PrimeCare Physiotherapy

These days, in the world of exercise, there’s lots of talk about your core and core stability. But exactly what is your core and why is stability so important?

Think of the core as the power centre of your body. It’s comprised of your abdominal (stomach) muscles and back muscles, including the muscles along the spine, as well as your hips and pelvis muscles. Almost any motion you make is generated from your core, and if it is weak – i.e., unstable – your other muscles need to pitch in to compensate, making you more vulnerable to injury.

By strengthening your core, you improve the power of every move you make, including any motion involving your arms or legs. A strong core also gives you stability and improves your balance, allowing you to more easily prevent falls or injuries during your activities – both in sports and your daily routine. It also helps prevent debilitating back pain or help to relieve it. In fact, core stability underpins almost any activity you undertake, including:

If your core is weak, tight or unbalanced, it makes these activities much more challenging.

If you’re wondering whether your core might need some attention, here are six indications that a course of strengthening exercises might be wise:

Now that you understand how important your core is to overall health, it’s time to consider strengthening it. There are excellent benefits to be obtained from improving core strength:

Yoga is one of the best exercises you can do to improve overall core strength, as is Pilates; both regimens can be adjusted to suit your level of physical fitness and strength.

There are also some exercises that you can do at home to get started, Including:

These exercises will start you on the path to core stability. However, it is worth visiting a physiotherapist to obtain an evaluation of your core strength, get a program tailored to your level of fitness and learn to do exercises using proper form.

Workplace injuries are certainly no cause for celebration. They are generally both painful and inconvenient, forcing you to take time away from work to heal and, depending on your job, potentially costing you money. They are also frustrating, because they can limit your ability to go about your routine and prevent you from activities that you ordinarily wouldn’t think about twice before undertaking, motions such as bending, perhaps, or brushing your teeth.

Luckily, there is help available in getting your body back to functioning normally, thanks to physiotherapy. Once you’ve seen a physician for a diagnosis, treatment for an injury that puts your body out of whack is usually the province of a trained physiotherapist, who will create a recovery plan and help you alleviate pain, restore your fitness and help you identify the factors in your workplace that contributed to the injury so that you can prevent it from recurring or flaring up. In fact, your physiotherapist can also give you strengthening exercises to ensure that your body isn’t as susceptible to injury as it was in the past.

Workplace injuries vary, because there are a number of potential causes:

• Manual handling. Even if your job doesn’t have a large physical component, you may be subject to overexertion injuries from ordinary motions, such as pushing, pulling, bending down or reaching up or lifting heavy objects. Whether you are in a warehouse, reaching for boxes on shelves, or in an office carrying a pile of files, you can overexert yourself. Your back is usually the place where these injuries appear.
• Sedentary work. Jobs that keep you seated at your desk for much of the workday sound benign, but being sedentary is not healthy for a body that is designed for motion. Injuries from static postures may appear gradually, but they can be irritating and debilitating, too. You may experience hip stiffness and pain in your mid-to-lower back or neck as a result of sitting too long without moving.
• Repetitive motion. If you work in an office or a factory, there is a good chance your work involves repeating the same motion over and over. You may be typing at a keyboard, staring at a computer screen or screwing the same car part into place again and again. Your back and your vision may suffer and your wrists may develop carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Accidents. Accidents happen, whether they are slips or falls on the work premises or injuries related to machines that are part of your job. There are a wide range of body parts that can be affected, depending on the type of accident you have and whether machinery is involved. Often, these are serious incidents that can hamper your capacity to return to work quickly and require surgery.

If you suffer an injury, whether sudden or gradual, you’ll want to get your body back in shape as soon as possible. When you see a physiotherapist, they will assess the extent of your injuries, determine your recovery goals, both short- and long-term and create a treatment plan tailored to your needs.

A physiotherapist can help you:

• Improve strength and flexibility;
• Improve function;
• Relieve pain and stiffness;
• Provide ergonomic and lifestyle advice;
• Co-ordinate your return to work; and
• Choose appropriate mobility aids

In addition, a physiotherapist can suggest preventive measures to ensure that you won’t have a recurrence of the injury. Their advice may include:

• Ergonomic recommendations for your workplace;
• Regular preventive exercises for posture and stretching; and
• Better workplace practices.

Meanwhile, while you are on the job, you can make the effort to prevent injuries before they occur by:

• Getting up from your desk and walking around;
• Stretching before and after manual activities;
• Taking frequent breaks;
• Varying tasks to avoid repeating the same motion for too long.

Remember, you only have one body, and you want to keep it healthy as long as possible. Don’t ignore it if it hurts, because it is trying to send you a message. Take heed and get the appropriate assistance.