Overview

• • How to Perform

  • Support the patient by holding onto their hands, and then ask them to lift one leg off the ground.

• • Abnormal If

  • The hip on the non-weightbearing side falls, as the patient is unable to elevate their hip

• • Significance

  • Suggests hip abductor (gluteus medius / minimus) weakness, most commonly due to proximal myopathy.
• The Trendelenburg test was first identified in 1895 by orthopaedic surgeon Friedrich Trendelenburg, and although the test has since been modified, no better test for abductor weakness has been identified.