Standing postures and the gluteus medius muscle

[whippoorwill]

Hi Everyone!

There's something I've recently discovered about standing postures that I thought might be worth mentioning here.

I don't see any way around mentioning this, so I'll just be blunt…  This is for women like me who have a rather gi-normous caboose.  

Anyway, I'm also a side-sleeper and, over the years of sleeping on my side, the gluteus medius muscle has become severely overstretched and weak.  When I'm on my side and the top knee is resting on the bed or the floor, two things happen: the spine is twisted and the gluteus medius muscle is stretched beyond the point where it can effectively operate, weakening the muscle to the point where it does not contract at all unless I specifically put my attention there.  It turns out that this muscle is fairly fundamental to good standing posture.  (This is probably obvious, but it was a discovery for me.)

So far, when doing postures like Mountain pose or Tree pose in Asanas class, I've only heard cues pertaining to the feet and ankles -- tiny muscles.  Trying to balance myself in mountain or tree by putting attention on my feet and ankles is completely ineffective for me.  The spine is still misaligned, the thighbones are still rotated in, the abdominals are not effectively engaged….  In short, it doesn't work for me to build these postures from the bottom up like I'm told to.

However, if I put my attention on the gluteus medius muscles and deliberately contract them, everything fixes itself.  The abdominals automatically engage, the thighbones rotate out, the spine comes into alignment, the knees come into alignment, the ankles right themselves, the arches in the feet appear, and the contact points on the feet automatically engage.  

I thought this was worth mentioning in case there are other women who, like me, find these postures difficult, or if there are any yoga instructors who have large-hipped women in their classes with trouble in these poses.

I'm doing two things to try to build the gluteus medius back to some strength:  1) I put a pillow between my knees when sleeping on my side to keep the spine aligned and to prevent this muscle from being overstretched, and 2) therapeutic exercises to increase strength.

Anyway…  hope this helps…


Love!
--Liz

[tonightsthenight]

Great insight whippoorwill.

I'm having trouble understanding how the gluteus medius/minimus are being stretched in this way. I'm very slim, so maybe this is a simply a question of mechanics. Typically, these stabilizing muscles are stretched laterally, so you must have the top leg falling just in front of the bottom leg.

Now, its very likely that this glute mid/min is inhibited, which means it doesn't turn on as it should. It seems like you're well on your way to turning it back on.

The glutes mid/min really do their work when we're on one leg, like tree pose or in walking. When one glutes mid/min is inhibited but not the other, that can effect the base of the spine when standing on two legs.

Now the reason we wouldn't cue this action is because most people probably have functioning glute muscles. FYI, the thighs actually rotate internally in this alignment.

I would encourage you to check and see if this sleeping posture has crept into your standing and walking posture.

Also, try mountain pose with your eyes closed, you'll really feel the glutes mid/min come into place as your body sways trying to find a balance.

[whippoorwill]

quote:Originally posted by tonightsthenight
I'm having trouble understanding how the gluteus medius/minimus are being stretched in this way. I'm very slim, so maybe this is a simply a question of mechanics. Typically, these stabilizing muscles are stretched laterally, so you must have the top leg falling just in front of the bottom leg.

Yep.  It's mechanics.  The top leg falls just in front of the bottom leg, as you guessed, and the hips are widely spaced.  I can't give you measurements, but I can tell you that one yoga block isn't wide enough to be a platform for both sit bones.  I need two placed end-to-end.  

quote:
Now, its very likely that this glute mid/min is inhibited, which means it doesn't turn on as it should. It seems like you're well on your way to turning it back on.

Right again.  The muscle doesn't contract unless I put my attention on it.  It's getting better with increased attention and deliberate exercise.

quote:
I would encourage you to check and see if this sleeping posture has crept into your standing and walking posture.

It has crept into the standing posture a bit -- something that's slowly correcting.

I just wanted to mention this because I'm sure my skeletal structure is not unique, and I think it's quite possible this gluteus medius-inhibition is common, but I could be wrong.  It's not obvious from watching me do mountain or tree pose that I'm having trouble with it.   The feet, ankle, leg and abdominal muscles are quite strong and able to compensate for an absent gluteus medius (they've been doing it a long time).  But they do tire more quickly and the pose isn't as strong.  When I contract the gluteus medius muscle and all the others come into alignment, energy flows up the feet and out the top of the head, and I feel like an extension of the earth itself.  I did this and thought "oh, so THAT's mountain pose."  Then I posted about it.