Why Is Core Strength So Important?

What is the core?

The core, considered as structurally fundamental to the torso, is the part of the human body that connects the lower and upper body. It is a deep layer of interconnecting muscles that supports and stabilises your spine, back, pelvis, hips, and stomach. 

The muscle groups that the core comprises include: 

• Abdominal muscles:
  • transverse abdominis
  • rectus abdominis
  • external oblique muscles
  • internal oblique muscles
• Back muscles:
  • trapezius muscle
  • latissimus dorsi
  • quadratus lumborum
  • erector spinae
• Hips and pelvis: 
  • gluteus maximus
  • gluteus maximus
  • hip adductors

Why is core strength important? 

The core is arguably the most important part of the body, as it stabilises you while doing everyday activities. For example, simple activities such as tying your shoe, getting dressed, sitting down, standing up, or turning around all rely on some level of core strength. 

The most important benefits of strengthening your core include: 

• Balance. Core strength helps stabilise you, allowing you to stay in the same position without falling over. Improving your core strength will help improve your overall balance. 
• Posture. Your core muscles help you to sit and stand up straight, thus improving your posture. Poor posture can lead to lower back pain, and increased pressure on the spine. 
• Fitness. Weak core muscles are linked to higher levels of fatigue, less endurance, and a higher risk of injury. While fitness is often just considered to be cardio, it is so much more, and core strength being an important factor. 
• Supports other forms of exercise. Whether your favourite type of exercise is running, swimming, yoga, gym, pilates, or anything else, all forms of strength and exercise come down to a good core. If you improve your core strength, you will see improvements in other areas of fitness and exercise you partake in. 
• Overall wellbeing. As stated, with core strengthening comes improvement in balance, posture, and fitness. It will help you go about everyday tasks with ease. 

As such, a weaker set of core muscles can lead to imbalance or a predisposition to injuries, and you may struggle with improving your fitness as easily. 

Core exercises are usually described as functional movement exercises. Functional movements include utilising and strengthening muscles you use in your everyday life, to make your daily activities easier. It focuses on real-world biomechanics, using basic human movements to build strength. 

Functional exercises are typically low-impact, usually making them appropriate for people of all ages and fitness levels. The overall goal of functional exercise is to help you move better. It promotes better balance, endurance, and flexibility, rather than building muscle (which is also important for some people!). 

How can City Physiotherapy help me improve my core? 

Core exercises are easy to do wrong, for example if your form is incorrect, the core is not engaged properly, or you try to do too much too soon. It is a high risk activity, making you susceptible to injury. Every person’s body is different, and every core has a different level of strength. 

Some issues may arise if performing core exercises incorrectly may include:

• Straining your muscles. 
• Back pain. Your back might be taking on too much weight, instead of the core. This means you need to more slowly build up your workouts. 
• Neck pain can come as a result of poor posture or incorrect form. 

If you are wanting to improve your core strength, City Physio Adelaide is here to help. It is important to mitigate your risk of pain and injury, therefore we assess you to determine the core exercises and core workouts that will be most beneficial to you. 

We use a range of individual exercises to provide you personalised advice, as well as offering Dynamic Core Stability Classes. These classes are specifically designed to help you improve your core strength. All patients must be assessed by our physiotherapist by undergoing one-on-one guided exercise training before any transition into a core exercise class format. This is to ensure it is right for you. 

Contact City Physio Adelaide for an appointment by calling us on 8212 4886, or by using the booking function below. 

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