"Normal" healthy aging

[Matt Garman]

I went to a PT about a year ago for some knee pain (due to an injury completely unrelated to barbell training). I didn't want to go to a PT, but the pain was severe enough that I was desperate. After a few sessions (spread over two or three weeks), my knee was better, and I was ready to end the PT. My therapist did a final eval, where she determined I had weak glutes.

Just before the injury, I was squatting about 300 lbs. Not terribly strong by this site's standards, but certainly not weak, and I'm betting stronger than virtually all the people this PT deals with. The test she used to determine I had weak glutes involved me laying on my side, but with my hips tilted forward, one leg up at a specific angle, pushing against her hand(s)... She kept yelling at me that my hips weren't right, move this way, move that way, etc. I can't remember all the details, except that it was extremely awkward. Maybe one of the PTs on this forum recognizes the "test"?

I thought she was joking at first when she said I had weak glutes. I said, "Are you serious? I'm squatting 300 pounds!" She said the squat was really more of a "quad" exercise (and the deadlift just a "back" exercise). The conversation that ensued was every bit as ridiculous as you might imagine.

The point is: while the study the OP mentions is clearly terribly flawed, I am at least encouraged that the testing was not so contrived as to find he and his wife weak, which they obviously aren't.

[Tzal]

"Our study showed that normal persons demonstrated similar weaknesses to persons requiring rehabilitation following an acute injury." PT is therefore medically necessary for both normal persons and those rehabbing injuries, the researchers will conclude.

[dpg]

The test she used to determine I had weak glutes involved me laying on my side, but with my hips tilted forward, one leg up at a specific angle, pushing against her hand(s)... She kept yelling at me that my hips weren't right, move this way, move that way, etc. I can't remember all the details, except that it was extremely awkward.

I was given the same test with similar results. Since the medial glutes need to function properly to stabilize the squat, and since you can squat with 300 lbs., my first reaction would be to say that the medial glutes are functioning doing their job. But if that's true, why can't you exert force against the PT's hand in a sidelying position? Apparently some people are able to do that. What advantage, if any, would that give someone? It could be the case that your squat is less than optimal due to compensation caused by poor glute med activation. Either that or the test, and the theory behind it, is complete bullshit.

[johnnys]

I went to a PT about a year ago for some knee pain (due to an injury completely unrelated to barbell training). I didn't want to go to a PT, but the pain was severe enough that I was desperate. After a few sessions (spread over two or three weeks), my knee was better, and I was ready to end the PT. My therapist did a final eval, where she determined I had weak glutes.

Just before the injury, I was squatting about 300 lbs. Not terribly strong by this site's standards, but certainly not weak, and I'm betting stronger than virtually all the people this PT deals with. The test she used to determine I had weak glutes involved me laying on my side, but with my hips tilted forward, one leg up at a specific angle, pushing against her hand(s)... She kept yelling at me that my hips weren't right, move this way, move that way, etc. I can't remember all the details, except that it was extremely awkward. Maybe one of the PTs on this forum recognizes the "test"?

I'm not a PT, but I'm familiar. She was testing your gluteus medius and minimis, not the maximus. They hold your pelvis level when you're on one foot, so two-foot squatting isn't directly relevant. A real problem shows up in your gait with the foot opposite the bad glute off the ground, and the pelvis tilts down (Trendelenberg gait, I was told).

[Bill Quick]

Either that or the test, and the theory behind it, is complete bullshit.

Ding ding ding! I think we have a winner.