]

painful on the entire right side of my leg, mainly glutes/hamstring and sometimes calves. Left leg is fine. went to the physio and apparently it’s a lower back disc problem, not too serious though just been told to do heaps of stretches for the lower back and should go away over time. Hasn’t really affected my training luckily

#9

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#10

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Not too serious?!?!?!? You have unilateral below-the-knee sciatic involvment and the muppet says it’s ‘not too serious’.

Fuck me, I hope you don’t lose a limb or he might actually break a sweat.

I’m all for reassuring the patient, but that is ridiculous.

BBB[/quote]

Yh I’m thinking about getting it checked out again, not sure whether to go to a physio or a chiro though. Foam rolling and the stretching have helped a bit but it is still pretty painful. Unable to even touch my toes now (usually very flexible) but still able to do other movements like the splits with no pain. So the problem I have is pretty serious?? I asked the physio whether I had a ‘slipped disc’ but she told me I didn’t. I should of been worried she told me she didn’t know what a foam roller was.

#11

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#12

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
It doesn’t matter what the ‘label’ of the professional you see is, just make sure they are GOOD. By which I mean try to get a recommendation from a local athletic or powerlifting club, to a therapist who is an accurate diagnoser and effective treater.

BBB[/quote]

cheers BBB, went to get x-rays done today at a chiro, seemed to know what she was talking about and liked the feel of the place better than the last place I went to. Going back tomorrow to see what she has to say about my x-rays and about diagnosis etc. Think I’ll have to lay off the squat/deadlift for a while, don’t want a fucked up spine when I’m only 20!