Minimally invasive surgical treatment of gluteal muscle contracture syndrome

  Gluteal contracture syndrome is often a clinical syndrome in which the hip muscle and its fascial fibers degenerate and contract as a result of repeated hip injections in early childhood, causing functional limitations of the hip joint.  In these patients, there are depressions, masses or fascia bands in the hip, and a popping or bouncing sensation in the hip. Patients walk with an obvious “outward facing” position and cannot “cross their legs”. When squatting, the knees are separated when squatting, and then come together again after squatting (circle sign). In severe cases, the patient can only squat in the abducted and externally rotated position, without the heels touching the ground, in a frog-like manner.  For most of the patients with gluteus contracture, gluteus contracture bandotomy is used: the surgical incision is only about 3cm, with little trauma, and the patient can be discharged the day after surgery. For patients with severe contracture, our hospital can fully resolve the causative factors by cutting off the gluteus medius band and releasing the gluteus maximus stop, with satisfactory results.  Post-operative functional exercise: after contracture release surgery, the gluteus maximus muscle can recur due to re-adhesion, so functional exercise is needed after surgery to prevent re-adhesion of the superficial broad fascial tensor fasciae iliotibial bundle break.