Hip muscle activity during 3 side-lying hip-strengthening exercises in distance runners.

Context: Lower extremity overuse injuries are associated with gluteus medius (GMed) weakness. Understanding the activation of muscles about the hip during strengthening exercises is important for rehabilitation.

Objective: To compare the electromyographic activity produced by the gluteus medius (GMed), tensor fascia latae (TFL), anterior hip flexors (AHF), and gluteus maximus (GMax) during 3 hip-strengthening exercises: hip abduction (ABD), hip abduction with external rotation (ABD-ER), and clamshell (CLAM) exercises.