Glute medius touble, any pt's out there

[Ozzy]

I paddle flat water lakes and have only been doing this about 9 months. Lately I have been sidelined by a sore outer hip, probably glute medius. It is on my right side, which is the side i paddle on most. I seem to be able to paddle forever on that side, but when i switch i get loopy! Even though it is my dominant side it is weaker. I try to use my hips and emulate larry cain' stroke, it is a thing of beauty! Any thoughts?

[SURFnTURF]

My wife is a PT and says to do clams, sidelying abductions, and sidestepping with a theraband around your ankles to strengthen your glute medius.  Do both sides for proper  balance.  I demonstrated the hip rotation motion to give her an idea of whAt we do. 

[mittenkitten]

SURFnTURF's wife is spot on. You could also try cable abductions to strengthen the muscle as well.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/cable-hip-abduction.html

[flinknagle]

Hey

One thing you should consider is if your gluteal muscles are firing properly. Finding a good physiotherapist or acupuncturist can help with this. I was having similar issues and many physiotherapists gave me exercises saying that my gluteal muscles were weak when in fact they were not firing properly due to previous injuries acquired from college sports. Try sitting down and activating your muscles individually; if this task is extremely hard on one side vs the other this could be the problem. Otherwise, glute exercises are always a good idea!

Hope this helps

[SeaMe]

More of a "Gluteus Maximus" exercise, but I'll post it anyway:



This exercise definitely has a LOL-factor (there is a version from Ellen's show which stripped the original soundtrack in favor of Nancy Sinatra) but it's actually a great muscle isolation as well.

[SUPcheat]

Glute firing practice can be done in your car while riding around and idling at intersections.  The worst that can happen is somebody  might think you are grooving to your car tunes. If you wife is with you, she might think you are getting fresh.

The ability to get increasingly subtle fasciculations around the hips, abductors, adductors, knees, glutes and lower/middle back seems to play a part in improving balance and rhythm when paddling.  That has, and continues to take a long time for me to develop at my age after not using them for a long time.

The glute pain that I have experienced in the past seemed to be about re-establishing a range of motion around the hip joint, and when I have done that over time, the pain has basically gone away.

[momboteri]

I'd look into a good all 'round Glute activation and strength building program.  Right now I'm doing Bret Contreras's STRONG CURVES.  Getting great results that I'm "using" when I'm SUPing.  Even if the book is written for women, you'll get a lot of great information on how to build glute strength.  OR, check out his website.  He's got a ton of solid information.  He's known as the glute guy.  You know, you don't want to just focus on one aspect of the glutes.  You want to be firing on "all cylinders" in this area … full-on CORE performance for SUPing!