By Anthony Tripodi, PT, DPT
In honor of the TCS New York Marathon (Good Luck Runners!), Brill PT is celebrating November with exercises for runners to challenge their core and glutes together. Far too often, strengthening and stability is overlooked in training plans. This can lead to decreased performance on race day, increased injury risk and development of pain. At Brill PT, we have 4 exercise suggestions that include your core and glutes so that you can stay strong without having to sacrifice too much time in your busy schedule.
First, let’s review the role of our core and glutes when we run. Core muscles provide stability that allow force generation and motion in the lower extremities. This assists in distributing impact forces and allow for controlled and efficient body movements. As we run, our core engages in conjunction with our glute muscles. If we have weak glutes, the core will try to compensate causing increased strain on the back and increased forces will be placed on the knee and ankle. With a weak core, the glutes will not have enough stability from the spine above to produce an efficient movement. This is why at Brill PT, we use exercises that simulate the coactivation of these muscle groups when running.
When we refer to the glutes, we are referencing two main muscles: Gluteus Maximus (hip extensors) and Gluteus Medius (hip abductor and pelvic stabilizer). As we land when running, our Gluteus Maximus works hard to control the speed at which we land to slowly absorb the forces throughout our body. Meanwhile, whenever we are on a single leg, the Gluteus Medius is working to keep our pelvis leveled and maintaining alignment. This is all happening while our core is engaged to allow our glute muscles to do what they do best.
When any of these muscles are not working together, we see a variety of gait alterations that can lead to uneven forces throughout the spine and lower body:
Pelvic Drop
Excessive trunk rotation
Excessive trunk extension
Knee valgus
Crossing midline
Excessive foot pronation
These gait abnormalities, lead to a variety of conditions that we commonly see in our runners at Brill PT:
Low Back Pain
Hip Pain
Knee Pain
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Foot Pain
Achilles Tendinitis
Arch Pain
Shin Splints
Exercise 1. The Single Leg Bridge
This exercise engages our core to keep our back neutral, our Gluteus Maximus to perform the bridge and our Gluteus Medius to stabilize the pelvis. At the final execution of this exercise, all the muscles are working together to stabilize and maintain this position.
Exercise 2. Side Plank with Clams
This exercise targets our obliques which are crucial to stabilize the spine from rotation as we run. Our Gluteus Medius is engaged with our obliques when performing the clamshell portion of this exercise.
Exercise 3. Single Leg Squat
On the way down, this exercise simulates the initial contact phase of running, where the Gluteus Maximus and core need to work together to slowly lower our body and absorb the impact forces when running. Meanwhile the Gluteus Medius is also working to ensure our pelvis stays level which keeps our back and lower body in proper alignment.
Exercise 4. Single Leg Deadlift.
This exercise engages our core to maintain a neutral spine, while our Gluteus Medius is working to keep our pelvis leveled and the Gluteus Maximus is controlling our body as is it lowering toward the ground.
