Health Tips | Nov 06

Core/Spinal stabilization is the body’s ability to initiate muscular activity & control thru neural mechanisms, by reacting to outside forces placed on the body ( ie. lifting weight/bending over etc.) to protect the spinal column and joints.

This reflex/safety & stability mechanism relies on information from your spinal muscles & joints.  It sends information from those tissues thru nerves to the spinal column, which sends reactive protective signals to the appropriate muscles (mainly done without thought= unconscious)!

The main research on Lower Back stability has focused on two main stabilizing muscles= Multifidus (Muscle layer of Lower Back) & Transverse Abdominus(Muscle in Abdominal area). ***Remember there are more muscles that contribute to stability than these two.

Evidence has shown that following lower back injury, the neural control mechanism results in less signaling to the Multifidus and the result = atrophy of the muscle, which results in less stability!!!  Research has also shown that post-injury inhibition persists and does not naturally recover. (So if your Low Back pain episode resolves within a week, you still display weakness of the muscles= reduced stability.

What can we do to improve our Core Stability and thus Spinal Health?  Obviously specific core exercise is important, but many people are unaware of recent research that demonstrates the effects of spinal joint manipulation on the neural control mechanisms that resulted in greater Multifidus muscle recruitment= greater stability!

Core stabilization following a Lower Back injury, is a complex-multifactorial system that requires: proper neural control and  rehabilitation of specific core muscles.  Our treatment approaches should also address the above discussed mechanisms: Spinal joint Manipulations & Core Exercises!

Article:http://drmorgan.info/clinicians-corner/manipulation-activates-muscles-core/