Core Muscle Activation For the Back

Over the last several years it seems that you cannot read a fitness magazine or online health article without being told that you need to strengthen your core. The problem is that most people do not know what the core really is. Many people believe that the core is simply your abdominal muscles, and that answer is partly correct, but there is much more to the core than just the abdominal muscles, and the core is much more difficult to get stronger than simply doing a bunch of crunches.
Why are the core muscles so important? The simple answer is that they provide support and stability around your midsection allowing you to perform all of your everyday activities such as walking, bending over or throwing a ball without increasing the stress on your lower back. However, when you have an injury or pain in your lower back these muscles will often get inhibited. When they get inhibited they do not work correctly which in turn can create more pain in the lower back, and you end up in a cycle that you are not able to break out of.
To learn how to activate the core you must first understand the anatomy that makes it up. There are three distinct muscles that form the core:
Pelvic floor: The pelvic floor is like a sling on the bottom of your pelvis traveling from the front to the back and its function is to hold all of your internal organs up and together; the most familiar function that we all use the pelvic floor for is stopping ourselves from going to the bathroom. So the next time you are stuck in your car or at a meeting and you have to go to the bathroom pay close attention to the muscles in your pelvis and you will have a better understanding of how these muscles work. These muscles can often become injured or inhibited and then they are not able to function optimally, a common injury to these muscles is pregnancy and childbirth. During the birthing process the muscles get stretched out and they do not always return to form. In order to strengthen these muscles we must selectively tighten them; many women are familiar with this by doing a Kegel exercise. In order to tighten the muscle specifically it is easiest to feel if you lie down on the ground and bend your knees so your feet are on the floor. Put your fingers on the front part of your pelvic bones and then slide them about an inch towards your bellybutton. Then tighten your pelvic floor by pulling up on the muscles; think of stopping yourself from going to the bathroom. This should be a very gentle pull! You should not be pulling so tight that you are having trouble breathing. With your fingers you are feeling for a slight tightening, and your stomach should stay flat. If you feel your muscles pushing into your fingers you are activating your outer abdominal muscles and you are doing too much.

Transverse abdominis: The best way to visualize your transverse abdominal muscle is like a corset or a back brace that you might wear if you are doing heavy lifting; next time you go to a big warehouse store notice that a lot of the employees wear a back brace. The muscle starts on your back and travels horizontally around towards your bellybutton. When this muscle tightens it pulls in and creates support around your midsection, exactly like the back brace. This muscle will often become dysfunctional when someone has experienced a back injury, and the way it acts when dysfunctional is by not contracting properly. When it does not contract properly you will loose a lot of support in your lower back and this will often perpetuate your lower back injury. To find and selectively activate these muscles assume the position you were in to activate the pelvic floor by lying on your back with your legs bent and your fingers just off of your hip bones. You will tighten this muscle by drawing your bellybutton in towards your spine; do not simply suck your gut in. Think of it as if you are trying to pull on a tight pair of jeans. With your fingers you should feel the muscles tightening, but again you should not feel the muscles pushing out and into your fingers. This is a gentle contraction and it should not be limiting your ability to breathe easily, and you should be able to hold a conversation while holding these muscles tight. Often people find it easier to first pull up on the pelvic floor and then draw in the bellybutton.

Multifidus: These muscles are often the most difficult for people to learn to isolate, but they may be the most important based on their location in terms of treatment for lower back injuries. They are positioned on the back of your spine and connect a single vertebra to the one above it, and it is this segmental stabilization that is necessary for proper lower back function. Just like the other muscles these will often get weak after a lower back injury because the pain and inflammation will inhibit these muscles from functioning properly. To isolate these muscles you will do best to co-contract them with your pelvic floor. Start by lying on the floor with your knees bent and gently pull up on your pelvic floor, you will then tighten your multifidus by pulling your tailbone up towards your spine. You should feel a tightening on your lower back, but do not let your back arch up, it should stay in its neutral position. Some people are able to feel the muscles tighten by putting their hand in the small of their back about one half an inch off of your spine; not everyone can feel these muscles tighten so do not get frustrated if you cannot feel them.

Once you have mastered contracting these muscles in isolation begin working on them together by tightening up your pelvic floor, then your transverse abdominals and finally your multifidus. As these become easier to activate you can begin to add resistance by performing leg movements such as sliding one leg down the floor, or lifting a leg up in the air; just make sure to keep the muscles tight while you are doing it. Finally, since most people do not hurt their back while lying on the ground you are going to have to start working on these muscles while standing, sitting and walking. So when you are out on your evening walk think about these muscles, when you are working around the house or driving into work tighten them up, even if you are at the gym performing a workout on a totally distant muscle group, like your biceps, think about activating your core so that when you lift a weight your back will be stable and protected.

All of these muscles are difficult to learn to contract properly, especially if you have had an injury to your back, as these muscles will often be dysfunctional and not working the way they should be.