Clamshells: Why These May Be Doing More Harm Than Good

Clamshells. There's a reason why these cause people pain.

Whether you having a hip injury or you're an athlete - most people don't have the kind of strength in glute medius that's needed to use that muscle in a clamshell... and that's the whole reason for doing one... ...so it's defeating the whole purpose.

When you do this exercise, you are reinforcing a takeover of other muscles that commonly take over and do the work for glute medius. That leads to arthritis, bursitis, labral tears and SI joint dysfunction.

Instead, you want to put glute medius in an isolated position and then engage the muscle so gently that other muscles don't take over for it. THAT will ensure you're using the right muscles and stop the pain pattern and create a new movement pattern that will result in strength, stability and mobility.

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