Activate Your Inner Corset

One of my favorite ways to access the strength of the core is by looking at the integrity of a muscle that lays directly over the internal organs, called the Transverse Abdominus or the TVA. This key postural muscle wraps around your trunk between the ribs and pelvis with its horizontal fibers that run from the back body to the front much like a back support belt. Unlike other core muscles there is not one specific action like spinal flexion (crunches) that will contact this muscle, but rather the act of drawing the waist in towards the spine that creates a deep hug of support for the spine and internal organs. This deep hug of support is also designed to bring the pelvis and spine into a healthy, neutral alignment, and release pressure on the spinal discs during movement.

Signs of weakness and loss of connection to this vital support structure are an unstable pelvis that tips forward into an anterior tilt (sway back) causing back pain and compression on the spinal discs.

To access the health of your TVA come to your back with the knees bent over the hips and see if you can hold the legs up in the air at a 90 degree angle without letting your back arch away from the floor. Hold for 60 seconds.

If this is challenging, or if you experience pain in the low back you might consider incorporating the exercise below into your daily routine.

The focus here is to keep the spine and pelvis stable while lifting and lowering one leg at a time.

If this is challenging you can modify by starting from a bent knee position with the feet on the floor for more support until you can maintain a neutral spine. Once you have mastered the bent knee version with no back pain you can practice with the legs extended, as long as you are having no pain.

The idea here is to retrain the TVA to do its job, keeping the spine and pelvis stable and neutral while you move the limbs through space.

Not only does this practice retrain and strengthen the TVA, its also targets another deep core muscle and key hip flexor called the Psoas with one of my favorite osteopathic methods called Muscle Energy Technique or MET.

MET is an incredible tool that can safely and effectively lengthen short, tense muscles like the psoas by activating the target muscle while retaining the breath, then release the activation as you exhale. This breath retention along with muscle activation will bring much need oxygen directly to the psoas. Imbalances in the Psoas are a major contributor to low back pain, so if easing pain in the low back is why you are practicing core work this is a great place to start!