Gluteus Medius Role in Cycling Awareness

[CXCommuter]

For about three months my lower back has been getting steadily sorer whilst riding to the point where I couldn't ride more than 20km without being in pain. I also found I could not put the power down and my average speeds dropped whilst still working hard.

My old physio reckoned I had a tight lower back joint and set me a solid regime to loosen up my spine- this kind of worked for a while.

Last week it all came to a head with a pulled lower back muscle with the pain also across to my outer right hip. I called my old physio in Sydney (also happens to be my Stepfather) and discussed it all with him and he suggested I had torn my Gluteus Medius.

Well it turns out this particular muscle is severely worked whilst riding as a hip/lower back/core stabiliser (the load when cycling is up to 8 times the normal walking gait load). I had never stretched it out (I had never heard of Gluteus Medius as a muscle, and no he doesn't have a wife!!).

Immediately upon stretching things began to work- less pain when cycling, more power to the pedals and more stable through the core (and my tight spinal joints also started to loosen)

Just wanted to raise awareness that this muscle plays a vital role in cycling including lower back, hip,knees and ITB issues so it might pay to regularly stretch it out. Below link helps a bit:

http://sbrsport.wordpress.com/2012/11/2 ... -reaction/

[NeillS]

You won't have torn it (unless you have severe tendinopathy there) but yes, it's a huge culprit for lower back pain. I've lost count of the number of lumbar spines I've fixed by breaking up trigger points in the glute med. It seems to be able to traction the nerve roots and give you lumbar pain via mechanical impediment to the nerve's path. Whatever the mechanism, it's a commonly missed source of lumbar pain and pseudo-disc injuries.

Bear in mind the opposite applies sometimes also - a lumbar injury will irritate the nerves that control the glutes, and cause peripheral sattelite trigger points to form up (muscle spasm) in the glutes. The spasm then generates a large proportion of the pain that you experience in a knock-on effect.

[jimsheedy]

is muscle spasm in the glutes behind twerking ?

[CXCommuter]

is muscle spasm in the glutes behind twerking ?

I am happy for you to experiment and advise- just don't video it please

[NeillS]

Miley Cyrus says; YES

[KGB]

Good thread - some good info and some Lolz.
I know exactly what you're talking about. I get the same tightness in around that area, particularly when doing linger rides on windy days. Grinding away into a headwind seems to make it flare up.
It used to get me really badly when I was younger and lead to my whole lower back tightening up. I can manage it pretty well now with decent stretching and a bit more common sense when out training etc.

[KGB]

Just read the link. Two thumbs up.