If you bruised your gluteus maximus, what activity would most likely cause discomfort?

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body and plays a significant role in hip extension and lateral rotation of the hip joint. If you have bruised this muscle, activities that directly involve its primary movements would likely cause discomfort.

Extending the hip, which involves moving the thigh backward from a flexed position (like when standing up from a sitting position or when walking up stairs), requires significant engagement of the gluteus maximus. Additionally, lateral rotation of the hip also engages this muscle. Therefore, performing activities or movements that require these actions — like extending your hip and laterally rotating it — would exacerbate the pain and discomfort from the bruised muscle.

While walking, running, or sitting down may also engage the gluteus maximus to some extent, they do not target the muscle as specifically or intensely as the action of extending and laterally rotating the hip does. This makes the hip extension and lateral rotation the most likely cause of discomfort when the gluteus maximus is bruised.