Have you ever wondered why some trees stay upright following a heavy snowfall, and others tremble under the weight of packed snow? Or, why do some athletes get injured, and others don’t (aside from pure accidents)? There is a commonality between these scenarios, of course, and it isn’t down to sheer luck. A tree is built like the human body. We see a trunk with extending branches, much like our torso and extending limbs. A tree has roots that keep it firmly planted during external stressors, while we have layered muscles refined to produce incredible feats of movement and performance.
A strong tree trunk can keep it standing through the harshest of storms, but sometimes the strength of the tree is overcome. The human body is similar and can resist remarkable physical stress, but we experience injury also, and not always in expected ways. For instance, MLB players that had difficulty in single leg balance and static bridging maneuvers tend to have a higher risk of arm injury. So how could a baseball player's arm injury be predicted by their inability to balance on their leg?
First things first: We’ve all heard of the core, and most of us think it synonymous with our abs – meaning, we assume anyone with a 6 pack has a strong core. While it doesn’t hurt to have shredded abs, the story goes a bit deeper. The strength our torso produces comes from groups of muscles around the spine that resemble a cylinder, or to use the more recent example, a tree trunk. A tree derives strength from all sides of its trunk.
Similarly, we have muscles surrounding our entire torso that work in a coordinated fashion throughout normal, everyday movements to keep us from falling over anytime we lift a box, or from losing our footing after throwing a 99 mph pitch. This dynamic control reduces extra strain or sprain on our bones, ligaments, and cartilage for our spine and our limbs. These muscles even help keep our bladders from bursting under pressure and maintain breathing when we’re exercising...but that’s for another blog.
What all of this means is that neither our core, nor our limbs, do all the work during a strenuous activity - they all work together. This is detrimental, though, when one piece of the machine isn't doing its part to help out.
Let’s put this into perspective: try throwing a football moving solely your arm, with zero movement through your torso – you’ll soon be left with a very sore shoulder, elbow, and wrist. On the flipside, if you let your torso flail around while you throw the ball, you will feel equally sore throughout your spine due to uncontrolled, extra motion in the spinal joints. On top of that, your arm then has to pick up the slack for the unstable spine to get the ball where you intend. Our core is critical to reduce strain on the spine, and help distribute the load on limbs during strenuous tasks. This is why MLB players with weak lumbopelvic control had increased risk of upper limb injury: their arms were taking greater strain during throwing due to less assistance from their core muscles. The point being: coordinated core muscles are critical for preventing pain not only in our spine, but our extremities as well.
The larger issue is that we incorrectly train our core muscles constantly, with thousands of repetitions of incorrect mechanics throughout the day, and then expect it to be strong for us when we need it. For example, sitting constantly usually results in a slumped posture, reduced abdominal and lumbar muscle activation, and a closed off ribcage, forcing us to take shallow breaths.
The body responds to the stress we place on it. So, when we train our core muscles to turn off for large parts of our day, we are telling our body that we don't need these muscles for large parts of our day. If we then rely on that weakened core to stabilize us when we try to lift a 100lb box, we end up hurting ourselves. This isn't a surprise - that would be like expecting to play a song perfectly on the guitar without picking up a guitar in 5 years. You need to practice to keep the skill. The core is much the same.
The human spine is easier to stabilize when 1) pressure in the abdominal space is increased, and 2) the space around the spine is reduced. Most people try to accomplish this by holding their breath (think of someone who goes pink in the face any time they lift a heavy box). This is called a Valsalva maneuver, and while it does achieve increased pressure in the abdomen, it tends to allow too much extra space around the spine. Holding our breath and depriving the body of oxygen for longer, strenuous acts (like a Firefighter lifting and moving burnt debris to save a trapped person in a burning building) isn’t very safe. We need to consider a safer, methodical way to brace our spine.
I’m not saying we should all abandon our sit-ups, but maybe add in something new to the equation so that we learn to properly engage the core and reduce the risk of injury. Firefighters had nearly half of injuries reduced when put through a rigorous core strengthening and functional movement intervention program. Even further, others find that injury prediction is more closely related to the control of the core muscles, rather than strength alone. So, let’s learn how to properly activate our core so we are prepared when we do have to do something strenuous:
Squeeze the glutes
“Brace” the abdomen
Belly breathe into a braced abdomen
Repeat this during mild strenuous activities to build a habit (such as lifting your laptop off your desk).
Try using this bracing sequence on less strenuous tasks to create a healthy habit! Ideas: while picking up a book, standing from your desk chair, or rolling out of bed in the morning.
This process achieves stability through co-contraction of the muscle groups around your trunk. The diaphragm is being trained through belly breathing, the abdomen through bracing, and the hips/pelvis through glute activation. This quick core activation technique helps train a functional spine, and the more you train this, the more it will work for you during even those unexpected movements like catching a falling object or stabilizing while walking on an icy sidewalk. The idea being: train this in small ways during the day to create a habit of a dynamically stable spine!
References
Getting to the core of the matter. The Columbian. Accessed February 03, 2022. https://www.columbian.com/news/2016/jul/11/getting-to-the-core-of-the-matter/
Huxel Bliven KC, Anderson BE. Core Stability Training for Injury Prevention. Sports Health. 2013;5(6):514-522. doi:10.1177/1941738113481200
Nelson N. Diaphragmatic Breathing: The Foundation of Core Stability. Strength & Conditioning Journal. 2012;34(5):34-40. doi:10.1519/SSC.0b013e31826ddc07
Peate W, Bates G, Lunda K, Francis S, Bellamy K. Core strength: A new model for injury prediction and prevention. J Occup Med Toxicol. 2007;2(1):3. doi:10.1186/1745-6673-2-3
Starrett K, Starrett J, Cordoza G. Deskbound: Standing up to a Sitting World. Victory Belt Publishing; 2016.
Healthy Is Wellness, LLC (“Healthy Is Wellness”) is not a health care provider, and does not provide professional medical advice, diagnosis, and/or treatment. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY HEALTHY IS WELLNESS IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
Comments