Is Exercising the "core" doing more harm than good for your spine?

Here is an interesting read from the New York Times Health pages very kindly brought to my attention by Jan M. The article challenges the current trend to "deepen the navel to your spine" or "hollow the tummy" as an isolated strengthening exercise to increase spinal support, stability and therefore pain.

I agree on the notion that "a core exercise program should emphasise all the muscles the girdle the spine, including but not only concentrating on the abs" as put forward by Canadian Spinal Mechanics Professor, Stuart McGill. There should be a balance about the lumbo-pelvic and shoulder girdles of all supporting musculature, rather than highly isolated deep abdominal activation. These muscluar support systems should also be strengthened and challenged in functional postures and within normal movements to maximise the spinal stability in everyday activities.

I do feel however that time spent teaching isolated activation of the pelvic floor sling, deep abdominal muscle (transversus abdominus) and diaphragm needs to be established and ensured early in a core stability program. This allows for efficient and more importantly, appropriate trunk stabilisation when exercising, elimintaing all of those mal-adaptive postures and compensations we develop when in pain, or with poor postural habits. This is the role of your physiotherapist or fix instructor, and something I feel we do very successfully in our Beginners program and beyond.

Enjoy the read.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/core-myths/?em