Core Strength Made Simple: Expert Physical Therapy Tips

Is back pain making standing tall more difficult? Have you noticed you don’t feel as balanced as you once used to? What’s the connection? These are both signs that may indicate core muscle weakness. At Total Care Physical Therapy, our physical therapists can help you figure out if your core is affecting your condition and, if so, how to get it strong again!

Your core muscles help you do a lot — from sitting to standing to getting up and down from chairs. A strong core allows smooth, coordinated actions, thus impacting almost every activity you do every day. If your core muscles are weak, they may affect your function and possibly your pain levels. 

It’s important to note that core muscles are not just important for physical fitness but are also essential to the overall quality of life. Our physical therapists understand the importance of core strength and will assess you to determine if it’s affecting your daily activities. With our expert guidance, you’ll learn how to engage your muscles in how they were designed to move!

Contact us today to set up an appointment or learn more about how our team can help you strengthen your core!

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What Is the “Core”? 

When most people think of core muscles, they immediately think of the abdominals. However, the core muscles comprise the lower back, hip, pelvis, pelvic floor, and even the diaphragm muscle.  

Significant weakness in the core will often lead to compensations and straining of different body areas, most commonly the back and neck muscles. As a result, this leads to undesirable consequences, such as poor posture, fatigue, or pain.

The muscles that make up your core are designed to help stabilize your body, support your posture, ensure your balance, and support movements in all directions. If any of these muscles are weak, injured, or used inappropriately, your trunk becomes unstable, making it difficult for your body to function correctly. 

The core assists in almost every movement, from bending down to picking up an object to standing up straight. It also plays a significant role in breathing, lifting a heavy object, twisting your body, or even just walking. Core strength is also essential in sports performances, allowing the body to balance and control movements while running, jumping, and sustaining contact. A strong core enhances power, speed, coordination, and agility with all sports and recreational pursuits. It also can help reduce the risk of injuries and may help to prevent chronic lower back pain.

A strong core is vital to your overall health, functional movement, and athletic performance. Proper core training helps maintain spine health, ensures optimal performance in your daily life, and can help prevent various injuries.

Building Core Strength with Expert Guidance 

Physical therapy is a great starting point for building your core strength. Our licensed therapists will conduct a detailed evaluation to identify the underlying muscle weaknesses and strategies to strengthen them. 

Whether you feel pain in your back, neck, shoulders, or legs, we will thoroughly analyze your posture, movement patterns, and strength, pinpointing the exact cause of the pain. From there, we will create an individualized treatment plan for you based on your specific needs to strengthen your core, improve your posture, and alleviate pain. 

Core stability is about both muscular strength and proper sensory input. This sensory input informs the central nervous system about your body’s movements and positions to facilitate specific actions, ensuring your body reacts appropriately. When functioning properly, our body can perform the most basic tasks and advanced athletic activities.  

Our therapists will design a program to teach you how to use your core muscles properly. We will create a strength program focusing on core-specific exercises and progressing to multi-joint free-weight exercises for comprehensive core muscle training. You can anticipate continuous feedback and guidance for fine-tuning your movements to ensure optimal spinal stabilization through a strong core.

Book Your Appointment at Total Care Physical Therapy Today!

Our physical therapy team will assess your condition to identify how your core affects your function. We’ll educate you on how your core affects your physical activity and contributes to the pain you may be experiencing. Our individualized exercise programs can reduce your pain and improve your overall quality of life! 

Sources: https://bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12891-021-04858-6, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6407754, https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2012/02000/effect_of_core_strength_on_the_measure_of_power_in.8.aspx, https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5142/6/2/37, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.915259/full

Exercise of the Month

Plank Forearms & Feet

Lie on your stomach with elbows bent. Your legs should be straight out behind you with your feet together. Raise up your body with your forearms and toes. Create a nice straight line with your body from your head to your heels. Concentrate on tucking your pelvis to engage your abs, squeezing your glutes and quads to keep your legs straight, and squeezing your legs together as you hold. Hold for 20 seconds and repeat 3 times.