Dr. Robin Armstrong | Chiropractor

You probably guessed the answer, but everyone needs Core Exercises! The muscles of our core not only support our back when bending, but also stabilize our trunk when we are using our arms, lifting, squatting, or any number of daily tasks. Good core strength makes almost everything we do easier.

For people with low back pain, research has shown that messages between our brain and our core muscles can get messed up, making us more vulnerable to future injury. Chiropractic treatment is remarkably effective at making your back feel better, but as you are improving, Core Exercises wake up this messaging system and retrain the body's ability to stabilize the spine.

Are you looking for safe and effective core exercises that aren't going aggravate your low back pain? Check out the video below to get started on these four level 1 core exercises. All you need is a flat service. It's better on the ground, and it's great if you have a yoga mat so you don't slide. Scroll down for level 2.

Core Exercises Pt. 1

1. Cat-Cow:

• It is more of a mobilization or a warmup for the spine.

• Start on all fours, hands underneath your shoulders, knees, underneath your hips. If this is uncomfortable for your wrists, you can always take fists.

• Let your belly hang towards the ground, arching the back and looking up. Then reverse it, drawing the belly button in and rounding the spine, letting the head hang.

• You're going to go back and forth like this at least 10 times, but more if you like to slowly wake up the spine.

• This movement helps lubricate the joints of the spine, nourishes the discs in between the spine.

2. Cross Crawl:

• Start in the same position again on all fours, and reach the left arm forward and right leg back with your toes and hands in contact with the floor, and then bring it back to the starting position.

• Switch sides - Right arm forward, Left leg back, nice and slow. The slower we go, the more of a challenge it is to our spine.

• This exercise strengthens the muscles of the back, and you can repeat this exercise 10 times each.

3. Front plank:

• This exercise is going to help strengthen the muscles of the abdomen, the core muscles that we think of when we think of core.

• Lie down on your stomach. To start, set up your elbows underneath your shoulders so that your forearms are firmly planted on the mat.

• Then come up onto your knees and do a partial plank here, lifting the hips up off the floor. We're trying to make a long line from our knees to our elbows and hold it for 10 seconds and then lower down.

• Repeat this six times, eventually working your way up to a minute.

4. Side Plank:

• Start on your side, elbow underneath your shoulder, forearm flat on the floor.

• Bring our legs behind us so that our knees and hips and shoulders are all in one long line. Legs are stacked and we're gonna lift the hips up off the floor.

• This exercise is strengthening the side part of our abdominal muscle.

• Hold this again for 10 seconds and then lower.

• Take a pause and then repeat it six times, eventually working your way up to a minute.

Core Exercise Pt. 2:

Have you already tried our level one core and you're looking to take it to the next level? Or maybe you've had a core routine, but you're looking for something safer. Check out this level 2 video:

1. Cat-Cow:

• Start on all fours, hands underneath your shoulders, knees, underneath your hips. If this is uncomfortable for your wrists, you can always take fists.

• Let your belly hang towards the ground, arching the back and looking up. Then reverse it, drawing the belly button in and rounding the spine, letting the head hang.

• You're going to go back and forth like this at least 10 times.

• This time we're going to link our movement and our breath. So as you inhale, you're gonna drop the belly. Look up, arching the spine, and then exhale, Draw the belly button in, rounding the spine as you look down, and then repeat. Inhale, arching rounding, keeping the arms straight. Exhale, drawing the belly button in.

2. Cross Crawl:

• Start on all fours again, hands underneath our shoulders, knees, underneath our hips.

• Reach opposite arm, opposite leg off the ground. My thumb is pointing up. My toes are pointing down. Pause here for just a second.

• Come back to the starting point. Start in the same position again on all fours, and reach the left arm forward and right leg back

• Repeat this motion 10 times on each slide, up to 20 times going back and forth.

• You don't want to be rocking from side to side as you put one leg down. Try to be really strong and stable in the center. So not a lot of movement in the trunk, just movement coming from the hip and the shoulder.

3. Front plank:

• Lie down on your stomach. To start, set up your elbows underneath your shoulders so that your forearms are firmly planted on the mat.

• Toes tucked under, and lift the hips off the ground, making a long line from our heels to our head.

• We don't sag, we don't pop the hips up. We're nice and stable hold up to 60 seconds or break it into six chunks of 10, two chunks of 30, eventually getting up to a minute.

4. Side Plank:

• Start on your side, elbow underneath your shoulder, forearm flat on the floor.

• One knee bent, one leg straight. The foot's flat on the floor and your hand can just rest on the hip. Lift the hips up off the ground.

• For the side plank, we're working on the side, abdominal muscles, our obliques. (front plank, we are working on the main abdominal muscles like the rectus abdominus).

• Holding this for 10 or 15 seconds up to a minute. You can break it up into chunks if you like. We are going to do both sides.

• Other leg options include both legs stacked on top of each other, feet are flexed.

• We lift the hips up off the ground. We're nice and long. We're not tilting to the front or the back. We're perpendicular to the mat, holding it up to 60 seconds.

5. Modified curl up:

• It is similar to a crunch, but a little less movement so there is less compressive force on the low back on the discs of the spine.

• Start lying on your back, with both knees bent to start and the curve maintained in the low back by placing your hands in that curve.

• Straighten one leg and then you're simply gonna curl up, lifting your shoulders and neck off the ground until you feel an engagement of the abdominal muscles.

• Roll back down and repeat at least 10 times, but up to 20 times would be a good.

• If you feel strain through the neck, it's okay. You can use one hand, rest your head into your hand, so you're not pulling on the neck, you're just letting it rest.

If you have any questions about any of the exercises I've shown you here today, please feel free to ask myself, Dr. Robin Armstrong or Dr. Jody Freedman. We're always happy to help.