training muscle imbalances

A good massage therapist worked for me.  It hurt, but it worked.  He pushed around in there, pressed hard against what felt like the bone itself, the muscle released and has been in good shape since. 

My PT gave me some of those same exercises, but they didn't help until after the massage.

I had a similar issue with my right glute medius, and it lead to a bunch of problems similar to yours (especially SI joint and psoas problems).  It took me a while to realize that the glute medius was the real issue, and the "aha" moment came when someone pointed out that my knees fell in when I did squats, since the glute medius was not stabilizing the femur.  

Since then, I do squats and lunges in front of a mirror, paying close attention to not letting my knees fall in -- I think this teaches the glute medius to fire during normal activity.  And since the glute was weak from not being used, I do clamshells with stretch cords, abductor machine (opposite of adductor), and bridges (one-legged), etc.  Also, when I run I really focus on firing the glutes and keeping a straight knee.  Its still a work in progress, but its improved immensely.

If the glute is "locked-up", you can also try your own self-massage by sitting on a tennis ball.

Good luck!

I hear you on the "years of symptoms"!  Mine started years ago with some trauma to the lower abs, and things just went downhill from there, although I didn't realize it at the time.  I missed one IM last year when the SI joint went into full revolt.  But I got through a 2nd IM with the help of some very painful deep tissue massages.

I've since developed a deep respect for the complexity of the hip, and I've learned more anatomy than I ever wanted to know.  You might check out the Core Performance stuff, as well as Jessi Stensland's web site.  It was Jessi who pointed out my glute medius issue during a seminar.  I know a lot of folks here don't buy into strength training, but for me its very helpful in keeping injuries at bay.

I have a similar problem with right glutes causing problems with my right knee.It seem to have made my right calf smaller too.

Sports doctor have me with a PT and I have a follow up in 6 weeks. He asks me to do exercises and i always do them in front of the mirror. Making sure my right knee tracks over my second toe whenever I do lunges. It has helped alot but still need work to do.

I'm also doing yoga and it's kicking my behind..literally.

it may have been said above, but since glute medius is a hip abductor you should be doing the exercises you have been doing but also add standing steamboats with tubing and strap the pulley to your leg and do standing hip abduction do not forget to work glute max  and hip internal and external rotators with stretching...good luck

I have similar issue with my left quad muscles. Sitting on the ground with legs out in front of me I can't fire my quad muscle without other muscles helping. I had my knee scoped in June and have had some set backs a few time with some pes anserine bursitis.

I've gone to 2 PTs before the one I'm going to. I kept wondering if what was going on was being caused by something else. I kept asking why and never got a good explanation until I went to 3rd PT. He evaluated my whole body and movement pattern and has some ideas what is going on. We are doing completely different things and hope to get my movement pattern back to normal so I can keep training healthy.

First and second PT said my Glute medius is weak but new PT said mine is actually stronger than 90% of the triathletes he sees which is biggest part of his practice. But what is weak is my pelvis so glute medius attaches to hip and unstable pelvis so it appears my glute medius isn't strong. How can it stabilize me if one end it is attached to isn't stable.

I want to be healthy and will pursue as many avenues as necessary to get the answer and method to get back to being whole and healthy.

Pilates reformer 2x a week for an hour a session has helped me to correct imbalance in hip/left side back.