Gluteal Activation Plus Movement Retraining

January 14, 2026 updated by: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport

Effects of Isometric Gluteal Activation Plus Movement Retraining vs. Gluteal Activation Alone on the Forward Step-Down Test

The purpose of this study is to determine if an isometric gluteal activation home exercise program (HEP) combined with a movement retraining program utilizing feedback cues produces significant changes in scores on the Forward Step-Down Test (FSDT) in healthy young adults with movement coordination impairments.

Aim 1: To determine if an isometric gluteal activation HEP with a movement retraining program with feedback cues produces significant changes on scores FSDT compared to the gluteal activation HEP alone.

Aim 2: To determine if an isometric gluteal activation HEP followed with a movement retraining program with feedback cues produces significant changes on category FSDT compared to gluteal activation HEP alone.

Aim 3: To determine if an isometric gluteal activation HEP with a movement retraining program with feedback cues produces changes in the peak activation of the gluteus medius (GMed) and gluteus maximus (GMax) during the FSDT compared to the gluteal activation HEP alone.

Aim 4: To determine if an isometric gluteal activation HEP with a movement retraining program with feedback cues produces changes in the mean activation of the GMed and GMax during the FSDT compared to the gluteal activation HEP alone.

Aim 5: To determine if HEP dose has an effect on the FSDT response, as measured by change in score on the FSDT.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

38

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Louisiana
      • Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, 71103
        • LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participants must between the ages of 18 and older, if they were healthy via the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone (PAR-Q+), and scored a 2 or higher on the FSDT.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants have any current knee/hip pain, past knee/hip pathology in the past 3 months on their dominant leg or that the participant believes would impact their ability to participate in the study, or any past lower extremity (LE) surgery in their dominant leg that the participant believes would impact their ability to participate in the study, a concussion in the past 3 months, or if they have any vestibular pathology.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Gluteal Activation Group
The Control group will receive an HEP focusing on isometric gluteal activation.
Other: Control HEP focusing on isometric gluteal activation

All participants will receive the HEP for hip muscle activation training. The HEP for hip musculature activation consists of five isolated hip activation exercises including side-lying clams, side-lying clams with trunk activation via side-plank, side-lying hip abduction, side-lying hip abduction with trunk activation via side-plank, and fire hydrants all of which improve hip gluteal recruitment.

After the 4th week, both groups are to return to the clinic and asked to briefly perform exercises from their HEP so that their form can be reassessed with any modifications if needed along with any questions that they may have. Each participant following the 8-week period will be scheduled to return to the clinic to turn in their compliance form and perform follow-up surface electromyography (sEMG), weight, and FSDT using the same procedures as before.
Experimental: Gluteal Activation Plus Movement Training Group
The Experimental group will receive an HEP focusing on isometric gluteal activation plus movement retraining program.
Other: Experimental HEP focusing on isometric gluteal activation plus a movement retaining program

Only participants in the experimental group will receive the movement retraining program HEP. The HEP will be a combination of single leg Romanian Deadlift (RDL), single leg squat, and standing split squat that have been used in previous research and are proved to get significant gluteus medius (Gmed) activation. They will also participate in the gluteal activation HEP program that have been proved to increase hip musculature recruitment, as performed by the control group.

After the 4th week, both groups are to return to the clinic and asked to briefly perform exercises from their HEP so that their form can be reassessed with any modifications if needed along with any questions that they may have. Each participant following the 8-week period will be scheduled to return to the clinic to turn in their compliance form and perform follow-ups sEMG, weight, and FSDT using the same procedures as before.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Forward Step-Down Test (FSDT)
Time Frame: Baseline and after 8-week Home Exercise Program (HEP) intervention.
Rating on the FSDT (0-6; 0-1 = good movement quality, 2-3 = moderate movement quality, 4 or more = poor movement quality).
Baseline and after 8-week Home Exercise Program (HEP) intervention.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Peak Maximal Volitional Isometric Contraction (MVIC) on Gluteus Maximus (GMax).
Time Frame: Baseline and after 8-week HEP intervention.
Peak activation (percent of maximal volitional isometric contraction [%MVIC]) of GMax during performance of the FSDT
Baseline and after 8-week HEP intervention.
Peak Maximal Volitional Isometric Contraction (MVIC) on Gluteus Medius (GMed).
Time Frame: Baseline and after 8-week HEP intervention.
Peak activation (%MVIC) of GMed during performance of the FSDT
Baseline and after 8-week HEP intervention.
Mean Maximal Volitional Isometric Contraction (MVIC) on Gluteus Maximus (GMax).
Time Frame: Baseline and after 8-week HEP intervention.
Mean activation (% MVIC) of GMax during performance of the FSDT
Baseline and after 8-week HEP intervention.
Mean Maximal Volitional Isometric Contraction (MVIC) on Gluteus Medius (GMed).
Time Frame: Baseline and after 8-week HEP intervention.
Mean activation (% MVIC) of GMed during performance of the FSDT
Baseline and after 8-week HEP intervention.
HEP Compliance - Dose Response Relationship with FSDT and MVIC outcomes
Time Frame: After 8-week intervention.
Self-reported completion of each HEP session will be recorded by the participant and then returned to the investigators post-completion
After 8-week intervention.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Erin McCallister, PT, DPT, LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 7, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 2, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 15, 2025

First Posted (Estimated)

December 18, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

January 16, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 14, 2026

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00003174

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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