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Hip muscle activity during 3 side-lying hip-strengthening exercises in distance runners
Joseph M McBeth1, Jennifer E Earl-Boehm, Stephen C Cobb
1University of Nevada, Reno, USA.
Context:
Lower extremity overuse injuries are associated with gluteus medius (GMed) weakness. Understanding the activation of muscles about the hip during strengthening exercises is important for rehabilitation.
Objective:
To compare the electromyographic activity produced by the gluteus medius (GMed), tensor fascia latae (TFL), anterior hip flexors (AHF), and gluteus maximus (GMax) during 3 hip-strengthening exercises: hip abduction (ABD), hip abduction with external rotation (ABD-ER), and clamshell (CLAM) exercises.
Design:
Controlled laboratory study.
Setting:
Laboratory.
Patients Or Other Participants:
Twenty healthy runners (9 men, 11 women; age = 25.45 ± 5.80 years, height = 1.71 ± 0.07 m, mass = 64.43 ± 7.75 kg) participated.
Intervention(S):
A weight equal to 5% body mass was affixed to the ankle for the ABD and ABD-ER exercises, and an equivalent load was affixed for the CLAM exercise. A pressure biofeedback unit was placed beneath the trunk to provide positional feedback.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Surface electromyography (root mean square normalized to maximal voluntary isometric contraction) was recorded over the GMed, TFL, AHF, and GMax.
Results:
Three 1-way, repeated-measures analyses of variance indicated differences for muscle activity among the ABD (F(3,57) = 25.903, P < .001), ABD-ER (F(3,57) = 10.458, P < .001), and CLAM (F(3,57) = 4.640, P = .006) exercises. For the ABD exercise, the GMed (70.1 ± 29.9%), TFL (54.3 ± 19.1%), and AHF (28.2 ± 21.5%) differed in muscle activity. The GMax (25.3 ± 24.6%) was less active than the GMed and TFL but was not different from the AHF. For the ABD-ER exercise, the TFL (70.9 ± 17.2%) was more active than the AHF (54.3 ± 24.8%), GMed (53.03 ± 28.4%), and GMax (31.7 ± 24.1%). For the CLAM exercise, the AHF (54.2 ± 25.2%) was more active than the TFL (34.4 ± 20.1%) and GMed (32.6 ± 16.9%) but was not different from the GMax (34.2 ± 24.8%).
Conclusions:
The ABD exercise is preferred if targeted activation of the GMed is a goal. Activation of the other muscles in the ABD-ER and CLAM exercises exceeded that of GMed, which might indicate the exercises are less appropriate when the primary goal is the GMed activation and strengthening.
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