Fit to
the Core
- From St. Louis Post Dispatch-
By Harry Jackson Jr.
If the muscles of your body have a first
sergeant, it's the core.
The muscles of your core - in less trendy times called your
trunk - comprise the most important muscles in your body,
say experts, because all the other muscles rely on them
being strong and stable.
The weaker your core, the weaker you are. If you're disabled,
your core is often what determines your level of disability;
if you think you're a rough, tough athlete, a weak core
will shorten your career.
That's why experts say if you're going to pay attention
to one area of your body, the core is the place to start.
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What is the core?
The core is an array of muscles from your chest
to your hips. They maintain balance, ensure stamina, keep
you upright and protect the routes between your brain and
your appendages.
There's some disagreement on the scope of the core. Some
say it's the midsection from the neck to the pelvis - about
50 muscles. The more common definition is that it starts
at the diaphragm to just above the pelvis, or the "pelvic
floor." Some say it includes parts of the gluteus (buttocks)
muscles.
The National Institutes of Health describes it as the center
of everything, comprised of 29 muscles.
Trisha Austin, assistant professor of physical therapy at
St. Louis University, likes the NIH description. She says
you should think about the core as a box that keeps you
upright.
"It acts like a stabilizer, a belt that helps stabilize
our midsection and back, the spine," she said. "It
can add stability so that we get good motion with our arms
and legs in the activities we do throughout the day, particularly
with athletes and sports performance." Austin specializes
in physical therapy and training of athletes, working mostly
on SLU athletes.
However, "It's not just athletes who need the core.
People also need the core to pick up their child, get groceries
out of the car or do yard work," she said.
Even athletes can be fooled about their core strength.
"It's not just strengthening them, it's also being
able to (use) them," she said. "Someone may look
strong having (nice abs), but in reality, they don't use
the other muscles of the core, so the strength in their
midsection may not be as strong.
"And it might be strong, but they don't know how to
use those muscles, to recruit them, when we need to. An
example is swinging a bat. How do you get all of the muscles
that come into play to work together?"
Contrary to common belief, the abdominal muscle - the rectus
abdominis - that gives you the six-pack is not by definition
a true core muscle, because it runs vertically instead of
horizontally, according to Keath Hausher. He's a St. Louis-area
athletic trainer who runs fitness boot camps and helps design
athletic training programs for the U.S. Military Academy
at West Point.
Experts agree that true core muscles wrap around the midsection
and hold everything inside together. Still, the same exercises
that work the ab muscles can certainly help the core muscles.
But you need to do more than just ab work.
Core for the beginner
When it comes to developing the core, one size
doesn't fit all, said Renee Ivens, a physical therapist
at Washington University School of Medicine. Ivens explained
that someone who's built with wider hips will have different
needs than someone with a more flexible spine. Shorter midsections
can be exercised differently than longer midsections.
The vast majority of her patients' problems start with core
weakness. In other cases, problems start with overexercising
parts of the core without exercising other parts enough,
which can lead to soreness, imbalance and strain.
It's a good bet to start with your family doctor before
starting a core exercise program. Depending on what you
need, you could get a referral to a physical therapist.
Otherwise, you can visit a physical therapist for an evaluation
without a doctor's referral, but you'll probably pay from
$50 to $150 for an evaluation.
Personal trainers - even those with good credentials - aren't
trained to work with any information that you don't bring
to them, experts said, which is why you want to start with
an evaluation by a licensed medical professional.
But at the most basic level, Ivens said you can do some
core exercises that don't require much preparation.
"Just pull in the abdominals a bit," she said.
"That would be good for almost anyone to do."
Fit to the core
By Harry Jackson Jr.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
08/21/2006
hjaxson@post-dispatch.com
314-340-8234
