Rehabilitation Exercises for the Gluteus Minimus Muscle Segments: An Electromyography Study

The gluteus minimus (GMin) muscle consists of 2 uniquely oriented segments that have potential for independent function and have different responses to pathology and aging. For healthy young adults, it is unknown that which rehabilitation exercises specifically target the individual segments.

To quantify segmental GMin activity for 6 common lower-limb rehabilitation exercises in healthy young adults and determine if significant differences exist in segmental activity levels between the exercises.

Six common lower-limb rehabilitation exercises were performed by 10 healthy young adults with fine-wire electromyography (EMG) electrodes inserted into the anterior and posterior segments of the GMin muscle.

Electromyography signals were recorded, and median normalized exercise activity levels were reported and compared for each GMin segment across the 6 exercises.

High activity levels were generated in the anterior segment by the resisted hip abduction-extension exercise (51% maximum voluntary isometric contraction [MVIC]), whereas for the posterior segment, high activity levels were produced by the single-leg bridge (49% MVIC), the side-lie hip abduction (43% MVIC), the resisted hip abduction-extension exercise (43% MVIC), and the single-leg squat (40% MVIC). There were significant differences (P < .05) in the median electromyography activity levels for the anterior GMin segment but not for the posterior GMin segment across some of the exercises with large effect sizes.

Targeted rehabilitation exercises graded by exercise intensity can be prescribed specifically for the anterior and posterior GMin segments to aid in restoration of hip function following injury or aging.