What IS CORE STABILITY?

We hear the words core stability a lot in our day to day job.  Patients tell us they have done years of pilates and their core is super strong or patients telling us they know their problem is because their core is weak!  What we then see is either patients bracing through their movements or having poor proprioception (the idea of our joints knowing where they are in space).

I like to think of our core as being in two layers.  Now this is simplifying things a little bit but it helps us understand it a little more.

First we have our primary stability which is made up of our deep abdominals (the ones you can’t see), our pelvic floor, our gluts and our diaphragm.  Now for a moment I want you to imagine a can of coke.  If I put a can of coke on the floor and stamp on it, not much will happen, but if I put a little dink in the side of it and then stamp on it, the whole thing collapses.  Now this is true of our primary stability.  If we have a deficit in one of the areas, then the whole thing can become ineffective. 

Then we have our suit of armour which is comprised of our outer abdominals and our big back muscles.  Now these are important if you are in a car accident, or get rugby tackled…….we need these muscles to brace to help protect us.  But more often than not we can end up over recruiting through our suit of armour, causing bracing and compression which can lead to all sorts of problems. 

Bracing is not an efficient way of stabilizing.  Take a toddler for example, when they are squatting to pick something up off the floor, do you see them bracing their core?!?!? 

A lot of what we do is actually working on trying to get our patients to stop bracing and start activating their primary stability.  This can often be a lightbulb moment for many patients and certainly was for me.  I suffered with low back pain for years and knew I wanted to strengthen my core to help.  I was trying glute bridges one day but I hated them as I found they exacerbated my pain.  It was only when I was cued to let go of my bracing that I realized how easy the exercise was and just like that I was able to stabilize so much better.

So next time you are doing some exercise or lifting/carrying/loading, take a moment to assess how you are doing it?  Are you bracing?  Are you holding your breath?  If this sounds like something you do and you are managing long term pain, then come and see us to see how we can help.