Who Should Do?
People With Weak Hip Muscles
Iliopsoas tightness is one of the most common causes of back pain. It occurs when the hip flexor muscles are weak, and the iliopsoas tightens to compensate for the lack of strength.
Weak hip muscles are a common issue, as many people spend their days sitting for work. When seated, the hip flexors are in their most relaxed state. They do not receive the workout necessary to remain strong and pliable.
Exercises like clamshells are a wonderful option for strengthening the iliopsoas to combat lower back pain. Additionally, they specifically target the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. These muscles are essential for hip stability and strength.
Athletes
Performing clamshells to strengthen the gluteus medius, minimus, and other hip flexor muscles can offer a wide variety of benefits.
Strengthening these muscles is crucial for hip stability and injury prevention. It can also prevent conditions like knee valgus and lower back pain.
As many as 27% of children suffer from knee valgus, a condition that affects proper knee alignment. It is exacerbated by sports that involve single-leg landings and a lack of gluteus medius and minimus strength.
Additionally, clamshells help strengthen the hip abductors, including the gluteus medius, minimus, and tensor fasciae latae muscles. These muscles are essential for improving lateral movements, agility, and overall athletic performance.
Runners
Clamshells are effective for strengthening the gluteus medius, which is shown to improve pelvis stability and alignment while running.
This can play an important role in reducing the risk of injuries related to running. Some of these include iliotibial band syndrome, runner’s knee, and hip pain — all common among runners.
Clamshells can also help to correct muscle imbalances in the lower body to prevent injury and running-related pain.
Who Should Not Do?
Lifters Seeking Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy training focuses on developing muscles, with the main goal of muscle growth. Lifters seeking hypertrophy gains will likely find clamshells ineffective because they target smaller muscles like the gluteus medius and minimus.
They are also usually a bodyweight exercise with very few options for incorporating weight. This means utilizing progressive overload to challenge the muscles through incrementally heavier loads will be difficult or impossible.
Clamshells are designed for stability and muscle activation rather than muscle growth. They should be used to improve the performance of exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and hip thrusts.
These exercises, which engage larger muscle groups, allow for the loading necessary for muscle growth.
Individuals With Acute Lower Back Pain
Clamshells can improve chronic lower back pain by strengthening the gluteals and hip flexors. However, acute and chronic lower back pain differ greatly. Acute lower back pain, or targeted pain that has been present for less than six weeks, requires different treatment.
Clamshells should be avoided in these cases because the exercise can strain the lower back if performed incorrectly. Maintaining the correct position may also be difficult for those experiencing pain, leading to compensatory movements that could worsen the condition.
These individuals should focus on exercises that limit spinal movement, like bridges or isometric core exercises. However, these exercises should only be performed under the guidance of a licensed physical therapist.
Benefits Of Clamshells
Supports Posture
Clamshells help support posture by strengthening the gluteus medius and minimus muscles. These muscles are essential for stabilizing the pelvis to maintain proper alignment of the lower back and hips.
Weaknesses in these muscles can cause the pelvis to tilt, a condition known as anterior pelvic tilt. Although a small degree of pelvic tilt is natural, too much can contribute to poor posture. This happens, in part, because of the limited range of motion through the hips and an overarching spine.
Additionally, clamshells engage the obliques, which are key core muscles. They promote core stability and an overall balanced, upright posture.
Improves Mobility
Mobility refers to the ability of a joint to move through its full range of motion pain-free and with control.
It involves a combination of flexibility and strength, which affect both passive and active range of motion. Joint mobility helps you perform pain-free movement patterns and is essential for daily activities and athletic performance.
Clamshells improve mobility by strengthening the gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, and iliopsoas muscles. These key hip muscles play important roles in hip stability to ensure proper alignment of the hip joint.
Relieves Tension
Physical therapists often use clamshells to help relieve tension in the hips and lower back. Weak or inactive gluteal muscles can lead to overcompensation by other muscles, resulting in muscle tightness.
Clamshells help restore balance between underused and overactive muscles by activating and engaging the glutes. Relieving tension in these overworked areas is the key to alleviating lower back and hip tightness.
Frequently Asked Questions
The clamshell exercise primarily works the gluteus medius and minimus, key hip stabilization, and abduction muscles. It also engages the gluteus maximus, although to a lesser extent, as well as the hip flexors and obliques.
Generally, it’s not recommended to exercise every day, including clamshells. Instead, you should practice clamshells a maximum of four times a week, with a day’s rest between workouts.
Clamshells are beneficial because they strengthen the gluteals and hip flexors, which are crucial for posture, balance, and joint stability. By targeting these often neglected muscles, clamshells help prevent injuries like knee or lower back pain.
Unless instructed by a physical therapist, most people can aim for 12 to 15 reps of clamshells on each side. Performing them with exercise bands or weights will help improve the exercise’s strength-building potential.
Resources
Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.
- Calatayud, J., Vinstrup, J., Jakobsen, M.D., Sundstrup, E., Brandt, M., Jay, K., Colado, J.C. and Andersen, L.L. (2015). Importance of mind-muscle connection during progressive resistance training. European Journal of Applied Physiology, [online] 116(3), pp.527–533. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3305-7.
- Schoenfeld, B.J., Grgic, J., Van, D.W. and Plotkin, D.L. (2021). Loading Recommendations for Muscle Strength, Hypertrophy, and Local Endurance: A Re-Examination of the Repetition Continuum. Sports, [online] 9(2), pp.32–32. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/sports9020032.
- Dupuy, O., Wafa Douzi, Dimitri Theurot, Bosquet, L. and Benoit Dugué (2018). An Evidence-Based Approach for Choosing Post-exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness, Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Physiology, [online] 9. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00403.
- Jeong, S.-G., Cynn, H.-S., Lee, J.-H., Choi, S. and Kim, D. (2019). Effect of Modified Clamshell Exercise on Gluteus Medius, Quadratus Lumborum and Anterior Hip Flexor in Participants with Gluteus Medius Weakness. Journal of The Korean Society of Physical Medicine, [online] 14(2), pp.9–19. doi:https://doi.org/10.13066/kspm.2019.14.2.9.
- Kinney, A.L., Giel, M., Harre, B., Heffner, K., McCullough, T., Savino, M., Scott, A. and Barrios, J.A. (2021). Surface Electromyography of the Internal and External Oblique Muscles During Isometric Tasks Targeting the Lateral Trunk. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, [online] 30(2), pp.255–260. doi:https://doi.org/10.1123/jsr.2018-0442.
- Lakkadsha, T.M., Qureshi, M.I., Kovela, R.K., Saifee, S.S. and Lalwani, S.S. (2022). Efficacy of Single Stretching Session of Iliopsoas Using Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation Versus Muscle Energy Technique on Low Back Pain in Patients With Lumbar Hyper-Lordosis. Cureus. [online] doi:https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.27916.
- Bartosz Wilczyński, Katarzyna Zorena and Ślęzak, D. (2020). Dynamic Knee Valgus in Single-Leg Movement Tasks. Potentially Modifiable Factors and Exercise Training Options. A Literature Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, [online] 17(21), pp.8208–8208. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218208.
- Semciw, A., Neate, R. and Pizzari, T. (2016). Running related gluteus medius function in health and injury: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, [online] 30, pp.98–110. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelekin.2016.06.005.
- Plotkin, D., Coleman, M., Van Every, D., Maldonado, J., Oberlin, D., Israetel, M., Feather, J., Alto, A., Vigotsky, A.D. and Schoenfeld, B.J. (2022). Progressive overload without progressing load? The effects of load or repetition progression on muscular adaptations. PeerJ, [online] 10, p.e14142. doi:https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14142.
- See, Q., Tan, B. and Kumar, D. (2021). Acute low back pain: diagnosis and management. Singapore Medical Journal, [online] 62(6), pp.271–275. doi:https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2021086.
- Suits, W.H. (2021). Clinical Measures of Pelvic Tilt in Physical Therapy. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, [online] 16(5). doi:https://doi.org/10.26603/001c.27978.
- M. Nannaparaju, S. Mortada, Wiik, A., Khan, W. and Alam, M. (2017). Posterolateral corner injuries: Epidemiology, anatomy, biomechanics and diagnosis. Injury, [online] 49(6), pp.1024–1031. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2017.10.008.
0 Comments