A weak core can cause a series of frictions that affect your running and various other activities of your life. A weak core can be the cause of tight hip flexors, patella tendonitis (runner’s knee), shin splints, problems with sciatica, etc. These should be reason enough to nurture your core, yet it’s often the one aspect of our training we ignore.
What constitutes the core – the muscles of our back, stomach, hips – has been widely disputed, but experts seem to agree on one thing: if you improve upon your postural muscles, you will reduce your risk of injury and improve your performance. Core muscles are important at later stages in your training and racing, “when fatigue sets in and form begins to fall apart. The stronger we are, the longer we can hold form, which naturally translates to improved performance.” Our core is what generates energy for our overall capability. Core conditioning will help your nervous system coordinate how and when muscle fibers contract, contributing to greater efforts.
Our practice revolves around the fact that a better functioning nervous system will guarantee better health and harder efforts. Chiropractic care, like core conditioning will benefit your training and competing. If you’re like me and often place core work last, or are lazy in regards to that portion of training, stay tuned for next week’s blog post on, The Busy Person’s Core Workout, where I will offer examples of an at-home core routine!
-Courtney O.
C.A., Noble Chiropractic