Muscle Interactions

One of the more difficult, but important keys to understanding the human body and it’s various functions, is understanding that all muscles interact with eachother. As we discussed in the Muscle Function section, all muscles serve a number of different roles. We have to keep in mind that each muscle in the body has an impact on those muscles around them. Many times the impact is positive, but sometimes that interaction is negative, and you won’t know which is true, until you understand how they all work together.

Some of the most important interactions within the body are listed here. This is certainly not an all-inclusive list, but it does include a number of interactions which tend to show up a great deal in a clinical practice and prove to be either problematic or closely related to eachother for a number of reasons. Click on the muscular interation below to learn more and understand how their interactions affect the body’s functions.

Muscle Group #1	Muscle Group #2	Notes
Hip Flexors (Illiopsoas)	Hamstrings	Role of the Hip Flexor can have a very large impact on Hamstring Strains due to pelvic positioning
Core (Transverse Abdominis)	Hip Flexors (Illiopsoas)	Core instabiility will force the Hip Flexors to become synergistically dominant and overworked, causing injury
Glutes (Glute Max)	Hamstrings	Poor Glute firing will cause the Hamstrings to become synergistically dominant and overowked, causing injury
Glute Medius	Hip Adductors	The combination of a weak Glute Med and tight Hip Adductors is a lethal combination for knee injuries
Ankle Dorsiflexors	Glutes	There is a direct correlation between the ability to dorsiflex the ankle and fire the glutes
Hamstrings	ACL (Obviously not a muscle, but important none-the-less)	If working properly, the Hamstrings can protect the ACL
Hip Adductors	Core (Transverse Abdominis)	There is a direct connection between firing the Adductors, muscles of the pelvic floor, and core
Peroneals	Posterior Tibialis	If one is working overtime to modify foot mechanics, the other will be stressed and eventually breakdown
Gripping muscles of the Hand	Rotator Cuff	There is a direct correlation between a person’s grip strength and their ability to fire their rotator cuff (protective mechanism)
Pectoralis Major and Minor	Scapular Stabilizers	Pec Tightness combined with poor scapular stability has a major impact on shoulder health