Runners: Don’t forget about exercising your core

Have you noticed that when you talk to fitness experts and enthusiasts alike, a key buzzword in every conversation is "the core." According to MossRehab's sports & spine rehabilitation specialist Dr. Jeff North, our core is literally our core, or the center of our body and the central portion of our movements. All of our body's motions and force production involve a properly functioning core, which is essential for all athletes, but especially for distance runners.

Our core is much more than just our abdominals. It includes the thoracic and lumbar spine, abdominal muscles, back muscles, pelvic and hip girdle muscles (especially the gluteals) and the thigh muscles.

Dr. North believes that core exercises should be a key component of any training program – especially a distance running program. A correctly functioning core will yield proper biomechanics and force production, providing stability (including lumbar, pelvic, and lower limb stability), power and endurance.

When your core is weak, it can lead to increased strain in other parts of your body and could contribute to compensation and overuse movement patterns, over-striding or under-striding with running and increased frontal plane movements (side to side movements) of the lumbar spine, pelvis and hips.

These compensatory movement patterns will lead to overuse injuries and have been linked to various disorders common to runners, including:

Iliotibial band (IT Band) syndrome -- The iliotibial band is a thick band of fascia (a thin sheath of fibrous tissue enclosing a muscle or other organ) that crosses the hip joint and extends distally to insert on the patella, tibia, and biceps femoris tendon. Repetitive movements and overuse can cause irritation and inflammation in the knee or lead to snapping hip or hip bursitis.

Patellofemoral pain and dysfunction -- The patella, your knee cap, floats within the trochlear groove on top of the femur. If the mechanics of your running is not ideal, then the kneecap may be pushed to one side of the groove when the knee is bent causing pain.

Low back and Sacroiliac (SI joint) disorders -- SI joint is responsible for transferring the weight of the upper body to the lower body. It is located in the pelvis connecting the iliac bone (pelvis) to the sacrum (the lowest part of the spine). With a lot of repetitive movements you can cause hypermobility of the joint.

Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (shin splints) -- This refers to the pain in the front of leg that develops when you increase your mileage too fast. Most of the time this is caused by a training error due to fatigue.

Achilles tendinopathy -- The Achilles tendon connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. Tendinitis (inflammation) and Tendinosis (microtears in the tissue around the tendon) are common problems.

Plantar fasciitis – This band of tissue runs across the bottom of your foot and connects your heel bone to your toes. It is one of the most common causes of heel pain.

A core strengthening program can help prevent these types of injuries and should progress initially from "open-chain" (i.e. non-weight bearing) exercises toward "closed-chain" (weight bearing) exercises. The goal is to stimulate and train the muscles to function in a manner and position that they would normally when under stress.

In running, our bodies are erect, with weight bearing and landing on our legs, so the strengthening exercises should reproduce these positions and movement patterns. The exercises should also incorporate all planes of movement of the body to allow ideal muscle stimulation and development.

Some examples of core strengthening exercises for runners that Dr. North recommends include:

Initial Phase

Closed-Chain and More Advanced

Advanced and Sport Specific

Dr. North believes that proper mechanics is the key to injury prevention as well as improved athletic performance. Focus on good mechanics and consider consulting a personal trainer, physical therapist or other medical specialist to assist you with your exercise and strength program and progression.

"Core strength training should be balanced with your running program. If you are only running you can overuse and weaken your muscles. This is a great way to cross-train to build muscles and endurance. If you run 3-5 days, you should focus on your core at least 2 days," he added.

Read more Sports Doc for Sports Medicine and Fitness.