Core strength and stability gets talked about a lot when it comes to preventing and relieving back pain. Back pain can make the simplest things like cleaning your house, doing laundry, and exercising difficult and painful so we all can use a dose of core strength. But you also want to be efficient with your time and so you can improve your core strength and still do whatever other sports or hobbies that you really want to do.
You can be really efficient with your exercise time if you think about the 3 planes of core strength and stability. The 3 planes are front to back (frontal plane) stability, side to side (lateral) stability, and rotational stability.
At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, we prescribe core exercises for our patients every day based on these 3 planes of core strength and stability. Once you get good at these, you can progress to other variations as well. The exercise routine below let’s you address each of these 3 planes of stability.
Plank
The plank challenges your cores ability to prevent your spine from bending backward into spinal extension. It’s something you’ve probably seen a million times before. But are you doing it correctly?
Keep your pelvis and ribs in the same position throughout the plank. If your hips start to sag toward the floor, you’ve lost core control and you’re starting to bend backward.
Some people tend to stick their butt up in the air a bit when doing this. If you do this, your using your hip flexors to “cheat” the exercise. You don’t want to do this either. Keep your body in a nice straight line.
Start with shorter holds and more reps if you need to. If the floor is too difficult, start with your arms on a chair or weight bench to make it easier, but keep the straight line.
3 rounds of 30 seconds can be a good place to start. Try to work up to holding this position for 2 rounds of 1 minute. Do this 2-3 times a week and you will see it get a lot easier.
Deadlift
Deadlifts are a great way to improve the ability of your core to prevent your spine from bending in half forward. They also build strength in your hips. If you do them with a weight in only one hand, they also help you develop core strength and stability to avoid rotation of your spine.
In the video above, you can see that there is no flexing of the spine when lifting. All the bending comes at the knees and hips. This is the main key to developing core stability with this exercise.
A couple key points with this exercise:
- It is really important to keep a slight arch in your low back throughout the movement. You should not bend forward at your back at all.
- Start with the weight on a chair or gym bench instead of the floor. You may even want to start with no weight until you learn the movement better.
- Don’t worry about lowering the weight all the way to the floor. Start just trying to get your hands to knee level.
Start with 2 sets of 10 every other day. As it gets easier, you can increase the weight.
Suitcase Carry
This exercise develops side to side (lateral) core strength and stability. The goal is to avoid leaning to the side as you walk with the weight. The weight should be heavy enough that it is challenging to avoid the lean but you are still able to do it.
Walk for a set distance or time depending on how much space you have. Switch hands and then repeat the same distance or time. Do 2 to 3 rounds.
None of the exercises above should cause you pain, but they should be challenging.
If you’ve tried these and you’re struggling, we can help you!
At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, our physical therapists are experts at prescribing core strength and stability and will develop a plan customized just for you.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to request an appointment.
A member of our team will schedule you an appointment with one of our expert physical therapists.
What happens if you don’t have a plan to improve your core strength and stability?
- Your sports performance may plateau or decrease
- You develop back or hip pain that keeps you from exercising
- You feel weak and fatigued with everyday activities like cleaning around your home
But WITH a plan to improve your core strength and stability you stay strong and active and live your BEST life!
The exercises above are a great way to get started. They don’t require a lot of time and are pretty easy to do correctly.
But if you want an expert to listen to your unique problems and guide you to success, a Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine physical therapist in Alexandria or Springfield, VA will create a plan specifically for you.
You’ll feel confident that you have the knowledge and ability to have good core strength and stability and do all the things you want.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to schedule your appointment and get started.
Working to keep you living your best life,
The Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Team
