Core Strengthening Part 1 of 3

Core strengthening is not just limited to working your abdominal muscles by doing crunches. It also includes exercising other muscles that help stabilize and strengthen your back, trunk, pelvis and hips. In this three part series, I will be writing about three different muscles that I like to encourage my Seattle Treatment Massage clients to strengthen if I find they are weak. Strengthening these muscles is a great addition to any core workout program.

The first core muscles we are going to talk about are the hip flexors. This muscle group consist of three muscles; the iliacus, psoas major and the rectus femoris. The responsibility of the hip flexors are to bring the thigh towards the abdomen. When these muscles are weak, the hips can tilt forward and contribute to an extreme curve in your lower back. This is commonly known as a sway back or lumbar lordosis. Someone with lumbar lordosis can have quite a bit of low back pain.

I am introducing you to two levels of exercises to help strengthen your hip flexors. Do the first level of exercises for a few weeks until you feel the front-upper part of your hips and thighs become stronger, then incorporate the level 2 exercise.

PHASE ONE Exercise - Pelvic Tilt
1. Lie on the ground with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
2. Starting by flattening your low back.
3. Tighten your buttocks and lift your hips up off the floor.
4. Lift until your lower back is totally flat on the floor and your hips are totally off the floor.
5. Breathe out when you lift your hips and breath in and lower your hips.
6. Start off with 10-20 of these depending on your strength.
7. Do this twice a day.
 
PHASE TWO Exercise – Single Leg Pelvic Tilt
This exercise is similar to the pelvic tilt exercise above. If this exercise is difficult for you go back and just do the Phase One exercise for a week more and then try again.
1. Lie on the ground with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
2. Starting by flattening your low back.
3. Raise your left foot a few inches off the ground.
4. Tighten the front of your right thigh and hip and lift your hip up off the floor.
5. Lift until your lower back is totally flat on the floor.
6. Breathe out when you lift your hips and breath in when you lower your hips.
7. Repeat with the other foot and opposite hip.
8. Alternate raising each foot, start off with 10-20  of these depending on your strength.
6. Do this twice a day along with the Phase One exercise.

The intention with strengthening these muscle is to help correct that forward pelvic tilt and bring more stability to your core so that your back gets some assistance with being upright and moving.

Stay tuned for next week and the second part in this three part series. We will learn about the adductors. Thank you for reading, PJ Harris, LMP.  http://www.pjharris.com/