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September 16 2019

Stop Blaming The Glute Med

The infamous glute med squat therapy:  If the knees cave in during squats, the glute med is weak.   How do we fix it?  Stick a band between the knees, of course.  Push the knees out.  The problem is we have not even looked at the foot.  Let’s talk about some basics about the foot.  The foot requires stability.  Naturally when we walk, the foot will pronate (or evert).  The role of the glute med is to control that collapse as we walk, and its role is also to keep us level as we stand on one leg.  If we’re seeing knees caving in during the squat, we’ve got to also look at the feet, because if the foot overpronates, the knee will cave in.  This means that when we are squatting, we need to control what goes on at the feet.  Activation exercises for the feet to help create a stable arch and create torque at the feet and hips, which helps to keep the knees from caving in during squats.

Using the ball to stimulate proprioception underneath the foot is a great first step, then, we are looking to gain a little more sense and control of the intrinsic muscles of the foot.  Toe taps and the active arch exercise using the foot tripod as well as the toes are two excellent exercises for gaining awareness and control of the foot, and even more so, of how the foot works into the ground and what that creates at the knee and hip.  If we miss this step and go with a band around the knees, sometimes people lose the control of the feet and are actually pushing their weight onto the outside of the foot.  This creates a strength leak right from the start.

Watch the full video to see how to implement these exercises and how to integrate them into the squat!

 

 


Mai-Linh Dovan M.SC., CAT(C)
Certified Athletic Therapist
Founder of Rehab-U

 

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