Understanding muscle function during hip extension and hip abduction allows muscle imbalance and altered movement patterns to be recognized. Treatment to correct the muscular imbalance causing an altered movement pattern is the rehab treatment plan. Muscle strength can change due to different reasons, which include sitting or standing, repetitive motion, injury, lack of exercise and deconditioning causing a muscle imbalance in the body.
Postural muscles have a tendency to become overactive, hypertonic, weak and shortened in length.
An example of a postural muscle is the psoas muscle, a hip flexor. On the other hand, phasic muscles have a tendency to become weak and inhibited. An example of a phasic muscle is the gluteus maximus muscle, a hip extensor. The tendency for a specific muscle to become overactive and another muscle to become inhibited occurs over time creating a muscle imbalance and an altered movement pattern. The physician must be able to recognize the muscular imbalance and the altered movement pattern in order to prescribe appropriate relaxation and strengthening exercises to restore the normal movement pattern in the body.