Nagging hip discomfort. A knee that aches after long walks. That tight calf you keep ignoring. If you’ve chalked these up to aging, overuse, or poor posture, you’re not alone. But there’s a lesser-known culprit behind many chronic issues: muscular imbalance.
When certain muscles become stronger or tighter than their counterparts—whether from favoring one side of the body, recovering from injury, or sitting too much—it can throw your entire musculoskeletal system out of alignment. Left unaddressed, this can lead to compensatory movement patterns, increased joint stress, and, eventually, pain.
Muscular imbalances can be corrected—but only if you know they’re there. Here’s what causes them, how they affect your body, and how to start restoring balance through evidence-based strategies. Advanced imaging, such as Prenuvo’s Enhanced Screening, can provide additional information that may complement traditional strategies.
What is muscle imbalance?
A muscle imbalance occurs when there’s a discrepancy in strength, size, flexibility, or activation between opposing or paired muscles—like your right and left glutes or your legs and back.
These asymmetries are more common than most people realize. In fact, muscle imbalance symptoms often develop slowly, without an obvious trigger. Over time, even minor discrepancies can disrupt alignment, destabilize joints, and compromise performance or mobility.
Why muscle asymmetry matters
Muscles don’t operate in isolation. They work in concert to stabilize, move, and protect your body. When one muscle group becomes dominant or overactive, others may weaken or underperform. This not only limits efficiency but increases your risk for:
- Poor posture
- Lower back, hip, or knee pain
- Reduced mobility or flexibility
- Overuse injuries (e.g., runner’s knee, rotator cuff strain)
- Long-term joint wear and tear
Common causes of muscle imbalance
Muscular asymmetries can arise from everyday habits or past injuries—without you even realizing it. Here are some of the most common culprits:
1. Dominant side overuse
Most people naturally favor one side—whether when writing, lifting, or playing sports. Over time, the dominant side may become stronger and more coordinated, while the non-dominant side lags behind.
2. Injury compensation
After an injury, it’s natural to offload stress from the affected area. But even after the injury heals, the body may retain compensatory movement patterns, leading to ongoing imbalances.
3. Sedentary lifestyles
Sitting for prolonged periods—especially with poor posture—can weaken the glutes, core, and back muscles while shortening the hip flexors and hamstrings. This is a fast track to misalignment.
4. Repetitive activities
Running, cycling, or strength training without sufficient cross-training or mobility work can reinforce certain movement patterns while neglecting others, especially in the lower body.
5. Tech neck syndrome
The very technology that is so central to our lives is doing real harm to our spines and musculoskeletal systems. Numerous studies have shown the effects of smart phone use on what is being called an epidemic of tech neck — it’s even affecting school-aged children and can have long-lasting effects.
Related: Tech neck is now an epidemic—here’s how to prevent it
The consequences of these muscular imbalances?
Many people treat pain at the site of discomfort (like icing a knee or using a heating pad on the lower back) without ever realizing the root cause may lie in an imbalance elsewhere (like the hips or glutes). Gaining a better understanding of your own unique body’s potential muscular imbalances can give you the opportunity to address them before they cause other issues in your musculoskeletal system.
How to identify muscle imbalances
Visible signs and functional clues
Even though the musculoskeletal structure of your own body is unique, there are certain common signs of muscular imbalances that many people share.
- One shoulder sits higher than the other
- Uneven muscle size or definition between limbs
- Limited range of motion on one side
- Difficulty balancing on one leg
- Recurrent injuries on one side of the body
But not all imbalances are obvious—especially in deeper muscles like the hip flexors, glute medius, or adductors.
How Prenuvo can help
Prenuvo’s Enhanced Screening leverages whole body MRI technology and includes a body composition report that provides side-to-side comparisons of lean muscle mass in the lower body. Studies have shown whole body MRI’s can help detect subtle musculoskeletal imbalances that might be otherwise invisible. This information can serve as a baseline from which to help you build a more balanced body.
Related: What You Get in Your Prenuvo Body Composition Report
Knowing where your imbalances lie is the critical first step toward addressing them with intention—not guesswork.
How to fix muscle imbalances
Correcting muscle imbalance isn’t about working harder—it’s about working smarter. Here are some strategies you could use to restore alignment, strength, and resilience:
1. Unilateral strength training
Exercises that work one side of the body at a time—like single-leg deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, or single-arm rows—can help strengthen weaker areas without compensation from the dominant side. Start with the weaker side first and match reps on the stronger side to promote balance.
2. Targeted mobility and flexibility work
Tight muscles can inhibit full range of motion, worsening muscular asymmetry. To counter this, consider incorporating:
- Dynamic warm-ups (think leg swings, shoulder circles, spinal twists), which have been shown to provide benefits beyond the musculoskeletal system — they also can provide neurologic, cardiovascular, and psychological benefits.
- Foam rolling, which can release tension in tight areas — one study found evidence supporting foam rolling as a warm-up activity rather than a recovery tool.
- Yoga, which has been shown to be just as effective as stretching-strengthening exercises in improving functional fitness — it can help you gain flexibility and strength in overactive and tight muscles.
Related: 7 yoga poses to improve your posture and muscle symmetry
3. Core and postural training
A strong, stable core supports efficient movement and minimizes stress on limbs. To build up core strength, try to focus on:
- Anti-rotation exercises (think Pallof presses, planks), which have been shown to help build core strength and improve stability.
- Glute activation drills, which can increase the strength of the gluteus maximus (GMax) — studies have found that several exercises can be classified as inducing a very high level of GMax activation (>60% maximal voluntary isometric contraction) — these include step-ups, hex bar deadlifts, barbell hip thrusts, squats, lunges, and hip thrusts.
- Postural resets like wall angels or dead bugs, which have been shown to help improve upper and lower body musculoskeletal strength and mobility.
4. Movement assessments and check-ins
Regularly re-assess how you move, feel, and perform. Consider:
- Working with a physical therapist or movement specialist to ensure proper technique and alignment.
- Recording exercises to observe patterns of overcompensation or favoring of your dominant side.
- Repeating Prenuvo scans annually to measure progress in correcting lower body muscle imbalances.
Muscular imbalances can be fixable
While musculoskeletal imbalances are common — they don’t have to be permanent. With the right tools, approach, and awareness, you can restore alignment, reduce injury risk, and improve your long-term physical health.
Start by identifying the imbalance, then take targeted action to correct it. Whether you’re an athlete chasing performance goals or simply want to move pain-free as you age, balance is essential—and within reach.
Better balance starts with increased awareness
To learn more about how a Prenuvo Enhanced Screening can help you identify muscular asymmetries and support your health goals, book a call with our team.
