The gluteus minimus is located slightly anterior to the deep part of the gluteus medius. These muscles are the prime movers of the abducted hip joint. Both the gluteus minimus and the gluteus medius are arranged in a fan-like pattern and both attach to the same bones in adjacent locations, so the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus have similar functional roles. Thus, the gluteus minimus flexes and internally rotates the hip joint and maintains a stabilizing effect on the pelvic position during walking as does the gluteus medius. In standing, the hip joint is maintained by the synergistic action of the gluteus minimus, gluteus medius, and psoas. This action contributes to the alignment of the hip and other structures of the lower extremity. Weakness of these muscles can cause the pelvis to move laterally during standing, walking, and running; when standing on one leg, the subject was unable to maintain the pelvis at the center of gravity of the body. When walking, the inability to maintain sagittal plane motion results in a “duck step”, a waddling, wobbling gait. Test: Ask the patient to stand on one leg, the other leg as far as possible, flex the hip, flex the knee, so that the foot off the ground. When standing normally, the opposite side of the pelvis rises; after hip dislocation, the femoral head can not hold the acetabulum, the adductor muscles (gluteus medius, gluteus minimus) are weak, so that the opposite side of the pelvis falls, especially clear from the back, known as the Trendelenburg test is positive, it is a sign of hip joint instability. Point of attachment: Starting point: outside the ilium between the anterior and inferior hip lines. Stopping point: anterior border of the greater trochanter of the femur. The gluteus minimus is innervated by both the superior and inferior branches of the superior gluteal nerve. The crural nerves from L4, L5, and S1 form the superior gluteal nerve and run through the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus and send out branches to innervate the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. Coordinated antagonism: The gluteus medius, the anterior gluteus minimus, and the broad fascial tensor muscles produce internal rotation of the hip and are antagonized by the gluteus maximus and short external rotators. Adduction is mainly antagonized by the adductors (short and large hamstrings). How to palpate the gluteus minimus muscle 1, the subject lies prone and the examiner touches the lateral aspect of the anterior border of the iliac crest with the fingertip; 2, the fingertip slides along the medial and distal aspect toward the greater trochanter; 3, palpate along the direction where the muscle fibers converge and end at the anterior border of the greater trochanter; 4, the subject gently resists the internal rotation of the hip joint in order to confirm the correct position for palpation. Symptoms of Impairment: When the gluteus minimus muscle is injured, the patient may present with intermittent claudication, which is specific to spinal stenosis, and the therapist must then go to the gluteus minimus muscle to see if there is a gluteus minimus injury; when the patient patient is lying on his or her side, the severe pain may awaken him or her with pain during the night; sometimes the patient will show that he or she sits still for a Sometimes the patient may show difficulty in sitting still for a period of time and may not be able to stand up due to the pain; in severe gluteus minimus injuries, the pain is usually persistent and unusually intense, with pain and tenderness located in the lower and outer buttocks, the thigh and knee, the fibular side of the calf, and the distal ankle, and the involvement pain does not usually extend to the ankle. When the pain flares up, no position or movement can relieve its pain, so it can feel fidgety. Sometimes the patient may exhibit limited internal thigh contraction, and in the seated position the patient is usually unable to do a double leg movement on the affected side. Why Pseudosciatica Occurs in Gluteus Minor Injury: Of the three gluteal muscles in the buttocks, the gluteus minimus is the deepest, shortest and lightest. The fan-shaped muscle fibers like attached to the gluteus medius muscle, which connects close to the sciatic foramen magnum, from which the pyriformis muscle is threaded. Therefore, when the gluteus minimus muscle is injured, it affects the pyriformis muscle, which connects to it deep in front, resulting in the development of sciatica. Don’t forget to check the gluteus minimus for damage when you finish releasing the pyriformis. Etiologies easily confused with gluteus minimus injuries: The gluteus minimus and the pyriformis muscles are located close together and have a similar distribution of tenderness, but whereas the pyriformis has tenderness that occasionally extends to the knee, the gluteus minimus has tenderness that extends to the calf in addition to the thigh. Injury to the gluteus medius muscle does not cause thigh pain, and injury to the gluteus maximus muscle limits hip flexion, whereas trigger points within the pyriformis muscle limit hip internal rotation. Radicular neuralgia: Entrapment at the exit of a nerve root causes the patient to have sensory or motor deficits and sensory abnormalities related to the distribution of the nerve. However, radicular pain is more commonly caused by radicular or pyriform muscle entrapment of the sciatic nerve. Sciatica is only a symptom and not a diagnosis, so we should identify the cause of sciatica. Sciatica is a radiating pain from the buttock down along the posterior and lateral aspect of the lower extremity. It may be due to neurogenic or myogenic origin. We usually think of sciatica as being caused by nerve entrapment, most commonly by the pudendal muscle entrapment of the sciatic nerve, but the gluteus minimus muscle should not be ignored. Neurogenic causes are much more varied, with spinal stenosis and cremasteric tumors. The gluteus minimus is rarely injured singly, but rather with concomitant injuries to the pyriformis, gluteus medius, lateral femoral, peroneus brevis, psoas, and gluteus maximus. It can also sometimes cause misalignment of the sacroiliac joints, which should be corrected. When there is a problem with the gluteus maximus, it is important to release the psoas square muscle.