Slouching in a chair, slumping at the computer or your belly sticking out after standing for awhile are all signs of core muscle weakness. A weak core can negatively affect your health and create long-term back or neck pain.
What are Your Core Muscles?
Your “core” is the group of muscles that help stabilize your body and give a strong anchor point from which your skeleton can move properly with good posture.
The core is made up of:
- Your abdominal
- Low back
- Pelvic
- Gluteus muscles
When any one of these groups is weak, it causes instability and makes it hard to use your body properly. The result is strain to different areas of your body, especially the back and neck muscles. This causes bad posture, fatigue, inflammation, aches, and pain.
How Do You Strengthen Your Core?
Strengthening the abdominal muscles is just one component of strengthening your core muscles. It takes an expert, trained in the science of human movement to analyze where your pain is coming from and just what core muscles you need to strengthen.
A physical therapist is the expert you are looking for! At Loudoun Sports Therapy Center our expert physical therapist and athletic trainers will take the time to work with you to evaluate your core strength to determine if weakness in this area is the cause of your pain and other problems.
How Strong is Your Core?
Try This:
- Lie on the floor face down and prop-up on your elbows.
- Now lift your torso off the floor so only your toes and elbows are in contact with the floor and your back is straight and even. (We call this a ‘plank’.)
- How long can you hold this while maintaining a flat even back? (When and if your tummy sags toward the floor, you should stop the timer.)
30 seconds or less = very weak core muscles
30 seconds to 1 minute = moderate weak core muscles
1 – 2 minutes = normal strength in core muscles
2 minutes or more = good strength in core muscles
If you found yourself shaking while lowering yourself down after the test you may have poor motor control of the core muscles as well.
Get Stronger and Healthier!
With personalized exercises specific to your needs, our expert physical therapists can show you how to improve your core strength safely and effectively to have long lasting results. Strengthening your core will alleviate pain, and get back to the activities you love!
A stronger core means a healthier longer lasting you!
At Loudoun Sports Therapy Center, whether your pain is from your back, neck, shoulders, or legs, we perform a thorough analysis of your posture, movement, and strength. This allows us to pinpoint exactly what is causing your pain. Only then, can an effective and personalized treatment plan be made to obtain the fastest results. Call us today at 703-450-4300 to schedule your evaluation.
