The Gluteus Minimus Muscle by David Keil

What Does Gluteus Minimus Mean?

• The word gluteus is the new latin name but it derives from Greek gloutos which means buttock or rump.
• The word minimus refers to this being the smallest of three gluteal muscles that make up the buttocks (the other two are gluteus medius and gluteus maximus)

Where Does the Gluteus Minimus Muscle Attach?

• Gluteus minimus attaches between the inferior and anterior gluteal lines (Referred to commonly as the “Origin” or proximal attachment). The gluteal lines are bumpy lines on the outer surface of the pelvis. There are three of them, inferior, anterior, and posterior. You can see them more clearly if you click the image to the right.
• The other end of the muscle (Referred to as the “Insertion” or distal attachment) attaches onto the front of the greater trochanter of the femur. The greater trochanter is a large boney protrusion or bump felt on the outside of the hip. You can see the area of attachment painted in blue in the image to the right.

What Are The Actions of the Gluteus Minimus Muscle?

• Anterior: Flexes and internally rotates the femur at the hip joint.
• Posterior: Extends and externally rotates the femur at the hip joint.
• Together: Abduction of the hip joint or Stabilizes the pelvis relative to the femur (used in walking).

The gluteus minimus has an interesting set of actions. It is not so different to last months muscle of the month, the deltoids. In fact, I often refer to the gluteals as the deltoids of the hip joint. The movement of the gluteus minimus is  interesting because the anterior portion functions in opposition to the posterior portion. For instance, If I raise my leg in front of me (flexion of the hip joint) the anterior part of the gluteus minimus contracts to help lift my leg up. The posterior part of the gluteus minimus is lengthening while my hip joint is flexing.

We could say that the gluteus minimus is antagonistic to itself. You’ll notice in the image to the left that I put a green line down the center of it. Fibers that are in front of the line are anterior fibers and those behind, posterior fibers.

Postures Where the Gluteus Minimus Muscle Contracts

Postures Where the Gluteus Minimus Muscle is Lengthened

Gluteus Minimus Injury

Although there is no “common” injury to this muscle, I do find that it is part of common restrictions we see in yoga. I spoke about this area in an article that describes the gluteal and psoas relationship. It also came up in the very popular sit bone pain revisited article where we see that the trigger points from this muscle can mimic sciatica as well as give the feeling of having sit bone pain. (I just saw another case of sit bone pain coming from gluteus minimus trigger points this week!) Also check out this post where I answer a question of the month: “Butt Pain and Sciatica: How Do I Tell if This Butt Pain is Sciatica?“. In many of these cases, part of the course of action I suggest is to do firelog pose and of course here is a link to the video I did a couple of years back.

Additional Images