At your core, there’s an incredible athlete. Lean and powerful. Strong, but still flexible. Use your core to transform your body—and your life, turn back the clock, speed up your metabolism, trim your waistline, build muscle, permanently rid yourself of nagging back pain and gain unlimited energy. Sound good? It can become a reality for your patient’s with a ” Core Regeneration Program!”
So what is the core you say? Good question. Lets start learning.
The major muscles of your core include:
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Transverse Abdominis (TVA)-The deepest of the abdominal muscles, this lies under the obliques (muscles of your waist). It acts like a weight belt, wrapping around your spine for protection and stability.
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External Obliques-These muscles are on the side and front of the abdomen, around your waist
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Internal Obliques-These muscles lie under the external obliques, running in the opposite direction.
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Pelvic Floor- These muscles are responsible for support of your internal organs and abdominal contents.
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Multifidus-Responsible for stabilizing the spine and pelvis directly prior to limb and trunk movement.
Why should you care about the core?
Core strength enhances your overall fitness level. Your body moves more efficiently and gracefully. You gain more power in athletic moves and other exertion. And you’re less prone to injury and muscle pain. When your core muscles are weak, other muscles compensate by doing work they’re not intended to, and you’re more likely to wind up with chronic debilitating back problems and injuries to the knee joint.
Weak core muscles contribute to all kinds of problems in the body, the most prevalent of which is lower back pain. By strengthening the muscles that help support the spine and improve posture, you can dramatically decrease the symptoms of lower back pain. Picture your spine as a column of soda cans stacked one on top of the other. If you wanted to keep that column standing up under stress, what do you think would work better: a “tenser” bandage (as is used for wrapping injured ankles) or Scotch tape? Sure the tape would keep the cans together but the cans wouldn’t receive a whole lot of support, would they?
When you strengthen the muscles of the core, you are in effect turning that Scotch tape into a nice, tight “tenser” bandage, increasing the amount of support that your spine gets. Core training also has the potential to greatly improve sports performance. The core is the one area of the body that will always give you a great return on your investment.
So how do I train my core muscles?
Exercises that work the abdominals and the lower back are the staples of core training. Also, exercises that target the stabilization and power-transfer duties of the core muscles are very effective. Here is brief exposure to the beginning of core training. (A personalized one-on-one program is designed for patients.)
The exercise is known as the Abdominal Sit-Up. It uses a sit-up-like movement but focuses directly on the abdominal muscles rather than the hip flexors (which a regular sit-up does). It is also very safe for your lower back. Another advantage it has over the standard crunch is that it targets the stretched (arched back) range of motion of the abs, which is totally missed in standard floor crunch.
How To Do It:
Lie on your back on the floor. Roll up a towel or mat and slip it underneath your lower back, just above the waistband (the size of the towel affects your body position during this movement - use a fairly large towel). Your knees should be bent about 90 degrees. Keep your feet close together and knees fairly wide apart. This prevents the hip flexors from having a direct line of pull, helping to minimize their involvement. Do not anchor your feet or have someone hold them down. This automatically activates the hip flexors. You will get the most out of this exercise by minimizing their involvement.The difficulty of this exercise depends on where you hold your hands. The hardest position is above your head at arms-length, then beside your head, then across your chest, then straight down between your legs or at your sides. You are now ready to begin. (Do 3 sets of 12-15 reps)
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Keeping your torso straight and stiff, start the sit-up by tightening your lower abs then lifting your upper body off the floor.
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As you continue up, imagine trying to push your face up against the ceiling (think up, not around).
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When you reach about 25 to 30 degrees above horizontal, hold there for a second or two and squeeze your abs hard.
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Keep your lower back in contact with the towel at all times and always maintain tension in the abs.
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Lower yourself down slowly and under control. Do not just drop back to the ground. The negative portion of this exercise is extremely effective. Take at least 3 seconds to lower down!
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Remember to adjust your arm position depending on the strength of your abs
If you were to ask me which muscle group in your entire body you could work to get the greatest benefits in the shortest amount of time, I would tell you without hesitation, “the core.” Strengthening the core can realize tremendous benefits to anyone regardless of his or her training experience and can do so very quickly. Have fun with the exercise above.
Dr. Perry Nickelston, DC VP of Practice Development for K-laserUSA.www.painlasercenter.comwww.-k-laserusa.com
1-866-595-7749 Ext. 102
Tags: Integrative Treatment Strategies, General by Dr. Perry
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