The Big 3 Core Exercises
Did you know that over 80% of the population will one day deal with back pain? The thing is, the majority of low back pain issues develop over a long period of time rather than overnight. Even if one day you wake up with unexplained back pain, the issue has been slowly manifesting for months or, more likely, years. It’s like having a cavity in your tooth–that also did not develop overnight.
While chiropractic care is great for managing and healing back pain, core exercises are an important tool for back pain prevention. Everyone, regardless of pain, should be doing core stabilizing exercises. These are exercises that we recommend to most patients.
1. The Modified Sit-Up
Traditional sit-ups curl the back into too much flexion and put unnecessary pressure on the discs of the low back. Instead, lay on your back and bend either one or both legs so your foot is flat on the floor. Do a sit-up, but just enough to bring your shoulder blades off the ground. Imagine you are laying on a weight scale and simply want to make the scale read “zero”. This contracts the core without using too much flexion
2. The Plank
The plank is the quintessential core exercise. Place your body on your forearms and your toes like a push-up position and hold in place. You can modify the exercise to make it easier by using your knees instead of toes, or using your hands instead of forearms. Make sure you are feeling the stabilization in your abdomen. If your low back muscles start to get sore, that means your core stabilizers have already fatigued and you should recover for a moment before trying again.
3. The Bird Dog
This exercise trains stability through dynamic ranges of motion. Place yourself on your hands and knees. In a controlled manner, raise one arm straight out in front of you like you are pointing. Take the opposite side leg and stick it straight backwards so it is parallel with the ground. Slowly come back to the starting position and repeat with the opposite limbs. If you find yourself feeling shaky or unstable, instead focus on just moving one limb at a time (such as a single arm or a single leg) until you gain better stability.
Core exercises can be trained nearly every day. Start with a few seconds of each hold if you are new to exercising the core, and gradually train up to longer times holding each position or more sets of holds. There are many ways to modify each of these exercises to make them easier or harder, depending on how you progress. A strong core is important for preventing and managing back pain.
