Well, now that we are nice and stretched out and worked on some mobility to ease that annoying back pain. Let’s get into how to fix it and prevent it from coming back again. Now a big misconception of back pain is that it’s caused from the back itself, but in reality, most cases the pain is actually caused by weakness in core muscles and/or overactive hip flexors. We addressed the overactive hips slightly in the first part with stretches like the “90/90” and “couch stretch” but what can we do for our core and why is that it’s so important?!
Let’s start off by looking at the different core muscles.
- Transverse Abdominis(TVA)- This is a large deep core muscle that sits under your “abs” and wraps around to your back. Imagine a corset, and just like a corset it is there to help us hold everything in place and support our posture.
- Internal/ External Obliques(Huggy Muscles)- The obliques sit in the lower front and wrap around to the back side. Think just above the love handles. These guys are the main movers for lateral flexion( bending side to side) and also give us the ability to rotate.
- Rectus Abdominis(Six Back)- These lovely little guys are the most superficial core muscle. These are the “6- pack” muscles or the so-called “Washboard” everyone wants. These muscles deal with flexion & extension of the spine. Like Arching back or bending down to touch your toes. Refer to the Cat/Cows from part 1.
Now that we have an idea of what the MAJOR muscles of the core are and what they do to an extent(they do lots more and there are many other muscles that help). Let’s get into some exercises that will greatly benefit you posture and help relieve the pain for good! Try these four exercises out, tag @TeamQuinnFit and reach out for any tips/suppout.
Core Exercises:
- Diaphragmatic/ Deep Belly Breathing
https://www.anahana.com/wellness-blog/breathing/diaphragmatic-breathing
- Deadbugs/ Modified Deadbugs
- Birddogs
- Paloff Press