Well, imagine my surprise when we sauntered past this a couple of weeks ago whilst spending the hottest of weekends down in Kew Gardens!
“Pareidolia” describes the phenomenon of seeing faces in inanimate objects- and I’m in no doubt that any physiotherapist would immediately see the beloved “clam-shell” exercise, within this Henry Moore sculpture- as did I!! (Just imagine a rubber band around the knees, and you’re there!!) A bewildered Mother and sister looked on as I took a couple of photos, with the excitement of a child seeing a sack of presents under the Christmas tree.
Glutes exercises are everywhere at the minute aren’t they- social media, in gyms/ pilates classes and Physiotherapy Clinics up and down the land- and for good reason too. There’s plenty of scientific research that link these muscles with a plethora of musculoskeletal problems when they’re not working well- such as knee pain; (more specifically ligament injuries and problems with the knee cap/ patella-femoral joint), and various problems with the hip joint and the spine/ lower back too. Some studies even suggest that there is a link with chronic ankle injuries/ sprains- and would you believe it- some shoulder conditions too!! “The shoulder?!” I hear you cry?!
I’ll explain- imagine the rather sublime (imo) Roger Federer about to hit a powerful forehand, he has to plant his left foot forward, stabilise that leg, in order to turn his shoulders to then take a swing at the ball- at that all important contact point- where the ball hits the racquet, if his outer glute (glute medius) of the left hip is weak, he “leaks energy” as the left hip moves slightly side-ways….and loses the ability to transfer that force from the ground up the spine and into the right shoulder and arm- hence losing power when striking the ball.
Certainly, within my 30-odd years in the profession, there’s been a heck of a lot of interest in the abdominal muscles- think “core/ transversus abdominus”- but comparatively little with the gluteal muscles- and I think that’s changing now- and rightly so- before I get lambasted by pilates colleagues, I should say not “instead of”, but in addition to!!!
And on the eve of my favourite 2 weeks of the year, I wish you “Happy Wimbledon Fortnight” and I’ll leave you with a video I made earlier in the year- a couple of glutes exercises I did on the side of the tennis court one Sunday morning, as a warm up- apologies in advance in that the sound isn’t great- but hopefully you’ll get the gist!
Any injuries you want us to take a look at? Think your glutes might be weak? Book in and come and see us!
Jo (Lead Physio at our University of Derby clinic)