A definition of the core from Katy Bowmen:
“Core strength does not mean abdominal exercises! It is the ability to stabilize the bones in the upper body, rotate the torso with proper spinal curvature, and maintain pelvic position while sitting, standing, and exercising! It’s the ability to control the bladder, stabilize the ligaments of the knees with the lower abdominal wall, and breath correctly while doing all of these!”
A wonderful colleague wrote this for his website and NYStudio liked it so much, we thought we would share it with you: click here to read more
Posture for a Healthy Back
If you’re reading this, just take a moment; breathe in and as you breathe out, relax your shoulders away from your ears…. Good… now, relax your jaw! Feel better yet!?! Great, then let us begin our policing of posture and the controversial ‘core’.
Lots of people have lots of various postures, but not everyone experiences pain… it is difficult to consider the theory that pain is a result of ‘bad posture’, when there is so much recent evidence to suggest otherwise.
There have been lots of studies on the subject, but no evidence to suggest that there is ‘the perfect posture’ or that having a strong core will prevent a person from getting back pain. What is important is that we all keep moving and we stay calm. Our bodies are designed to flex, extend and rotate. Knowing simple exercises that move your body though all of these positions is a wonderful thing.
Exercise for a Healthy Back
Of course, strong, supporting muscles are great for injury prevention.
- it is important that you gradually load and expose your body to new experiences for rehabilitating and managing pain
- you should ensure the exercises you undertake are appropriate, which is why we recommend coming to NYStudio!
- no exercise is bad, it just isn’t necessarily appropriate for a person.
- NYStudio has an individualised approach to teaching. Our class sizes are small so we can modify exercises to suit our clients.
- If you are a client who comes to class, you can use our NYStudio Healthy Backs Exercise Sheet. You could print it off and bring it along to class if you are feeling unsure where to start. You could also make your own notes while in class on the sheet to help you at home.
The Back4Good programme is a Level 4 Advanced Care Qualification. NYStudio proudly works to this standard in teaching the Backcare and Bone Health class and the Balance class.
You may find the NHS website informative. They host small video clips on Exercise to help
You may also be interested in reading our resources on Sciatica.