Your Glutes Might Be Strong. But Can You Control them?

For a long time, glutes seemed to get blamed for almost everything.

Knee pain? Weak glutes. Hip pain? Weak glutes. Your pelvis drops when you run? Weak glute med. Lower back getting sore? Better strengthen your glutes. And while glute strength absolutely matters, we can sometimes oversimplify the problem by assuming that if something isn’t moving well, the muscle must simply be weak.

Someone can actually have plenty of glute strength in isolation. They might be able to perform a heavy leg press, lateral leg raise or glute kickback. They might even back squat an impressive amount of weight or produce excellent force when we test them. But strength on a machine or in an isolated test doesn’t necessarily tell us how well that person can coordinate their hip, pelvis and trunk when they walk, run, lunge, step down or balance on one leg. That’s where control becomes important.

Can you stand on one leg without immediately shifting or rotating?

Can you slowly lower yourself from a step and control your pelvis throughout the movement?

Can your glute lengthen under load as well as contract?

Can you control a hip hike?

Can you rotate through an aeroplane pattern?

These movements can tell us something very different from simply asking, “How strong are your glutes?”

When control is lacking, your body doesn’t simply stop moving. It finds another way to complete the task. You might rotate through the pelvis, shift your trunk, change what happens through the lower back or recruit other muscles more heavily to create the stability you need.

That doesn’t mean every little movement variation is bad, and we certainly don’t expect humans to move with perfect symmetry. But if the same strategy repeatedly appears alongside symptoms, particularly during longer walks, running, loaded single-leg movements or periods of fatigue, it can become useful information.

Someone might describe an ache around one side of their lower back, sacral or lateral hip region. Others notice their symptoms only after walking for a certain amount of time, later that evening or when their training volume increases. Occasionally there may also be referred or neurological-type symptoms, which require a broader assessment rather than simply assuming the glute is responsible. This is why continually adding more glute strengthening isn’t always the answer. If you can already produce plenty of force but struggle to organise that force during the movement that actually bothers you, another set of kickbacks might not address what you’re missing.

Rehab in these cases can look surprisingly simple. We might start with basic single-leg balance, then introduce a controlled step-down or hip hike. We could use a staggered RDL to challenge the hip while the trunk and pelvis remain organised, or an aeroplane variation to introduce rotation and control.

From there, we can progressively add load, speed, range and fatigue before returning to the movements that actually matter to you.

Importantly, we’re not just teaching the glute to contract harder. Muscles also need to lengthen, relax, coordinate with the rest of the body and tolerate different positions under load.

And if you’re the person experiencing the symptoms, one of the most useful things you can do is pay attention to the pattern.

When does it start?

What activity brings it on?

Does it appear immediately or after 30 minutes?

Does it settle when you stop?

Does the location or type of pain change?

What happens as you fatigue?

Those details give your physiotherapist far more useful information than simply saying, “I think my glute is weak.” Because sometimes your glutes already have plenty of horsepower. The missing piece is learning how to use it.

Not sure if it’s strength or control?

If you’ve had ongoing hip, glute or lower back symptoms and simply getting stronger hasn’t changed them, it might be worth looking a little deeper.

At By Design Physiotherapy & Strength in North Hobart, we assess strength alongside how you move, load and control your body to understand what might be limiting you and what to work on next.

Book a physiotherapy assessment with our team and let’s work out your next step.