Why Engaging Your Core May be Making Your Pain Worse
By Chris Neason ~ Exercise Physiologist
If you’re someone with back pain you may have been taught to do core activation exercises.
Maybe you engage your core muscles to help support your back when lifting.
Or maybe you don’t do it, but you ‘know you should’. Because you were taught to do that when you first saw your Physio.
This idea makes great sense.
The theory goes like this… if you stiffen your abdominal muscles, your back will be more supported (more stable) and therefore you will be less likely to injure yourself and have less pain.
But did you know this could actually be making you worse? ‘Switching on your core’ could be keeping you in pain?
Confused? Great, let me try and clear things up.
In this article I’m going to cover 4 key areas:
1. The history of core activation and where this idea came from
2. The evidence (or lack of) behind core activation
3. The reasons why it could be doing you more harm than good
4. And why switching on your core before moving probably isn’t helping
Hopefully from there you’ll have a better understanding and can make an informed decision on what’s best for you.
As we go I’m going to use the terms ‘core activation’ and ‘switching on your core’ all interchangeably as they essentially mean the same thing: tensing your deep abdominal muscles to try and support your back.
Firstly, where did this idea come from? When and why did people in pain start ‘engaging’ their cores?
1. THE HISTORY OF CORE ACTIVATION
I can tell you that our ancestors weren’t walking around switching on their cores.
It’s actually a relatively new concept in back pain rehabilitation. It appears to stem back to the work of two Australian researches, Hodges and Richardson.
In the late 1990’s they did a couple of studies (link) (link) looking at people with back pain. What they found was that their deep core muscles (transverse abdominus and multifidus) took longer to switch on than people without back pain.
From this, people decided that the reason they had ongoing pain was that their core muscles weren’t working properly. And if they get their core muscles working that their back pain would go away.
They also suggested that switching on the core muscles before doing anything, would help to protect their backs.
It became really popular in the Physiotherapy and Pilates worlds. So much so that anyone working with back pain clients was teaching this in their clinics.
This idea is still very common today amongst health professional and the general public.
Unfortunately when researchers looked further into it they found that these deep core muscles weren’t as important as originally thought.
2. WHAT DOES THE CURRENT RESEARCH SAY?
Since the initial studies on core activation, lots more research has been done. Lots of good quality systematic reviews have helped clear things up.
The results…
Core activation exercises don’t help people with back pain any more than other exercises (link). Basically, they work a little but they’re certainly not special.
Any exercise will be just as good.
This means that you can choose any type of exercise you enjoy and it will be just as effective at reducing pain as core activation exercises.
There’s also no evidence to show that switching on your core will protect you from hurting your back (link).
More and more research has been done since these first papers and continues to show that same thing: our core muscles aren’t any more special than any other muscle in the body.
And core muscle training and activation doesn’t help with back pain any more than any other type of exercise.
If you want to dig a bit deeper into the research for yourself I can recommend this article by Brendan Mouatt, Australian based Exercise Physiologist and researcher: (link)
And here’s another good article by Canadian Eric Bowman (link)
3. WHY CORE ACTIVATION COULD BE DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD
So we know core activation isn’t special. It can help with back pain, but no more than any other type of exercise.
Does that mean we should completely avoid it?
This is where there’s still some grey area. Because it does help, just not more than anything else (strength training, Pilates exercises yoga, walking etc.)
But, think of it this way, if it’s not that helpful, why spend all your time switching on your core and trying to strengthen your core muscles. Why not instead do full body strength exercises. Or go for a walk. Or even play some tennis. Because all of these can be just as helpful.
When it comes to exercise and back pain, just do what you enjoy. And aim to move your body every day. It doesn’t need to be complicated.
4. SWITCHING ON YOUR CORE BEFORE MOVING
The other issue we see is when people try to engage their core before moving. Normally, before bending over or lifting something heavy.
Unless you’re a weight lifter, lifting more than your body weight (100-200kg lifts) you really don’t need to be engaging your core. There’s little evidence to show it will help.
And by trying to engage your core, you’re making your body stiff and throwing out the normal patterns of movement engrained in all of us.
This rigid movement is more likely to place unequal loads on the body (think of how a robot moves).
It also reinforces the idea that you’re weak and your back needs protecting. And the more your brain believes you need protecting, the more pain you will have.
So instead of trying to brace your core when you bend or lift (which doesn’t help) just try to move freely.
Move with confidence.
And trust that your body has the strength to tolerate bending and lifting. Because it does.
Confidence reinforces that your back does NOT need protecting, it reinforces that it’s strong.
And the more you do, the stronger you’ll get!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Core activation exercises and core strengthening doesn’t help to reduce back pain any more than other types of exercises.
2. Switching on your core when lifting or bending doesn’t help reduce back pain or injuries.
3. Move with confidence and trust your body.
And if you need help with this third point, get in touch. We can show you with movement how to trust you body again.
Time to get moving? Book an assessment here.
If you’re someone with back pain you may have been taught to do core activation exercises.
Maybe you engage your core muscles to help support your back when lifting.
Or maybe you don’t do it, but you ‘know you should’. Because you were taught to do that when you first saw your Physio.
This idea makes great sense.
The theory goes like this… if you stiffen your abdominal muscles, your back will be more supported (more stable) and therefore you will be less likely to injure yourself and have less pain.
But did you know this could actually be making you worse? ‘Switching on your core’ could be keeping you in pain?
Confused? Great, let me try and clear things up.
In this article I’m going to cover 4 key areas:
1. The history of core activation and where this idea came from
2. The evidence (or lack of) behind core activation
3. The reasons why it could be doing you more harm than good
4. And why switching on your core before moving probably isn’t helping
Hopefully from there you’ll have a better understanding and can make an informed decision on what’s best for you.
As we go I’m going to use the terms ‘core activation’ and ‘switching on your core’ all interchangeably as they essentially mean the same thing: tensing your deep abdominal muscles to try and support your back.
Firstly, where did this idea come from? When and why did people in pain start ‘engaging’ their cores?
1. THE HISTORY OF CORE ACTIVATION
I can tell you that our ancestors weren’t walking around switching on their cores.
It’s actually a relatively new concept in back pain rehabilitation. It appears to stem back to the work of two Australian researches, Hodges and Richardson.
In the late 1990’s they did a couple of studies (link) (link) looking at people with back pain. What they found was that their deep core muscles (transverse abdominus and multifidus) took longer to switch on than people without back pain.
From this, people decided that the reason they had ongoing pain was that their core muscles weren’t working properly. And if they get their core muscles working that their back pain would go away.
They also suggested that switching on the core muscles before doing anything, would help to protect their backs.
It became really popular in the Physiotherapy and Pilates worlds. So much so that anyone working with back pain clients was teaching this in their clinics.
This idea is still very common today amongst health professional and the general public.
Unfortunately when researchers looked further into it they found that these deep core muscles weren’t as important as originally thought.
2. WHAT DOES THE CURRENT RESEARCH SAY?
Since the initial studies on core activation, lots more research has been done. Lots of good quality systematic reviews have helped clear things up.
The results…
Core activation exercises don’t help people with back pain any more than other exercises (link). Basically, they work a little but they’re certainly not special.
Any exercise will be just as good.
This means that you can choose any type of exercise you enjoy and it will be just as effective at reducing pain as core activation exercises.
There’s also no evidence to show that switching on your core will protect you from hurting your back (link).
More and more research has been done since these first papers and continues to show that same thing: our core muscles aren’t any more special than any other muscle in the body.
And core muscle training and activation doesn’t help with back pain any more than any other type of exercise.
If you want to dig a bit deeper into the research for yourself I can recommend this article by Brendan Mouatt, Australian based Exercise Physiologist and researcher: (link)
And here’s another good article by Canadian Eric Bowman (link)
3. WHY CORE ACTIVATION COULD BE DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD
So we know core activation isn’t special. It can help with back pain, but no more than any other type of exercise.
Does that mean we should completely avoid it?
This is where there’s still some grey area. Because it does help, just not more than anything else (strength training, Pilates exercises yoga, walking etc.)
But, think of it this way, if it’s not that helpful, why spend all your time switching on your core and trying to strengthen your core muscles. Why not instead do full body strength exercises. Or go for a walk. Or even play some tennis. Because all of these can be just as helpful.
When it comes to exercise and back pain, just do what you enjoy. And aim to move your body every day. It doesn’t need to be complicated.
4. SWITCHING ON YOUR CORE BEFORE MOVING
The other issue we see is when people try to engage their core before moving. Normally, before bending over or lifting something heavy.
Unless you’re a weight lifter, lifting more than your body weight (100-200kg lifts) you really don’t need to be engaging your core. There’s little evidence to show it will help.
And by trying to engage your core, you’re making your body stiff and throwing out the normal patterns of movement engrained in all of us.
This rigid movement is more likely to place unequal loads on the body (think of how a robot moves).
It also reinforces the idea that you’re weak and your back needs protecting. And the more your brain believes you need protecting, the more pain you will have.
So instead of trying to brace your core when you bend or lift (which doesn’t help) just try to move freely.
Move with confidence.
And trust that your body has the strength to tolerate bending and lifting. Because it does.
Confidence reinforces that your back does NOT need protecting, it reinforces that it’s strong.
And the more you do, the stronger you’ll get!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Core activation exercises and core strengthening doesn’t help to reduce back pain any more than other types of exercises.
2. Switching on your core when lifting or bending doesn’t help reduce back pain or injuries.
3. Move with confidence and trust your body.
And if you need help with this third point, get in touch. We can show you with movement how to trust you body again.
Time to get moving? Book an assessment here.
