CEC
ARTICLE
EVIDENCE-BASED
PRACTICE:
CORE STABILITY AND TRANSVERSUS ABDOMINIS
Clients may desire washboard abs, whereas trainers may focus on the role of core stability in injury
prevention and overall health. But how effective is specific core training?
WORDS: DR MARK MCKEAN PhD
bdominal and trunk aesthetics is
a common discussion topic
between personal trainers and
their clients. Social media perpetuates this,
showcasing an endless array of individuals
with lean hard trunks and ripped abdominal
sections performing a huge variety of the
most obscure exercises imaginable. Every
trainer you talk to about this will have a
personal favourite exercise that hits them in
just the ‘right’ spot. Trainers from different
fields of exercise will all have different cues
and language that describes the way you
should contract your core muscles to get the
best outcome.
Of course, it’s not just about how good
your six-pack looks. The key reason why
core stability training has become prominent
in training and research is the critical link of
the lumbar spine providing structural control
between the trunk and the hips and its role
in prevention of low back pain and lower
limb injury. However, core stability is now
more commonly referred to as motor control
stability. This allows us to use the concept
globally across all joints and regions rather
than just the trunk and lumbar spine. It
must also be remembered that the value of
motor control stability is in the way it acts to
prevent motion rather than initiate it.
In looking at trunk stability, it must
be remembered that the anatomy of the
structures around the trunk and ‘core’
are far more complex than just the abs.
Passive stiffness of the lumbar spine
is provided by the osseoligamentous
structures. The thoracolumbar fascia acts
like a proprioceptor giving feedback to
lifting activities, as well as being a large
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attachment structure for transversus
abdominis (TrA). The paraspinals are
essentially thoracic muscles that act on the
lumbar via a long tendon that attaches to the
pelvis (Akuthota et al. 2004). The quadratus
lumborum has no direct action on the
lumbar spine, but is thought to be a major
stabiliser of the spine (McGill 2001). The TrA
and obliques increase abdominal pressure
by reducing the circumference of the waist.
In isolation, the TrA will increase the lumbar
curve when contracted by pulling the lumbar