Why You Should Care About Your Deep Core

Long gone are the days where the word “core” is synonymous with “abs”. I’m sure you’ve been hearing for years that it is important to have a strong core, and a strong deep core at that, but do you know what that means? Your total core is basically comprised of everything from your shoulders to your glutes, front and back. Your deep core goes, well, deeper. It is comprised of your diaphragm, transverse abdominus (TVA), multifidus and your pelvic floor. But why should you care about how strong and functional your deep core is? Turns out, there are a lot of reasons you should and you probably have one or more complaints that strengthening your deep core would fix. Let’s start from the top down.

Diaphragm

Your diaphragm is basically the body’s main breathing muscle. Quick little anatomy lesson for you - it sits within the ribcage, just below the lungs, and inhaling (contracting the diaphragm) inflates the lungs, while exhaling, pushes air out. Breathing is the body’s chief regulator, effecting almost every system - hormonal, nervous, digestive, cognitive and musculoskeletal. The diaphragm is imperative to down-regulate your body, igniting the parasympathetic nervous system (“rest & digest”) which reduces stress, and improves focus, immunity, digestion, growth and repair in the body. It’s pretty critical to fully use during childbirth as well, as it releases endorphins and improves focus, which enables you to better manage pain.

Multifidus (MF)

Attaching to your spine, the multifidus is a series of small muscles that help take pressure off your spine, so that your body weight can be well distributed around it, It does this by deeply stabilizing the spine and supporting the spine to keep it straight. Hello there, good posture! This muscle gets activated before any actual movement takes place, mainly to prevent spinal injury. It is used in backward, sideways and even turning movements with our torso. People with low back pain tend to have issues with getting these smaller muscles to activate prior to movement, so you can see that maintaining strength to them is important!

Transverse Abdominus (TVA)

Your body’s largest and innermost abdominal muscle, the TVA is the the “inner corset” of your core muscles. The corset action is in how it supports and stabilizes your spine. During pregnancy, it helps resist anterior pelvic tilt aka butt back, belly forward as the belly grows, as well as helps effectively push the baby out during birth, minimizing strain elsewhere.

Pelvic Floor (PF)

Consisting of 14 (yes, you read that right) different muscles that create the sling-like floor of your core, these muscles connect to the bones on the front, back and sides of the pelvis, forming somewhat of a diamond shape at it’s base. They stabilize the pelvis, support pelvic organs, control continence, aid in sexual response, and for mothers, help guide the baby out during birth.

Team “deep core”

So not only do these 4 parts of the deep core need to be strong, but they need to form a team, working functionally together to create the most supportive, efficient system for your body. You can see why any one of these muscles failing to function optimally can create issues within the body, whether it’s low back pain, tight hips, incontinence, or digestive/immunity issues to name a few. Addressing these with a core strength & recovery program can literally heal your body from the inside out! You’ll have less bloating, less pain, move better, improve your fitness performance and overall feel healthier when you properly recover and strengthen your deep core.

Are you ready?!