Challenge your balance!

Core stability exercises: poor balance is often an indicator of poor core stability

Your posture muscles are meant to kick in to keep you upright when your balance is challenged. They are the ones that you can feel switch on when keeping your balance on a moving bus. But you don’t just need your core when the bus driver slams on the brakes!

Even when you are sitting or standing ‘still’, muscles are switching on and off all the time to keep you balanced. Even having tight and sore neck and shoulders can be enough for your core muscles to be a bit ‘sleepy’. When the core muscles are slow to turn on, or don’t turn on at all, there is increased risk of back pain and other injuries.

If you do have back pain, you need to retrain smooth coordinated movement of the core, a balance between stability and mobility. It is incorrect to rigidly brace the spine; you should be able to breathe freely.

Helpful tips: How to stop your posture and core muscles fatiguing when sitting

• Sit tall, and initiate movement as though you were about to stand up
• Flutter: relax your arm down by your side palm facing forward. Imagine you are shaking drops of water off your hand, feel the movement all the way up into your shoulder. Do each hand separately. Do you feel any difference side to side? If one side feels harder to engage your core, this is usually your weaker side.

Do this exercise every few hours to remind you to engage your stability muscles when seated.

You can also try sitting on a gym ball and lift one foot off the floor. Can you keep your balance? Can you add a flutter with your arm and still maintain your balance?

 In our physio gym we use a variety of equipment to challenge your balance and make core stability exercises fun!

• soft balance beams
• Bosu
• gym balls
• dura discs
• wobble boards

Anything that challenges your balance is a great way to wake up your ‘core stability’ muscles.

For more information on how you can improve your balance and core stability, call 93997399 and request a consultation with Alla.

By Alla Melman, Physiotherapist