Posterior Oblique Muscles and Exercises

Have you ever rehabbed a back, hip, knee, or ankle injury? If you rehabbed with a Physical Therapist at OSR, you likely incorporated some exercises for your glutes. Numerous Physical Therapy and Athletic Training research articles guide us in ensuring that we assess and treat hip weaknesses with any lower body injury.

At some point you will be ready to move beyond basic exercises. At this point, you might wonder, what comes after the basics like clams and bridges? Transitioning from the basics of Physical Therapy back into fitness and total body training in a logical progression is advised to achieve optimal performance.

Muscles not only work in isolation, but also in groups. These groups are referred to as muscle systems (aka subsystems or slings). This article will focus on the posterior oblique system. This refers to how your lats and gluteus maximus work together during every day motion and sports motion.

Here are three exercises that can be used to target how these muscle groups work together:

Squat to row: This can be done with a TRX, cable, or band. It can be progressed to standing on one foot instead of two.

Bridge lat pull: This is traditionally a Pilates exercise, but can be done with a band anchored to a fixed object.

Single leg RDL: This can be performed without weight, and then progressed to using dumbbells or kettlebells.

This article was written by Meredith Butulis, DPT, ACSM HFS, NASM CPT. Meredith is a Physical Therapist at our Eden Prairie location. OSR Physical Therapy does run an Aftercare program to transition from Physical Therapy back to sport.