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Do you ever wonder what holds you up between your rib cage and your pelvis?
If you answered your spine, you’re only partially correct. The correct answer is something called intra-abdominal pressure which is what people often refer to as “the core”.
Intra-abdominal pressure is created when the diaphragm, pelvic floor, multifidus, and abs are working in perfect coordination. In this case, “core” has nothing to do with strength but everything to do with whether the above musculature is neurologically connected, ie-are the signals getting through.
Many things can cause a “blow out” of this core stability system but the number one cause hands down is abdominal surgical incision. If you’ve ever-yes ever, had an abdominal surgery for anything-yes anything, your core may not be optimally operational. Even that laparoscopic tubal ligation, minor hernia repair or appendix surgery when you were 5 can affect this system decades later. In fact it is the failure of this system that can cause your spine to act like a stack of blocks(which it never should) which unfortunately can lead to spinal degeneration, herniation and back pain.
This pressure system, when functioning optimally acts like an anchor to offer stability for your limbs. When the system is out, that anchor is lost and your limbs have to work harder to compensate for the loss. This can lead to knee pain, shoulder pain, headaches, jaw trouble, etc. If any other muscle in the body is forced to now work overtime because of a loss of pressure and stability you can rest assured it won’t be long until it is complaining-loudly.
The unfortunate fact is that after every single c-section, every single gallbladder removal, every single hysterectomy and every single episiotomy-yes add that to the list as well, not one medical professional takes the time to ensure this system is back up and running.
In fact most therapists only consider to address your painful areas, not considering for a moment that the real issue could simply be a tiny incision causing loss of stability.
Also neglected is the massive need to get that system fully operational once again, and no, doing 100 crunches everyday for the rest of your life will do nothing to get the lost messages back into the system. I recently had a new mom tell me that she "blew up her back" from over strengthening her core. I told her she likely "blew up her back up" because what she thought was training her core, was simply over-taxing her back musculature- as that was all she had left and available to do the work for this important stabilizing system
Fact is most women (and men too) have no idea that a huge part of their painful condition could simply be due to a neurologically disconnected core caused by a single incision on their abdomen.
At RAPID our Specialists are trained to offer post surgical support to bring the system back on line, address the scar and scar tissue, and give you safe and effective exercises to ensure this core stabilization system is operating at its full potential, whether it be from a recent or a 40-year-old surgery.