The Pushing, Pulling and Shoving of Daily Life – Look After Your Core
For so many of us, we take movement for-granted, we don’t think too much about lifting, pushing, pulling in whatever it is we’re doing, be it at home or in the workplace. But how often do we see someone in the clinic with bad back or neck pain that occured after doing something really simple and straight forward that we all do every day…? It’s incredibly common!
Seb Johnson explain more about movement and how to do it well. No surprises here, it all comes back to your core…!
Pushing and pulling in the workplace.
For many of us, our daily routine will involve a lot of movement patterns we are simply unaware of. At home, picking up and towel off the floor or bending over to put a plate in the dishwasher. Also at work, twisting to grab a document out of the printer or reaching up to grab a cup for your morning coffee.
In order for our bodies to remain pain free and perform these movements with ease requires our bodies to be resilient and strong. As soon as our bodies are no longer able to cope with the demands we put it through, an injury will occur.
Take a low back injury, for example. Usually once our pain has diminished, we often then try and protect our backs as much as we can by doing as little movement/stretching/strength training as possible. This approach will work (if you intend to remain stationary all day) but as soon as you place your body under the same or similar stress that caused the injury prior (without having strengthened the muscles in the area first) the same injury is likely to occur again.
So what is the answer? The answer is to put your body through controlled stresses, which then can prepare your body for everyday movements, improving strength and resilience of your muscles.
Simple exercises can be performed a few times a week increase core/lower back strength along with other vital muscle groups. Here are some suggestions that can be easily done, no fancy equipment or gym needed!
The ‘Plank’ – ensure buttocks are kept low!
Superman Exercise – be careful of pelvis tilting
Shoulder Bridge – Excellent for core and glute strength and spine mobility
Side/Oblique Plank – ensure you’ve mastered basic plank first, this is great for side strength
It cannot be said enough that movement is essential to good health but also, that core strength is key to a healthy, strong back and taking out a few minutes per week to do these exercises can save you from time and money in the clinic getting treatment for strained or pulled back muscles which can also be very painful!