Common Myths

- Each day you should work out a different part of the body

Exercise should be used to strengthen your body as a whole, not just certain body parts. During activities of daily living the body works together as a functional unit; therefore, when training the body to reduce injury it needs to be trained as one functional unit.

- Abdominal crunches and sit ups are the only exercises needed to produce a strong core

The inner core muscles are made up of the transverse abdominis, posterior internal obliques, multifidus, pelvic floor muscles, and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis. Abdominal crunches are inadequate exercises to activate these muscles. Traditional crunches do not train these muscles for spinal stabilisation; in order to train the core muscles for spinal stabilisation they need to go through a period of isolation training.

-Abdominal crunches help reduce chronic back pain

Strengthening the core is an important component in recovering from chronic back pain. Research has shown people who perform traditional abdominal exercises such as crunches not only have a harder time recovering but typically do not improve their posture. These problems can be corrected through training the inner abdominal and spinal muscles with core specific functional training. If larger muscle groups are exercised without proper core activation poor posture and injury will result. In order to maintain a healthy and pain free life it is imperative to build a strong core unit.