Darren Macfarlane Sports Injury Therapy: Core Conditioning

CORE CONDITIONING

By Darren Macfarlane, Sports Injury & Rehabilitation Specialist

Ask yourself what you know about your core, most people think of core conditioning, they think of doing crunches on a Swiss ball to have the perfect six pack. There are sports magazines and books with hundreds of ways to do abdominal exercises. There’s abs blast classes devoted to nothing but trashing peoples abdominal muscles. Are these classes or these exercises any benefit to the way you look or function or in reducing your chances of back pain?

What the core is made up of and how does it work?
To fully understand the core we need to know what muscles are involved in the core and where is the core. The core of the earth is the centre of the earth, the core of the apple is the centre of the apple, so the core of the human musculoskeletal system is the centre of it which is the trunk. If you take away the arms, legs and your head you are basically left with the core. The core is made up of muscles in layers, the deepest layers known as the inner unit and top layers known as the outer unit. The inner unit is made up of the transverse abdominus, multifidus, diaphragm and pelvic floor. These are the bodies own natural weight belt. The inner unit stabilizes the low back and pelvis before any movement of the arms or legs occurs. The outer unit is made up of the external and internal Obliques which allows movement of the body in rotational and side bending and rectus abdominals which allows body to bend forward.

One disturbing trend in abdominal workouts today is that many only target the rectus abdominus the so called six pack and Obliques with poor quality crunch style exercises. Most fitness professionals immediately think of the rectus abdominis strengthening for the lumber spine support. However it’s the transversus abdominis (tva) that acts as a corset for the lumber spine during functional activities .The TVA is the first muscle to fire when performing any movement which prevents the spine from shaking which can lead to lower back pain.

Research has shown that the inner unit is under separate neurological control from the rectus abdominus, Obliques and psoas muscles. In fact the rectus abdominus is part of the outer unit and this shows by targeting these muscles which are not part of the inner unit by crunches and sit ups you are not conditioning your core properly .Exercising these muscles is not providing the correct strengthening of the core muscles i.e. the Multifidus, Transverse abdominus and pelvic floor. Also by doing crunches and sit ups the rectus abdominus becomes shortened and pulls the chest downward altering the posture which can lead to injury i.e. shoulder dysfunction and impingement of nerves in shoulder. By strengthening and shortening the hip flexors i.e. psoas and quadriceps in sit-ups can lead to the pelvis been tilted anterior altering the natural curves of lower back which can lead to lower back pain not reduce it. The most basic exercise the crunch doesn’t target the transverse abdominus.

Research as shown those attending abs classes and doing high volumes of crunches have a harder time recovering from back pain and show little improvement in postural dysfunction.98% of those tested with back pain had weaker lower abdominal and transversus abdominis muscles*. To alleviate back pain clients where told stay away from any form of sits up or crunch type exercises and do only exercises for lower abdominal and transversus abdominis. The clients showed great improvements with there back pain which either decreased or was completely alleviated and posture improved.

How core works

The inner unit is the bodies own natural weight belt. When you go to lift up something it contracts automatically without us knowing tighten up in a weight belt fashion. This stabilizes the joints of the spine and pelvic girdle before or in response to any movement of the arms or legs occurs and it safely transfers the load up or down the body without injuring the spine or pelvis. Without the stability begin provided by the inner unit we are in danger of injury from daily function of our bodies and from stresses from our sport. In simple terms to have a strong core is to have a stable spine and pelvis so the body, including arms and legs can move what ever way your sport of life requires without causing damage to joints or tissues.

Only strengthening prime movers
By only developing strength in the prime movers (outer unit) it can eventually lead to injuries over time. Core exercises are more functional and sports specific, and help develop the strength in the core and stabilizer muscles. What you do in the gym will carry over to the playing field. Improvement of core strength leads to improved conditioning and performance. Strengthening the core can have tremendous benefits very quickly. There is also the benefit of preventing lower back pain from both poor posture in everyday life and overloading the core muscles during sporting activity.

Always develop core strength before the extremities. Strengthening the core will help you lift more, avoid injuries and generally allow you to make more demands on the body in any sporting situation. Strengthening these muscles will help support the spine and improve your posture which can dramatically decrease lower back pain. It allows the body to function the way it was designed to, allowing it to move in a coordinated fashion and to dissipate harmful forces acting on it thereby preventing injury development. Exercising the big muscles (prime movers) does not provide the correct strengthening of such small muscles as the multifidus transverse abdominis and pelvic floor. The more you strengthening the prime movers they become stronger and the inner unit becomes weaker.
Without a stable spine the nervous system fails to recruit the muscles of the extremities efficiently and functional movements cannot be performed properly.

Why Should you have your Core Assessed & Retrained?

To get the inner unit to fire automatically you need to do specific isolation exercises and then when its activating it then must be programmed into all movements. Failure to condition the inner unit can result in back pain and spinal injury due to instability. This is the first stage of core stability training which begins within the athlete learning to stabilize the abdominal wall. Proper activation of these muscles is considered vital in the first stages of core stability program before progressing to more dynamic and multi- planar activates. Once assessed the weak portions of the core, outer and inner unit are isolated to gain neural function, teach the brain how to operate them again. Once these are achieved the muscles are integrated into all functional movements’ patterns and exercises. Once the stabilizing muscles have been re-trained the muscles of the arms and legs will have a more stable base to work from. This allows you to carry out arm and leg movements with more control and will improve the quality of your movement. The only time muscles should be isolated is when there is a weakness in a certain area. This is vital part core training since you cannot strength a muscle that your nervous system isn’t using. Training comes before strengthening. Don’t hop on a Swiss ball if your TVA isn’t working you will damage your self.

Benefits of a strong core

• It will provide more support for your back and will reduce the risk of back injuries
• It will provide a more stable base for arm and leg movements, improving the control and quality of your movements
• It will improve your muscular co-ordination during movement
• As the stabilizing muscles gain more endurance you will be able to perform movements without your technique deteriorating excessively due to fatigue
• Your ability to hold off opponents in contact sports is much improved

BACK PAIN

The most common source of back pain can be traced to muscle imbalance in the abdominal structure. With proper corrective strengthening exercises for any imbalance you have in the core you can minimize or remove back pain related to core imbalance.

The lifestyle we lead today involves spending more time sitting down in cars on buses or at our desks in work all day, this leads to our core muscles becoming progressively weaker over time.

Before beginning a core conditioning program have your core assessed to determine where the weaker portions of it are and more importantly that it is working properly. This is important to provide spinal and pelvic stability needed to protect you from damaging forces as a result of gross movement during exercised.