Core Strength vs. Core Stability

The core is one of the biggest buzz words in the health and fitness realm. There is a multitude of modalities which proclaim that they will improve function and strength of the core. Unfortunately, a lot of these approaches are based on outdated research and without a thorough understanding of functional anatomy and biomechanics. The purpose of this article is to inform you of our approach to core training and the why to our approach.

When we look at core strength and stability, we need to carefully define what these terms actually mean. In 2003, Hall defined stability as ‘resistance to both angular and linear acceleration, or resistance to disruption of equilibrium’. This basically can be broken down as the ability to withstand unwanted movement. Strength is defined by Kraemer and Knuttgen and Kraemer as the maximal amount of force a muscle or muscle group can generate in a specified movement pattern at a specified velocity of movement.

By looking at these two definitions we can see a big difference between core stability and core strength. Core stability can be understood as the ability of the core to resist an unwanted movement. Core strength can be identified as the amount of force the core can produce to perform a desired movement. These can clearly be seen as two totally different functions, yet they are both totally interdependent on the other. If an exercise class or modality promises to improve core strength and the majority of the exercises involve static postures while activating the core, are they training core strength or stability? In reality, they are improving stability and not strength.

What also needs to be identified is how to train the core to be stable. According to physical therapist Shirley Sahrman in her book Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement impairment Syndromes the abdominal muscles need to 1. appropriately stabilize the spine, 2. maintain optimal alignment and movement relationships between the pelvis and spine, and 3. prevent excessive stress and compensatory motions of the pelvis during movements of the extremities. To stabilize the spine we need to ensure activation of all the abdominal musculature and in what way we want the spine to be stable. At DC Health we consider spine stabilization to be the maintenance of a neutral spine under load and the resistance of rotation.

Training the core to resist rotation may seem like a strange idea. In fact, many core strengthening programs try to increase rotation, particularly at the lumbar spine. This is not a good idea, as the lumbar spine only rotates between 3-18 degrees. We generally find in our assessment protocol that our clients who suffer from low back pain actually are overly mobile at the lumbar spine and suffer from immobility at the hip joints and the thoracic spine. The mobility of these two vital areas will be addressed in another post. Mobility has become a huge topic in the fitness industry with people creating mobility exercise for every joint in every plane of motion. In reality though, some joints are inherently designed for stability, not mobility, and increasing mobility at these joints is asking for problems.

We need to teach the core stability in the frontal plane, transverse plane, the anterior sagittal plane and control of the pelvis and lumbar spine. At DC Health we have designed an integrated protocol for assessing a client and taking then through these progressions to ensure optimal stability development. Some of the exercise we use are:

Side Bridge: This exercise is excellent for developing frontal plane stability and poor performance in this exercise is a good indicator of an increased risk of lower back pain.

Forward Ball Roll: This exercise integrates the core with the hips and the arms and is a great exercise to train the anterior core.

Lower abdominal co-ordination – This exercise trains synergistic action between the external obliques and the hip flexor musculature.

Pallof Press: We use this exercise to train the abdominal muscles to resist rotation.

After we have developed optimal stability we will then look at developing core strength. The strength we will develop will take into accounts what activities a person performs and their particular goals. Some of our favourite exercises are:

Cable Wood Chop: This is a great exercise to integrate the hips, core and upper extremity to express force.

Medicine Ball Toss: Another fantastic exercise to develop strength and power. Also teaches you how to absorb force, which is very important in athletic situations.

When looking at exercise programs and what they promise we need to look at all programs with a healthy degree of skepticism. If we can critically analyze what is being done and the methods used we can easily see what approaches are effective and which ones are ineffective. Remember there is no such thing as a bad exercise, there is only a poor prescription of an exercise which is due to poor understanding of the biomechanics involved.

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