Muscles
Gluteus Maximus Trigger Points
Symptom Area: Hip, Thigh and Knee
Gluteus Maximus Trigger Points are explored here through their location and referred pain pattern. Muscle knots is an everyday term used for tender muscular spots; myofascial pain describes pain involving muscle and its surrounding connective tissue. Powerful hip extensor and external rotator; the largest muscle in the body.
Where you feel it
When the Gluteus Maximus holds active trigger points, you usually notice it as buttock pain, impotence due to nerve entrapments, lateral thigh & hip pain, sciatica and si joint pain (base of the spine). Where the pain spreads: Buttock and sacroiliac region; tail-bone-like pain when sitting. What often sets it off: Prolonged sitting, weak gluteal recruitment, downhill running.
Overview
Powerful hip extensor and external rotator; the largest muscle in the body. Trigger points here are common in everyday and athletic populations and frequently contribute to the referred pain patterns described below.
Trigger point locations
Across the buttock from sacrum and ilium to the IT band and femur.
Referred pain pattern
Buttock and sacroiliac region; tail-bone-like pain when sitting.
Palpation & testing
Palpate the muscle belly along its accessible course. Reproduction of the patient's familiar pain on palpation supports involvement.
Common causes
Prolonged sitting, weak gluteal recruitment, downhill running.
Self-care & clinical treatment
Glute bridges, hip extension drills, sit breaks. Clinically: needling and motor control.
Treatment protocol
For Gluteus Maximus, the general protocol applies: sustained pressure release on the taut band, then stretch and active movement in the newly gained range.
Position and palpation: Palpate the muscle belly along its accessible course.
Regional precaution for clinicians: Around the hip and thigh the sciatic nerve behind the deep gluteals, the femoral nerve, artery and vein in the femoral triangle and the adductor canal are the structures to map before treatment.
Primary Symptoms
Often confused with
These muscles cause the same primary symptoms, so they are checked together:
Related muscles in this region
Related articles
- The piriformis: the muscle that imitates sciatica from deep in the buttock
- Low back pain that flares when you stand: a step-by-step quadratus lumborum treatment plan
- Hip pain when you lie on your side: the gluteal trigger points behind it
- Buttock Pain: which trigger points cause it and how to treat them
- SI joint pain (base of the spine): which trigger points cause it and how to treat them
- Lateral Thigh & Hip Pain: which trigger points cause it and how to treat them
References
- • Travell & Simons — Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction
- • Effectiveness of dry needling for upper-quarter myofascial pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis — J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2013;43(9):620-34
- • The effectiveness of trigger point dry needling for musculoskeletal conditions by physical therapists: a systematic review and meta-analysis — J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47(3):133-49
- • Effectiveness of trigger point dry needling for multiple body regions: a systematic review — J Man Manip Ther 2015;23(5):276-93
- • A systematic review of manual therapy techniques, dry cupping and dry needling in the reduction of myofascial pain and myofascial trigger points — J Bodyw Mov Ther 2019;23(3):539-46
- • Physiologic effects of dry needling — Curr Pain Headache Rep 2013;17(8):348
- • Trigger point dry needling for the treatment of myofascial pain syndrome: current perspectives within a pain neuroscience paradigm — J Pain Res 2019;12:1899-911
- • Myofascial trigger points then and now: a historical and scientific perspective — PM R 2015;7(7):746-61
- • Pertinent dry needling considerations for minimizing adverse effects — Int J Sports Phys Ther 2016;11(5):651-62
- • Adverse events associated with therapeutic dry needling — Int J Sports Phys Ther 2020;15(1):103-13
- • Lidocaine injection versus dry needling to myofascial trigger point: the importance of the local twitch response — Am J Phys Med Rehabil 1994;73(4):256-63
- • Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual (2nd ed.) — Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore
Medically reviewed by: Marco Aruffo — physiotherapist since 2006, specialised in myofascial pain · Last reviewed:
