Description
This video series demonstrates a valuable set of core exercises, often prescribed to patients with low back pain but may be recommended for many other reasons. Mastering these exercises will help you with many other exercises on this website. There is usually no going wrong when strengthening your core! Most people, whether they are attending physiotherapy or not, could benefit from some extra core strength.
What you should feel
You should feel like your core is engaging and tightening up with these exercises. You should feel like you can talk and breathe throughout these, so try to relax the rest of your body! Sometimes people will feel a stretch into their lower back (this is fine).
Pain is not expected with these exercises, besides any discomfort associated with working your core muscles really hard. Stop this exercise if you are unsure about what you are feeling or if it is painful in an unexpected way.
Transverse Abdominis Activation
Instructions
Stop here before moving on! This exercise is crucial to understand before moving on to the other videos.
Here are the instructions, as per the video below:
- Start out lying on your back with your knees bent.
- Find the two bones that are on the front of your pelvis, on either side, called the ASIS (they are the most prominent). Sink your fingers in, on the inside aspect of this bone.
- Monitoring using your fingers: Imagine drawing the two bones (ASIS) together while trying to “hold your pee.” When you do this properly, your stomach should flatten out and you should feel the muscle where your fingers are contract / tense.
Parameters
mdkPHYSIO provides specific parameters to all patients. In general, for this exercise you will want to hold it for about 5 seconds to start and then relax for a few seconds, then repeat. Performing this at least once per day for about 5 minutes is a good start, but we typically aim higher than that! We will adjust how long you hold it for and how often you do this depending on how proficient you get.
Video
Posterior Pelvic Tilt 1
Instructions
This is another “stop here before moving on!” This exercise is the next crucial one to understand. You will likely find yourself coming back here for review for this exercise series, and for other exercises on this website.
Here are the instructions, as per the video below:
- Start out lying on your back with your knees bent.
- Activate your Transverse Abdominis (TA) as per the video above.
- Once your TA is activated, engage the rest of your lower abdominals to “flatten your back.”
- Your lower back needs to be tight against the ground!
- You should feel all of your lower abdominals working very hard.
- You should be able to breath throughout this. There is no need to hold your breath or tense up any other muscles in your body.
- Hold this position and follow your exercise parameters.
Parameters
mdkPHYSIO provides specific parameters to all patients. In general, for this exercise you will want to hold it for about 5 seconds to start and then relax for a few seconds, then repeat. Performing this at least once per day for about 5 minutes is a good start, but we typically aim higher than that! I usually ask my patients to perform this exercise until they’re fatigued and can no longer perform it well, but it always depends on the case.
Video
Posterior Pelvic Tilt 2
Instructions
Start doing this exercise once you have mastered the Transverse Abdominis and Posterior Pelvic Tilt 1 exercises.
Here are the instructions, as per the video below:
- Start out lying on your back with your knees bent.
- Activate your Transverse Abdominis (TA) and then perform the Posterior Pelvic Tilt as per the videos above.
- Once your back is flattened and your core is fully engaged:
- Lift one leg up to approximately 90 degrees of hip flexion (femur perpendicular to ground).
- Slowly lower that leg, counting to at least 3 seconds on the way down.
- Descending your leg is the most important part. As you lower your leg, your back will want to lift off the ground. You will need to fight this by keeping your core rock solid!
- Continue the exercise, alternating legs.
- Important:
- Your back will want to lift off the ground as you lower your leg and the slower you go, the harder it will be.
- Make sure to keep that core rock solid and that back as flat as possible the entire time.
- If you need to “reset” your core, to make sure you have a good activation of your TA and that your posterior pelvic tilt is optimal, please do it and then continue the exercise.
- You should also be able to breathe throughout the entire exercise. Avoid tensing up other areas of your body and holding your breath.
Parameters
mdkPHYSIO provides specific parameters to all patients. In general, I usually ask my patients to perform this exercise until they’re fatigued and can no longer perform it well, but it always depends on the case. If you feel like you’re “losing” the engagement of your core as you go but don’t feel like the muscles are tired, make sure you “reset” the core to get the best possible contraction and continue the exercise. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, the core will start disengaging before you get that sense of fatigue. Resetting it throughout the exercise can help ensure you get the best possible workout.
Video
Posterior Pelvic Tilt 3
Instructions
Start doing this exercise once you have mastered the Transverse Abdominis, Posterior Pelvic Tilt 1 and Posterior Pelvic Tilt 2 exercises.
Here are the instructions, as per the video below:
- Start out lying on your back with your knees bent.
- Activate your Transverse Abdominis (TA) and then perform the Posterior Pelvic Tilt as per the videos above.
- Once your back is flattened and your core is fully engaged:
- Lift one leg up to approximately 90 degrees of hip flexion (femur perpendicular to ground).
- Then lift your other leg up to the same spot.
- Slowly lower the first leg, counting to at least 3 seconds on the way down.
- Descending your leg is the most important part. As you lower your leg, your back will want to lift off the ground. You will need to fight this by keeping your core rock solid!
- Continue the exercise, alternating legs. You can also change which leg goes up first and down first with each cycle. No pressure though… make sure you master this first.
- Important:
- Your back will want to lift off the ground as you lower your leg and the slower you go, the harder it will be.
- Make sure to keep that core rock solid and that back as flat as possible the entire time.
- If you need to “reset” your core, to make sure you have a good activation of your TA and that your posterior pelvic tilt is optimal, please do it and then continue the exercise.
- You should also be able to breathe throughout the entire exercise. Avoid tensing up other areas of your body and holding your breath.
Parameters
mdkPHYSIO provides specific parameters to all patients. In general, I usually ask my patients to perform this exercise until they’re fatigued and can no longer perform it well, but it always depends on the case. If you feel like you’re “losing” the engagement of your core as you go but don’t feel like the muscles are tired, make sure you “reset” the core to get the best possible contraction and continue the exercise. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, the core will start disengaging before you get that sense of fatigue. Resetting it throughout the exercise can help ensure you get the best possible workout.
