Is back pain making standing tall more difficult? Have you noticed you don’t feel as balanced as you once used to? What’s the connection? These are both signs that may indicate core muscle weakness. At First Choice Physical Therapy, our physical therapists can help you figure out if your core is affecting your condition and, if so, how to get it strong again!
Your core muscles help you do a lot — from sitting to standing to getting up and down from chairs. A strong core allows smooth, coordinated actions, thus impacting almost every activity you do every day. If your core muscles are weak, they may affect your function and possibly your pain levels.
It’s important to note that core muscles are not just important for physical fitness but are also essential to the overall quality of life. Our physical therapists understand the importance of core strength and will assess you to determine if it’s affecting your daily activities. With our expert guidance, you’ll learn how to engage your muscles in how they were designed to move!
Get Back to Moving Pain-Free with a FREE Consultation!
Are pain and stiffness slowing you down? Whether you’re recovering from an injury, dealing with chronic discomfort, or simply want to improve your mobility, we’re here to help. Take advantage of our FREE consultation to discover how our expert team can get you back on track.
During your personalized consultation, we will:
- Assess your movement and mobility
- Identify areas of pain or discomfort
- Create a tailored plan to help you feel your best
Limited-time offer! Don’t wait—schedule your free consultation today and take the first step toward a healthier, pain-free life.
What Is the “Core”?
When most people think of core muscles, they immediately think of the abdominals. However, the core muscles comprise the lower back, hip, pelvis, pelvic floor, and even the diaphragm muscle.
Significant weakness in the core will often lead to compensations and straining of different body areas, most commonly the back and neck muscles. As a result, this leads to undesirable consequences, such as poor posture, fatigue, or pain.
The muscles that make up your core are designed to help stabilize your body, support your posture, ensure your balance, and support movements in all directions. If any of these muscles are weak, injured, or used inappropriately, your trunk becomes unstable, making it difficult for your body to function correctly.
The core assists in almost every movement, from bending down to picking up an object to standing up straight. It also plays a significant role in breathing, lifting a heavy object, twisting your body, or even just walking. Core strength is also essential in sports performances, allowing the body to balance and control movements while running, jumping, and sustaining contact. A strong core enhances power, speed, coordination, and agility with all sports and recreational pursuits. It also can help reduce the risk of injuries and may help to prevent chronic lower back pain.
A strong core is vital to your overall health, functional movement, and athletic performance. Proper core training helps maintain spine health, ensures optimal performance in your daily life, and can help prevent various injuries.
“Amazing team at First Choice. I had an injury that made it extremely difficult to do my job. They took me right in to begin the process of healing and recovery. The care was professional and my body feels whole again. My family members that you have taken care of speak highly of you all as well. Thank you very much Sam and the rest of the First Choice PT team.”
– Google 5-Star Review, Elko Location
Building Core Strength with Expert Guidance
Physical therapy is a great starting point for building your core strength. Our licensed therapists will conduct a detailed evaluation to identify the underlying muscle weaknesses and strategies to strengthen them.
Whether you feel pain in your back, neck, shoulders, or legs, we will thoroughly analyze your posture, movement patterns, and strength, pinpointing the exact cause of the pain. From there, we will create an individualized treatment plan for you based on your specific needs to strengthen your core, improve your posture, and alleviate pain.
Core stability is about both muscular strength and proper sensory input. This sensory input informs the central nervous system about your body’s movements and positions to facilitate specific actions, ensuring your body reacts appropriately. When functioning properly, our body can perform the most basic tasks and advanced athletic activities.
Our therapists will design a program to teach you how to use your core muscles properly. We will create a strength program focusing on core-specific exercises and progressing to multi-joint free-weight exercises for comprehensive core muscle training. You can anticipate continuous feedback and guidance for fine-tuning your movements to ensure optimal spinal stabilization through a strong core.
Sources: https://bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12891-021-04858-6, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6407754/, https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2012/02000/effect_of_core_strength_on_the_measure_of_power_in.8.aspx, https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5142/6/2/37, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.915259/full
Book Your Appointment at First Choice Physical Therapy Today!
Our physical therapy team will assess your condition to identify how your core affects your function. We’ll educate you on how your core affects your physical activity and contributes to the pain you may be experiencing. Our individualized exercise programs can reduce your pain and improve your overall quality of life!
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Feel Better by Eating Better!
Healthy Chicken Quesadillas
- 2 tbsp low sodium chicken broth
- 1⁄4 cup onion, chopped
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1⁄4 cup bell pepper, chopped
- 2 chili peppers, minced (to taste)
- 3 plum tomatoes, chopped
- 8 flour tortillas
- 1 cup low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 1⁄2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
- scallion, cut on the bias (garnish)
- salsa (garnish)
- nonfat sour cream (garnish)
In a medium-heavy skillet, saute the onions, garlic and peppers until soft in the 2 tablespoons chicken broth. Add the chili peppers and tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes more until the liquid has evaporated. Add the chicken and stir well to combine. Spray a cold skillet with the nonstick spray and heat over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan and sprinkle with 1/8 cup cheese. Add about a quarter of the chicken mixture and top with another 1/8 cup cheese. Cover with another tortilla and cook for two to three minutes or until golden brown. Flip the quesadilla over and cook for an additional two minutes. Remove from the heat and cut into edges. Keep warm while frying the remaining quesadillas. Serve with salsa, scallions, and fat-free sour cream.
