Using your Core for Stability

How much benefit are you actually reaping from your daily crunches? The lumbar region of the back is the main support for your entire body: it makes sense that keeping the surrounding musculature strong and healthy will boost the spine’s longevity. The core is a complex series of muscle groups that plays a role in almost every aspect of human movement, no more so than in the mechanics of the back. The core is used for stability and force transfer across the body, and force production is actually a tertiary function. This leaves me asking why so many people focus on crunches as the sole method to improve core health?

Core stability is the ability of the muscles to control the force we produce and therefore, a stable, strong core will be the one that inoculates us against injury. Core stability movements such as planking, side planking and deadlifting are a better metric for core strength than the number of crunches you can perform.

For those looking to improve their core muscles to make an impact on the overall health of their back, including the prevention of injury, a calculated approach must be applied. This is where we can help at Espinosa Family Chiropractic: we can put together a plan that develops the core as a stabilizer rather than a force producer, thereby increasing the longevity of your spine.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.