"CORE" THAT'S GOOD!

WHAT MAKES UP OUR 'CORE'?

Our core is a group of deep muscles that acts like a cylinder inside us offering stability to our skeleton. It consists of our pelvic floor - the base of the cylinder, transversus abdominus - a muscle that wraps around us and our diaphragm - the top of the cylinder.

GOOD POSTURE HELPS ACTIVATE OUR 'CORE'

There are a multitude of cues that can be used to help achieve a 'good posture', in my experience, one that most people seem to respond well to is to ‘think of a piece of string pulling you up from the crown of your head’. Please note though that sticking your chest out isn’t required with this one! Also those for whom muscle tightness is a real problem may need to do some stretching first! The aim of this exercise is to get our spinal curves and pelvis into a position that maximises the work of the core muscle, also known as a 'neutral spine' - not too curvey and not too straight!

HOW TO ACTIVATE THE MUSCLES

Once you've got your 'neutral spine' you may find your core muscles are starting to work already, if not try lifting and tightening your pelvic floor. This isn’t about activating your ‘6-pack’ and holding your breath is a definite no no, so make sure you keep breathing with this one!

KEEPING IT STRONG

Practicing this exercise and maintaining your 'neutral spine' as much as possible in your day-to-day is the first step to getting a strong 'core' which in time should become automatic.

Enjoy!!

CAN HAVING GOOD CORE STABILITY IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE IN SPORT?

A friend of mine announced his race results with glee - 3 minutes off his previous personal best in a half marathon - down to 1 hour 33 seconds with no running training for six months but a focus on core stability and regular classes including circuits, body pump and combat. He was thrilled, although his training partner for less so, as he had continued just with running and not made the same improvement. Some proof of the value of core stability and cross training - I think so.

As a physio I am a huge fan of core stability and also addressing muscle imbalance problems to maximise performance, not just in the world of sport but in day to day life and activities. I have heard patients tell me how they are able to significantly reduce their back pain by activating their 'core stability' muscles which is excellent.

Another frequently asked question is 'shall I do yoga or pilates?' Obviously there's personal preference to be considered and also the different types of yoga but having done both I would go for pilates. My one concern however is that I often get patients who have been to pilates but are unaware of which muscles really do form their core and are unsure of how to activate them.

I would suggest that anyone suffering with back or neck aches and pains would be advised to go and see a physio before embarking on a pilates course, even if it's just to show them how to activate their core muscles correctly. You'll get lots more out of the classes and hopefully really start to see the difference. From a 'performance improver' point of view I'd also encourage people who don't do core work but who just play tennis or just run etc to find out how to get their core muscles working well and watch what happens to your results......!

For more information on activating your core muscles have a look at my earlier blog on back pain.