Dr.Garber’s Blog

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“Work your core!” That’s been the mantra of trainers and instructors at gyms everywhere. The stronger your core, the more support to your low back. But what constitutes your core and how best to strengthen those core muscles is being questioned in light of new findings coming out of the top spine research labs.

Far too much attention has been given to the deep abdominal muscles as the key to core strength. Concentrating on these muscles can actually destabilize the spine, putting it risk for injury. The way we perform many of the exercises that target these muscles puts a tremendous load on the spine, especially the intervertebral discs which can lead to a herniation.

Below is a short video in which professor of spine biomechanics Stuart McGill explains how to properly and safely do a few exercises that will strengthen you core in a balanced way:

From The New York Times Magazine, June 21, 2009

The Sunday New York Times Magazine has a regular feature called Diagnosis. Each week a doctor presents a “mystery” case, one that on the surface defies a typical clinical workup. Today’s case, describing a condition that developed as a result of a tumor in the Pituitary gland,  was as intriguing as any other I have read. But what I found fascinating, no, make that mind-bogelling, was one statement made by this particular doctor. In discussing this patient’s history she described the various symptoms produced by his tumor as being relatively common problems and that because they had developed at different times and had each been addressed by a specialist that “It would take an act of imagination to link these symptoms. The patient never made this leap, and neither did any of his doctors.” This is exactly where the problem lies in the world of medical specialization. No one sees the forest for the trees. Each specialist this patient saw looked only at one particular symptom. Not one stepped back to look at the man - the whole man. Had anyone bothered to do this, fifteen years of suffering might have been avoided. This is what holistic medicine is all about, taking into account the totality of a patient’s symptoms, and doing so within the context of that patient’s story. And contrary to the writer’s opinion, it has been my experience that even when all the attending doctors haven’t made that “leap,” the patient usually has. A very wise professor of mine used to say, “Just listen to your patients. They will give you the diagnosis.”