With winter approaching and the night’s drawing in it is important to keep moving and keep those exercises going. When you sit for long periods of time you can often become stiff and can it can cause back pain.
Spinal stability is key, if the core isn’t strong enough to do the job then other muscles jump in to help provide the stability it needs. This typically means the hips, mid back and hamstrings become tense and overactive leading to muscular imbalances, changes in spinal and pelvic alignment and the likelihood of pain and discomfort.
Planks and their variations are great exercises that I give many of my clients in order to build spinal stability and core strength. The reason, they provide a huge benefit in such a short time.
The problem is – too many people end up doing them wrong so don’t get the benefits.
Furthermore, many people try and hold a plank for far too long… which ends up causing people to do planks wrong.
3 Common Mistakes:
- Your Neck is below the chest, meaning all the stabilisation is coming from the shoulders and neck.
- The pelvis is in an anterior tilt and your butt is above the above the line from your shoulders to your knees. This means your hip flexors and lower back are doing all the work in a shortened position, not helping your posture, lower back pain and it’s not very challenging.
- Hard rounding of the upper back (thoracic spine). This means your shoulders are doing all the work with some work being done by the abdominals in a shortened position.
When doing a plank, try and get yourself as straight as possible, from your head, shoulders, hips and knees.
If you are suffering from back pain or a sport injury, our Liverpool Sport Injury Clinic and Chiropractor can help return you to full function.
To make an appointment, please contact our Sport Injury clinic here.
