Gluteal Activation Plus Movement Retraining

All participants will receive the HEP for hip muscle activation training. The HEP for hip musculature activation consists of five isolated hip activation exercises including side-lying clams, side-lying clams with trunk activation via side-plank, side-lying hip abduction, side-lying hip abduction with trunk activation via side-plank, and fire hydrants all of which improve hip gluteal recruitment. After the 4th week, both groups are to return to the clinic and asked to briefly perform exercises from their HEP so that their form can be reassessed with any modifications if needed along with any questions that they may have. Each participant following the 8-week period will be scheduled to return to the clinic to turn in their compliance form and perform follow-up surface electromyography (sEMG), weight, and FSDT using the same procedures as before.

Only participants in the experimental group will receive the movement retraining program HEP. The HEP will be a combination of single leg Romanian Deadlift (RDL), single leg squat, and standing split squat that have been used in previous research and are proved to get significant gluteus medius (Gmed) activation. They will also participate in the gluteal activation HEP program that have been proved to increase hip musculature recruitment, as performed by the control group. After the 4th week, both groups are to return to the clinic and asked to briefly perform exercises from their HEP so that their form can be reassessed with any modifications if needed along with any questions that they may have. Each participant following the 8-week period will be scheduled to return to the clinic to turn in their compliance form and perform follow-ups sEMG, weight, and FSDT using the same procedures as before.