Exercises To Show The Link Between The Spine & The Core

The Spine and the core muscles are interlinked. It’s impossible to do something with one, without affecting the other.

At a very basic level, our ability to train and encourage motor function of these two places requires our control of mobilising and stabilising the axial skeleton.

Knee Fold

The first exercise Knee Fold encourages the muscles of the natural corset of the body to anticipate the load of a single, and then a double leg being lifted from the floor.

It then requires our transversus , oblique, multifidus, quadratus lumborum, (primarily) along with the lumbopelvic and abdominal fascia to resist the weight of the leg or legs, only to the degree of maintaining a stable torso.

This requires constant checking-in with the area and signals to the area to assess if the effort given to the corset is optimal for the task or effort-full.

The stabilising muscles of the body possess more slow-twitch fibres than fast twitch. This means particular care should be taken to educate them rather than train them in any kind of traditional stamina/endurance fashion, as this may run the risk of working the area too eagerly or aggressively. This can actually cause a counter-effect in the muscles and switch them off.

Fluid Spinal Movement

The second exercise Fluid Spinal Movement is an adaptation of the traditional Cat/Cow exercise from yoga. With the pelvis fixed, it is easier to control the movement so that flexion and extension can happen through each vertebra equally and smoothly. Encouraging that concept of glide in the tissues and the vertebrae.

By leading the movement from the pelvis, slowly, smoothly and deliberately, without collapse in any area, we can begin to re-pattern our movement away from the normal hyperextension of the cervical and lumbar, and hyperflexion of the thoracic spine.

Susan will be delving into to this in greater detail during her Advanced Yoga for the Spine & Core Module which she will host with Orla Crosse.