rotten to the core

Comments

ROTTEN TO THE CORE

There’s nothing better than chomping into a sweet juicy apple.  Take your pick.  Granny Smith’s, Gala’s, MacIntosh’s, Delicious, and Fuji’s just to name a few.  And there’s nothing more disgusting than biting into an apple with a rotten core.  Except, of course, when your spinal core muscles are rotten and sore and you’re swinging your club like Granny instead of Tiger.

THE CORE CONCEPT

Research gurus have found that once you have had an attack of acute low back pain your core spinal muscles quickly go rotten.  Important muscles with brand names such as multifidus and semi-spinalis begin to lose their bulk, power, and endurance.  Even more importantly, they lose their ability to monitor, adjust and control your spine’s sliding, bending, and rotating motions.  This has been shown to happen as fast as a day or two following your injury.  And, these deep core muscles do not necessarily recover even after your pain has subsided.

THE CORE PROBLEM

With this loss of deep muscle calibration, you can get some bitter back ache and pain since there is no buffer mechanism to stop movements that pinch your joints, ligaments, and discs.  Hence, when you test drive the spanking new Great Big Bertha II at the pro shop, you feel like your swing has spanked instead of patted your low back

To put it another way, think of the federal Liberal’s loss of control over Quebec advertising dollars, the gun registry, and Adrian Clarkson’s Great Big party trip.  With the loss of control, you and I continue to have our wallets, wages, and wealth pinched and we feel the pain as our western backsides get spanked once again.

THE CORE COMPLAINT

Even though health pros have always known that a strong spine needs strong back and strong ab muscles, a common core complaint from patients is that the standard sit-ups and back extension exercises seem to hurt and do not help their spines.  Why is this the case?  The Cole’s notes explanation is that generic exercises do not adequately take into consideration the specialized functions of the different back muscles.  Only recently have physical therapists and conditioning specialists figured out how to custom design and prescribe exercises that refresh rotten core muscles.

THE CORE SOLUTION

If you are currently coping with a bitter and sore back core, and would like to prevent another episode of back attack before the snow melts and the tee boxes open, consult with your favorite physical therapist.  Not only will he totally check you out and fill you in on the sweet science of core back pain, but he will pick out the right brand of back exercises for you and your rotten core.  Sweet.

Brent Kassian, BScPT, MCPA, MCPTA

Executive Director

Capilano Rehab Centre

phone:  466-1104

check out their groovy website @ www. caprehab.com