Glute issue after femoral head replacement

[BareSteel]

Coaches,

My grandma had a femoral head replacement in 2015. After her inpatient PT and weeks of prescribed outpatient PT, I took over with very gradual barbell training.

She squats to a box (touch & go - no sitting), deadlifts and presses with good form. However, her walking posture is still a little bit bent forward. I can cue her to straighten up, but what I've found is that she can't seem to voluntarily make her glutes work for her. Her squat form is good, which tells me that those muscles must be doing their job during the squat itself.

I don't know if there is possibly some post-op nerve damage that is preventing her from achieving this (in which case I should stop being a nagging grandson) or if I can help her out.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice regarding how to best help her.

[Brent Carter]

If it hasn't improved with getting her squat up and her DL up i'd say it's unlikely to improve. But I'm really just guessing here. And yeah if she is DLing and SQing then her glutes are most assuredly working.

[BareSteel]

If it hasn't improved with getting her squat up and her DL up i'd say it's unlikely to improve. But I'm really just guessing here. And yeah if she is DLing and SQing then her glutes are most assuredly working.

Thanks for the quick reply, Brent. I'm going to keep training her and helping her get stronger. I know that both sides seem to show the same issue, while the surgery was only on one side. This hints to me that perhaps it's not post-surgical nerve damage. She believes that (at age 82), there is some arthritis going on. I've been trying different cues to convince her to get her hips in a better position.

[Brent Carter]

If the surgery/ fracture was due to a fall altered gait patterns are almost expected. Sometimes this is more psychological than anything else due to a fear of future falls. But now I am getting outside of my wheelhouse.