The Core Part 2: If you come to me with a shoulder injury, we are going to start with core exercises. Why??

I have often had the experience where someone comes to me with a shoulder injury from gardening or golf, for example, and they are confused as to why I start the class focusing on the abdominal, or core, muscles, instead of addressing the shoulder injury right away.

I definitely WILL address the biomechanics and muscle imbalances of the shoulder joint, but the most important first step is to take some load off of the shoulder and bring that load into the center of the body, where you can access more power and stability.  While the shoulder muscles need to be strong in order to push, pull, throw or lift – as we need to do in many daily activities and in sports - if they are our PRIMARY source of strength, not only are we setting ourselves up for injury, we are not accessing our bodies’ full power that comes from our center. Here I am using the shoulder as an example, but this is just as true for knee, hip, and foot issues, and any other extremity joint. We always start by developing core strength, so that the rest of  the body is well supported.

In the case of our shoulder, in order to lift or throw something, we want to maximise the natural brilliance of the biomechanics of the joint to get maximum power. Our core muscles, mainly the abdominals, provide overall stability for the whole body. If we are not activating these core muscles, the shoulder muscles need to do 2 jobs: stabilise AND provide power to the lifting or throwing. If there is not enough core strength, the joint has to to ‘overdo’ the job of stabilising, and the muscles ‘brace’ joint, preventing it from gliding smoothly as it was designed to do for maximum efficiency.  If the shoulder muscles have to stabilise AND mobilise, it’s like opposing jobs, and the joint can get jammed, muscles can strain, overstretch, or even tear, all because we are asking our shoulders to do too many jobs, and not asking enough of our core.

With core muscles, we take the load away from the extremities and coordinate the effort through the center of our bodies – through our center of gravity. If we align our spine and shoulders well, and engage our abdominal muscles, we have more access to our whole body power, and the correct biomechanics can flow optimally to produce optimal power and movement. Without a strong core, there is going to be excessive tension in the outer body, and this increases the potential for injury. When the inner core  is connected and strong, the outer muscles are able to do what they are meant to do – produce movement in a powerful way. If the outer muscles are too stiff because they are also holding us together, they can’t produce movement well. We become a lobster, with a strong shell on the outside, but soft and mushy on the inside.

Obviously, the core muscles are perfect for helping to support injuries in our spine, but the next time that you have an injury in the extremities, wrist, knee, elbow – look to how you can better access your core strength to take some of the load off of these often much smaller muscles. See how you can optimise your alignment and posture to make sure the joints are in a good position, so there is less wear and tear on the body. You really can’t go wrong by developing core strength, it will help you with your golf game, with gardening, with picking up and playing with your kids or grandkids, and allow your body to stay relaxed while also staying super strong.