You have been doing core exercises for a while now, yet your back pain persists, and you are wondering why. Well, there are several possible reasons for why core exercises might not have resolved your back pain. Below are four common reasons that could explain why your core exercises aren’t working. Chances are, one or more apply to you.
Core Exercises Aren’t Addressing the Root Cause of Your Back Pain
Back pain usually results from the strain placed on your back exceeding its capacity to handle it. In your situation, your core exercises clearly haven’t reduced the excessive strain on your back or sufficiently increased its tolerance. You will likely need to modify your postures, movement patterns, and/or daily activities in some way to reduce the strain on your back in order to overcome your pain.
Core Exercise Aren’t Enough to Address the Full Cause of Your Back
While core exercises could play an important role in reducing your back pain, they may not be sufficient on their own. There could be additional factors that you need to address to reduce the strain on your back and increase your back’s capacity can handle. To reduce your pain, in addition to performing core exercises, you will likely need to modify your postures, movements and/or daily activities in some way.
You are Doing the Wrong Core Exercises.
Not all core exercises are created equal. Some exercises place significant strain on your spine, while others place very little strain on your spine. If you are doing high-strain core exercises, they could be exacerbating your pain. You will need to choose the exercises that place very little strain on your spine instead. A good starting point for many people with back pain is the McGill Big 3: the bird dog, side plank, and modified curl up. These exercises are designed to strengthen your core while putting minimal strain on your spine.
You are Doing the Right Core Exercises the Wrong Way.
Even if you’re doing the right core exercises, poor technique or overtraining can keep you in pain. It’s important to focus on maintaining pristine form while exercising and avoid pushing yourself too hard. Stop before you feel fatigued – leave some “gas in the tank.”
Conclusion
There are a several possible reasons why core exercises haven’t helped with our back pain. It could be that the exercises are not targeting the root cause of your discomfort, or the exercises themselves may be contributing to the issue. Whatever the case may be, the solution lies in identifying the true cause of your back pain and address it.