I'll show you two of the best tests to assess yourself for hip abductor (gluteus medius) weakness. Trendelenburg Sign and a SingleLeg Squat Test are excellent tests to evaluate your hip abductors. These gluteus medius strength tests are so easy you can do at home in front of the mirror with no equipment. I'll show you examples of what a strong hip abductor looks like with the tests, as well as demonstrating what your results will look like if your hip abduction is weak or fatigues easily.

To follow up, I also demonstrate three hip abductor strengthening exercises that you can perform to wake up your gluteus medius and get it strong and active again. The three tests I'll show you are the modified clam, 3 point toe touch, and stepups. These exercises are just a few among many hip abductor exercises that you can do to eliminate weakness and are a great place to start.

Why is hip abductor weakness important to strengthen. Simply put, your gluteus medius (the primary hip abductor) is important in keeping your pelvis level in a single leg stance. It's often a root cause of many lower back pain and hip pain conditions. Some conditions where gluteus medius weakness may be involved include hip tendinopathy, greater trochanteric pain syndrome, IT band syndrome, patellofemoral pain syndrome, ACL injury, medial knee pain, and lower back pain.

By strengthening your hip abductors you'll improve your movement and function during weightbearing activities. Research shows hip abductor strength correlates with improvement in symptoms for many conditions. Even if you're not suffering from a painful condition, research also shows that athletes with stronger hip abductors are less likely to sustain lower extremity injuries.

I talk a bit about hip abductor weakness in runners in my blog here:
https://www.accesshealthchiro.com/hip...

If you have hip abductor weakness and it's causing some IT band pain, you can read about what chiropractors can do to help that in my content here:
https://www.accesshealthchiro.com/chi...

Want to skip to a specific gluteus medius test or hip abductor strengthening exercise? I break down the chapters here so you can skip right to it!
0:00 Intro
0:50 Trendelenburg Sign
2:03 Single Leg Squat Test
3:30 Modified Clam Exercise
4:41 Three Point Touch Exercise
5:35 Step Up Exercise