Did you know that strengthening your core will help relieve back pain? Our bodies are built to be active and generally speaking, most of us are not active enough. We sit at desks all day; we work at construction jobs; maybe you drive for a living. We get out of work, and most of us are too tired to hit the gym or even partake in some of our favorite hobbies. We sometimes sit for hours in poorly supported postures. In general, we don’t get enough physical activities. Our bodies are built for motion and movement. Went we deprive our bodies of that essential need; we are inviting dysfunction into our bodies. Toxins build up that would otherwise be removed from our system by actively moving blood and stimulating the lymphatic system. Because this toxic irritant buildup is not effectively removed. Over time, these chemicals alter our muscles’ resting length and cause the facia surrounding our muscles to lose their natural supple movement. The facia gets bound up over the now shortened muscles causing structural problems to develop, which is like a chain reaction causing pain in multiple places in the body. When this happens, clients begin to experience the often annoying debilitating neurological-induced pain/spasm cycles I usually see in my office. Our muscles become weak at atrophied, no longer providing the proper support to our spine and skeletal system. Soon muscles that are meant for short burst activities are now being used to support our postures. Since they are not built for sustained support, they fatigue, spasm, cramp, and cause our fascia to tighten up around them to help support them, which increases our pain problem. Did you know that a surprising 1/3 of the US population Doesn’t participate in any leisure-time physical activity at all? That means they wake up, go to work and then come home and are sedentary for the remainder of the day. That’s pretty sad.
So am I suggesting that all of you go to the gym more, ride a bike, join a local sports team, do yoga, hike, etc.? YES!!!! But we are all adults, and I’m assuming busy lives with priorities up the wazu. With that in mind, let’s start somewhere simple.
Let’s start by making a habit of every day or every other day, working your core for 10 minutes. You could even do what I did and download the strides app for free to help you stay motivated and track your progress. You can easily find free 10 min or longer for abs and core on YouTube for both males and females. I use Chloe Ting and Pamala Reff but there is also Fraser Wilson or Rowan Row . Both are great, motivating, and have many other at-home exercise videos if you choose to do more.
Weak/overstretched abdominal muscles can not counterbalance the lumbar spine and cause the belly to protrude. Just this alone creates a waterfall of issues beyond lower back issues. The chest falls, causing an entire weight shift of the whole upper trunk. This shift can result in anything from thoracic outlet syndrome, which can cause your hands to go numb, neck and shoulder pain to headaches
Your core includes:
• Front abdominal muscles.
• Muscles along the side of your body — the internal and external obliques.
• A deep muscle that wraps around the front — the transverse abdominal.
• Muscles in your back are located between your spine bones and run along your spine — the erector spinae, etc.
Your core also includes your diaphragm, pelvic floor muscles, hip flexors, and gluteal muscles.
Just by strengthening your core muscles, you will not only be helping yourself out of a bunch of current and future pain but also helping your massage therapist to stop and reverse the root causes of your pain. Yes, poor posture guarantees I have a flow of people through my door with muscle aches and pains, but my goal is not for my clients to keep their dysfunction but to help them find health and move away from dysfunction and pain.
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