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Why
is the Core Important to Runners?
By
Dominic McKinley, MD, CAQ and Joe Mullins,
M. Ed., LAT, ATC
Core training continues
to receive more and more attention by the
sports conditioning industry. Medical
professionals such as physicians, athletic
trainers, and physical therapists along with
personal trainers and workout partners are
encouraging the physically active to begin
core training. This is because a strong
core improves overall strength, power,
speed, quickness, agility, coordination and
balance. The co-authors of this article
agree that core training is essential to
performance enhancement and injury
prevention. The purpose of this article is
to define the core, outline the importance
of the core to runners, and define core
conditioning.
What is the Core?
The core is defined
as the muscular anatomy that controls and
supports the spine and pelvis. (Some
performance specialists define the core more
broadly by including the shoulder blades and
knees.)
The muscles of the
abdominal region that control and support
the spine and pelvis include:
-
Internal and
External Obliques which rotate the torso
from side to side and bends the torso to
the side
-
Rectus Abdominus
flexes the torso (commonly referred to
as the “six pack")
-
Transverse
Abdominus stabilizes the spine to
prevent excessive motion in any
direction
Some of the muscles
of the back region that control and support
the spine and pelvis include:
It is the transverse
abdominus and multifidus muscles that are
often neglected in traditional training
methods.
What is the
Purpose of the Core?
A mental image to
understand the purpose and importance of the
core is imagining a wagon wheel. The hub of
the wagon wheel represents the core as the
spokes of the wagon wheel represent the
extremities of the body. All of the energy
to move the wagon is created, controlled,
and transferred at the hub of that wheel.
The same is true of
our anatomical core. The kinetic energy to
propel and sustain our bodies in motion
needs to travel through our core. The core
has a continuous cycle of creating,
controlling, and transferring kinetic energy
in a three dimensional manner.
During the running
gait cycle, kinetic energy begins from when
the heel makes contact with the ground
engaging the hamstrings. The kinetic energy
is then transferred into the core causing
pelvic rotation to swing the opposite leg
forward. If a runner’s core is weakened,
there is an inefficient transfer of the
kinetic energy. Inefficient motion can
cause another body part to receive more than
its share of the kinetic energy to
dissipate. As a result, over a period of
time, an injury to other body parts can
occur. Therefore, minimizing unnecessary
movements of the limbs improves efficiency
and conserves energy.
What is Core
Conditioning?
Understanding what
core conditioning is may be better
appreciated by realizing that it is not a
traditional training program where the goal
is to generate maximum force by the muscle
(i.e. bicep curls for bigger biceps). Core
conditioning involves coordination between
the brain and the deep muscles (see list
above) to fire in order to create spinal and
pelvic stability. This is extremely
important if activities of daily living
involve a lot of sitting, especially
slouching.
Therefore, core
conditioning’s primary objective is learning
how to initiate (and ultimately sustain) the
spinal and pelvic stabilizer muscles in a
concerted effort with the extremities. When
this occurs, there is an efficient
foundation for the functional interaction
among the lower extremity joints during the
running gait cycle.
Core Conditioning
Example Exercises
Supine Bridge:
Lie on your back with
knees bent at a 90-degree angle and feet on
the floor. Tighten abdominal muscles and
squeeze your buttock muscles while pushing
your heels into the ground.
Supine Bridge With
Leg Extension:
Follow the instructions from the Supine
Bridge exercise above. Once you have
achieved the bridge position, extend one leg
out giving attention to keeping your
hips/pelvis level. Return to lying flat
then repeat with the opposite leg.
Front Plank:
Lie facedown in a prone pushup position with
your forearms resting on the ground instead
of your palms. Your elbows should be
beneath your shoulders and bent at a
90-degree angle. Push off of your elbows to
achieve a straight line between your
shoulders, knees and ankles. Only you tip
toes and forearms should be touching the
ground.
Side Plank:
Lie on your side on your forearm with the
elbow beneath the shoulder. Push off of
your forearm to achieve a straight line
between your shoulders, knees and ankles.
Only the outside of your bottom foot and
your forearm should be touching the ground.
Repeat on the other side.
One Legged Touch Down With Rotation:
Balance on one leg. Tighten your abdominal
and glute muscles. Squat down on the
balance leg while reaching to the ground
with the opposite hand. Switch legs and
repeat.
Dominic McKinley, MD, CAQ is a primary care
sports medicine physician with Guilford
Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Center in
Greensboro. He serves as team physician for
N. C. A&T State University and Bishop
McGuiness High School. He enjoys running.
Dr. McKinley can be contacted at
336-275-3325. More information about Dr.
McKinley and the services he provides can be
found at
here.
Joe Mullins, M. Ed., LAT, ATC is Founder
and Director of Athletic Training &
Conditioning, Inc. He specializes in
functional evaluations and works with
athletes from middle school, high school,
and college to professional and Olympic
athletes. He can be contacted at
joe.mullins@athletictrainingandconditioning.com.
More information about Joe Mullins and the
services he provides can be found at
www.athletictrainingandconditioning.com.
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