Muscles
Gluteus Medius Trigger Points
Symptom Area: Hip, Thigh and Knee
Gluteus Medius 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. A leading cause of lateral hip pain and 'low back' pain that doesn't respond to spinal treatment.
Where you feel it
When the Gluteus Medius holds active trigger points, you usually notice it as buttock pain and si joint pain (base of the spine). Where the pain spreads: Along the iliac crest, into the buttock, sacrum and posterior thigh — a common 'low back' pain pattern of muscular origin. What often sets it off: Prolonged sitting, asymmetric standing (hip hike), running with poor pelvic control, post-pregnancy.
Overview
Fan-shaped muscle on the lateral pelvis, abducts the hip and stabilizes the pelvis in single-leg stance. Weakness or trigger points produce a positive Trendelenburg pattern and lateral hip pain often misdiagnosed as trochanteric bursitis.
Trigger point locations
Three classic points along the iliac crest from the posterior superior iliac spine to the anterior third of the crest.
Referred pain pattern
Along the iliac crest, into the buttock, sacrum and posterior thigh — a common 'low back' pain pattern of muscular origin.
Palpation & testing
With the patient side-lying on the unaffected side, palpate along and just below the iliac crest. Reproducing pain in the low back or lateral hip confirms involvement.
Common causes
Prolonged sitting, asymmetric standing (hip hike), running with poor pelvic control, post-pregnancy.
Self-care & clinical treatment
Self-release with a ball against the wall, side-lying clamshells and banded abduction work, gait retraining. Clinically: needling responds quickly.
Treatment protocol
For Gluteus Medius, the general protocol applies: sustained pressure release on the taut band, then stretch and active movement in the newly gained range.
Position and palpation: With the patient side-lying on the unaffected side, palpate along and just below the iliac crest.
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
Secondary Symptoms
Often confused with
These muscles cause the same primary symptoms, so they are checked together:
Related muscles in this region
Related articles
- Your MRI is not a diagnosis: what scans show in people without pain
- Self-treating a trigger point: pressure, heat and movement
- The piriformis: the muscle that imitates sciatica from deep in the buttock
- Do stretching and exercise actually change a trigger point? What the trials show
- 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
References
- • Travell & Simons, Vol. 2
Medically reviewed by: Marco Aruffo — physiotherapist since 2006, specialised in myofascial pain · Last reviewed:
