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About Core Exercises

Cultivating a strong core is your key to a happier, injury-free life, regardless of age. At CORE Therapy & Pilates, we're dedicated to your well-being through holistic methods. Strengthening your core not only reduces back pain but also enhances posture and activity levels. It's the foundation for a robust and vital life.

Core Strength

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Now, with hyperextension, most dancers, most folks… I bet the vast majority of people who we see have hyperextended knees. What I want you to do is I want you to bend a little bit, and that’s going to be … We’re going to call it the first spot.

And I want you to go to mid-range, what you think is mid-range, and then I want you to hyperextend. Then I want you to come back to first spot, bend, and then go to your mid-range and then go to hyperextend. Now, we’re going to switch it up, come to bend. Now, this time, go all the way to hyperextend, all the way. And now, come to bend or the middle. I’m sorry, the middle.

So the middle is that kind of mid-range, right. Now, come to the bend and now go all the way to hyperextension, and now come to the mid-range. All right. Now, this time, we’re skipping hyperextension. Come to me, bend and then go to neutral. Don’t hyperextend. I can’t see, so I don’t know what you’re doing.

You can’t see.

I can’t see very well-

Oh, the side.

At that angle from here. So you’ll all have to give some advice on it if she’s hyperextended. And then bend for me, and then hyper … I’m sorry. Neutral.

By pushing down find length. Not just like finding a spot. Find neutral, by going up and down to find your space.

So really focus on that heel and the more you’re focused there, the better as well. And now, go ahead and bend to the bend position, and then go to neutral but not, hyperextended. And then we just do this back and forth. And so now, we’ve taught her where hyperextended is and what to avoid.

Am I straight?

You need to go straight up to find straight.

But it’s interesting too because you’re hyperextending the other leg. And so-

Because you’re not paying attention. You can see the difference.

And so it’s like I can see the difference.

And that’s why we do the one leg at a time. Now, do both legs without me using the resistance, and then bend both, and then hyperextend both.

Oh, wow!

Oh, wow!

And then come back to neutral.

You can even see this on the back.

And then go into hyperextension, and then go back to neutral.

Wow. The right one is so much more hyperextended even when you’re trying to hyperextend the left.

So now stop in mid-range.

But mid-range is straight up.

Mid-range is not-

It is straight up. It’s not a bent knee.

Mid-range is not bent. The first part, I’m talking about step one is not neutral. Step two is neutral and step three is hyperextended. So we’re trying to keep you in one to two. That’s it.

I can feel it adjust in my pelvis too.

Now, let’s go ahead and balance her out a little bit on this side. And so I’m going to call them one, two and three, the points. So bend the knee, and that’s going to be one.

But now, she’s in a different stance.

Stand up a little straighter here. And then go into two. It’s going to be mid-range. And then three is hyperextended. And then come to one, and then go to two, and go to three. All right. This time, we’re skipping two and we’re going to go from one to three.

So bend into hyperextension?

All the way to hyperextended. Yeah, that’s right. Then come back to one, bend, and back to three. All right. Now, go one and now you’re stopping at two and you’re no longer going to three. Three is no longer allowed, and then go to one, and go to two. And that’s your new neutral. Then go to one and push into your heel as you go into two.

All right, and then do two more of those. And it’s going to be done at home with the knot tied into the door. All right. Now, turn and face that way and we’re going to do the same thing. You’re going to turn and face that way. All right. Now, in this position, we’re going to go to one, and now, there’s a little effort to get to one.

Now, go to two and stop at two and then come all the way back to three. And then go to one, and then stop at two for a second as you come back, and then go to three. All right, and then go to one and now go all the way to three, and one to three. Now, three is no longer allowed. We’re going to one to two. Stop. One to two.

So now, the resistance is totally different just because she’s back-loaded versus front-loaded. Just do that a few times.

It helps having it split.

Totally. It’s the proprioception awareness. And then we could do it facing that way and facing that way as well. I did not do that with Mia the other day, just ran out of time. But I could then load her laterally and medially, and that’s going to challenge things totally different. But the awareness that she’s gaining here … I can’t give her awareness, but this is giving her way more awareness than anything I can ever tell her.

This is one of the hardest things for me with clients, is trying to explain this.

Really, really…

Because I used to walk around in hyperextension, and I totally retrained myself.

I heard you saying that, Celeste.

Do it just like that.

I can’t even do it anymore, I don’t think.

Oh, that’s good.

I know.

All right, so go to one and come back to three. We’re going to go right into the big boy. One to three.

It still doesn’t feel like it’s locking as much as it was when we began.

That’s the hopes. And now, go one and then stop at two.

And go to one.

And stop at two. One is bent leg and two is neutral. But neutral, to most people who are hyperextended is going to be completely off. Their perception of neutral is going to be very off, and relaxed. And then we take that same idea into footwork…

Call 512-215-4227 if you or your young athlete-dancer has hyperextended knees. We can help!

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Stephen: All right, hey guys, what’s up? It’s Mindful Movement Monday and today we have Mauro teaching some tips on how to drive the bus. He’s driving the bus today and this is the bus. So y’all enjoy.

Mauro: Hey guys. How you doing? So, today we are going to be giving some advice of how to sit in the car in order to find a little bit of the ‘narrowing’ idea. The idea is because I find out how I’m sitting myself. Usually if I’m driving long distance, usually it’s a kind of, like, collapsing, and then you feel awful after the long drive. So, what we’re going to do today is to, get one of these … Discs?

Discs. Yes.

Discs okay.

Cheryl: I think you can buy ’em on our website. https://amzn.to/2DAUkGp

One it has these little pokes and the other one is flat. I’ll be using the flat side. Okay. And so you put that on your seat of the car. Because it’s wobbling, what’s going to happen is you don’t have any option more than ‘narrowing’, otherwise you are not gonna be driving all the way like that. So, you’re going to be using usually a little bit of pressing with the heels and that’s going help you to find the back of your seat. We have Julie here to assisting me.

That’s going to give you the, reaching through the heels is going to give you a little bit of support of the abdominals, lower abdominals, to find the back of your seat, and find the sit bones, kind of like ‘narrowing’ and elevating.

It seems like you’re going to be working really hard, but it’s not really. I did it, like, several times on my drive from St. Louis to Memphis, and it’s absolutely fine.

Julie: So, why don’t you do a side view?

Okay, I’ll do a side view. I’m a little bit short, my legs are short for doing it, but I’ll try my best. So, usually you’ll have your legs a bit farther out and what’s going to happen, you’re going to press a little bit. It seems like it’s a lot of work. But it’s not really. I did, already. Okay. And you are actually stabilizing your hips with the ‘narrowing’, okay. Usually I’m going to put the hands in here, I’m going to have it more in the buttock. And it’s kind of like giving you the sensation of opening of the shoulders, as well. Okay?

If you don’t have the disc, then there is another option, it’s a little bit harder. And, this one is not possible to do six hours drive. So, you’ll have to interrupt. But, basically, what you do is to put this on your sit bones and it’s having the same effect. So, you’re gonna have to be a little bit more patient of finding the spot and then from there, doing the ‘narrowing’ and elevation. This one, usually after maybe 40 minutes, you will have to remove and then sit for a little bit. Nothing, and then back to the tennis balls.

So, that’s the advice for today. I hope it’s gonna help you for the next road trip. Thank you very much.

If you would like to apply for a FREE GYROTONIC® Taster Session with Mauro click the button below

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Hey guys, what’s up? It’s Stephen Dunn from CORE Therapy and Pilates in Austin, Texas and today I wanted to just go over a quick question that I get in the clinic frequently. When we get into movement and exercise with our clients and we start to work on their postural muscles, their core muscles and what not, one of the common things that we find is that people’s ribs will flare out and they’ll pop out like this…

We noticed that when they are standing and we go through the postural assessment, I bring it up and we talk about it with clients. When people lay on the table it’s very noticeable and easy to see. What we really see is when people start exercising and moving is that they (the ribs) really pop up and folks have a real hard time of connecting to the ribs and bringing the ribs down.

So I want to go over just a little bit of a explanation of that, “Why are the ribs popping?” So what I’m gonna do is bring my man Fred here into the mix, my skeleton. So what happens is there’s the muscle that’s underneath the ribs, it’s called the diaphragm. It goes into a position like this, where it’s kind of shaped like a tent and it’s going like this, or a dome right across there… Now what happens… is when the diaphragm gets imbalanced it gets tight, people start breathing improperly and they start using the accessory muscles up here and actually not the diaphragm for proper breathing. As that starts happening, it starts lifting everything up here and bringing those ribs up…

What we also see through this process is the low back, the lumbar spine sways a lot. As the lumbar spine, right through here, sways that’s a part of those ribs popping out as well. Then what’s going to be a contributor with that happening is the psoas is going to be tight, the hip flexors. That’s going to be the muscle sitting right here represented by this green band. Can y’all see that? Yeah and so that green band is the psoas and when it gets tight and pulls you forward you end up in this scenario… where the lordosis or the lumbar curve is excessive or arched so with that we end up with a swayback, we end up with the ribs popping…

That’s a common posture that we see our clients present with. So with that said, we have a program that’s designed to release the hip flexor, to release the diaphragm and then actually strengthen the core around it to actually create an awareness from your brain to those muscles to be able to use them properly. So the back is not so swayed and the ribs aren’t popping.

So that’s the answer to why are my ribs popping? It’s an imbalance of the hip flexors and the diaphragm and it leads to or it causes many breathing problems. It causes this to happen which is what we see all the time, so I hope that helps… I hope that makes sense, y’all take care, have a fantastic day and a fantastic week and we’ll see y’all on the flip-side… take care…

Are you interested in learning more about our program to help you eliminate your swayback and popping ribs?

Click Here to apply for a telephone consult with one of our expert Physical Therapists…

or Apply Here for a Free Discovery Session, an in house discussion with a Physical Therapist about your goals and injuries followed by an assessment of your posture, flexibility and strength…

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Hey… it’s Allyson at CORE and I am doing another video on how to take care of yourself…

This one is about when you’re in the kitchen at the sink and it’s also about your shirts because if you look… about countertop height we tend to lean up against that countertop and we get holes in our shirts… right here. So when you feel yourself lean against that countertop remember we’re gonna do three things to make yourself feel better today… okay

First, you want to lengthen your spine! So you’re gonna go up in your head like your ears are going up to the ceiling and that lengthens your neck. It’ll loosen your upper back. Then the opposite of that chain is your legs. You want your legs going down into the floor like your feet are growing roots into the floor.

So you’re standing at the sink… your legs are gonna go down and your head is gonna come up, your spine will get nice and long… Those are the first two things.

Now the last one, those shoulder blades. When you’re working in the sink you have a tendency to lean over that sink… bring those shoulder blades back into your spine and down that back so your shoulders are relaxed and down…

Okay, so as you’re working where you’re normally here (leaning forward) lengthen and bring those shoulder blades back and down and work here (standing tall)… your shirt’s are gonna last a lot longer and you’re gonna get a stronger more toned core…

You guys have a great day!

Call 512-215-4227 to learn more about how to stand tall…

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Hey guys, good morning. It’s Stephen Dunn from CORE Therapy and Pilates, I’m out on my back porch, it’s a little humid, starting to rain a little bit…

I just got back from a quick walk with the dogs and it started raining on us and Dudley got all excited and spunky and going crazy… so… I wanted to come back today and do a quick little live video because the other day I was teaching a little 10-minute class, our #MindfulMovementMonday class and I mentioned the slinky effect of the spine.

When I mentioned the slinky affect and the spine, I said oh man I got to go home and look for a slinky and I realized that we didn’t have a slinky at home. So I said, I need to get my boys to go get a slinky and I’m thinking this in my head while I’m teaching this class when I used the reference of a slinky. This was Monday and the boys were off school and when I got home that night around 5:30 my son came up to me and said hey dad look what I bought today at the mall, a slinky… So it was just kind of crazy that the day I had mentioned it, the day I thought man I need to get a slinky… my kid, the universe spoke and he went and got a slinky.

So then yesterday I was in the clinic and someone that had watched the video had asked me, could you explain what you mentioned about the slinky, they weren’t quite sure what I was referencing. So I’m going to go over that today with the slinky…

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, I was born in the 70s, grew up in the 80s and we had slinky’s all the time and it was really a fun thing. My kids have had a few of them but they’ve been the plastic crappy ones… So now he actually bought a good nice metal one and I’m very excited about it… but anyway…

What does this slinky have to do with a spine and what does all this mean? Basically we tend to live our life compressed… compressed in our spine and forward and as that happens we end up with a whole bunch of mechanical problems. We end up with a lot of shortness in the neck, shortness in the chest, shortness in the psoas, the hip flexors, shortness in the quads and then all of a sudden you try to stand up straight and you can’t stand up straight. There’s no space, there’s no space in between your vertebrae, there’s no space in your muscles to actually stand erect…

What we try to teach people at CORE and what we try to really emphasize is how can we take your spine from that compressed position, which is this and we create a little bit of some length, like a slinky… Okay… because this is really what we need to accomplish…

So when we talk about the core engaging and the shoulder blades going back and down and the head coming back, the reality is it’s creating this slinky effect or a decompression of your spine… So that’s really it in a nutshell…

We want to create the decompression of the spine, we want to create length in the spine and if we’re like this (slouched posture)… that’s not very good but if we’re like this (slinky)… we’re gonna be doing much… not shaking that much… but like this, we’re gonna be in a much better place.

That’s my story of the slinky and the spine, I hope that makes sense. We want a long, elongated spine… we don’t want that short compressed spine…

So do your release work, release your chest, release your hip flexors with the ball and then do your strengthening work, core engagement, shoulder blade engagement, chin tuck. We’re creating length in the spine…

Hey thanks for joining us guys, I appreciate it. I can’t tell who it is but I see a few likes coming up so thanks guys… That’s it, I’ll see y’all soon… Peace, have a great day… Bye now.

Have you noticed your posture in not a good way?

Are you starting to notice that old lady hump on the back of your neck? You know what I mean if you know what I mean…

Is your slouched posture contributing to your spinal pain? Lack of energy? Salty mood? Well guess what? Poor posture can do all of that and so much more… Call 512.215.4227 to learn more about how we can teach you to have a spine like a slinky…

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Hey guys, what’s up? It’s Stephen… Happy Friday folks… I hope everyone’s having a great week.

Today I just wanted to discuss a question that I get commonly in the studio and it’s a question that I get from clients whether they are back pain clients, neck pain clients, knee pain clients or whatever they’re here for.

The question is “Why am I so tight in my chest?” and “what does that have to do with my plan of care in physical therapy?” The way I answer the question… the reason people are so tight in their chest today has to do with our modern culture and most of it has to do with the fact that we sit a lot. Our shoulders are elevated and rounded forward. As they elevate and round forward two things are happening: there’s a tension and tightness in the muscle here (on top of the shoulder blade) called the upper trap and the levator scapulae and there’s a tension in the front right here, in the muscle called the pectoral minor. The big chest is a pectoral major and the pectoral minor is right underneath it, now what happens with the pectoral minor… this is showing a left shoulder blade and a left humerus and a left collarbone… and what happens is the pectoral minor, the muscle that comes up and attaches right to this part of the shoulder blade and when it attaches there it pulls that shoulder forward based on that tension…

So again, no matter what my patients are coming in here for, nine out of ten of them have poor posture in their shoulder blades… up and forward… so I teach the vast majority of my clients how to release their pectoral minor by getting a ball, the gold ball that we have and we put that ball right into that spot and by leaning into the corner (or doorframe) and releasing that pectoral minor we start to get the shoulders to come back…

Now what I see very commonly is that whenever I ask my patients to bring their shoulders back and down, they don’t bring their shoulders back and down, they arch their back in an attempt to bring the shoulders back and down… So it’s very important that we have an understanding of where our low back and pelvis is and then understand the tightness and tension in the pectoral minors and how it’s important to relax those to get your shoulders back and down… So driving, texting, eating, all the stuff we do so commonly is what promotes that forwardness.

That’s my answer to the question why are we all so tight in the chest. If we don’t address that tightness, it really becomes a problem because for every inch the head and shoulder goes forward, it’s extra pressure in the neck and it’s also extra pressure in the low back…

So that’s what I got for you today… Release your pectoral minor, lay on your foam roller on your back long ways to open your chest and practice your breathing there. Those are some things that can help relieve a little bit of this tightness and tension in the chest.

Alright… that’s it for today, I hope all as well, comment below (on youtube) with any questions and we’ll see y’all soon…

See you Monday on FB live for our #MindfulMovementMonday class… it’ll be at 1:50p, central time,… join us and you can learn some new stuff to practice at home…

Are your shoulder blades up in your ears. Do you find yourself breathing shallow or even holding your breath? Do you already know about the tension above your shoulder blades, but not in the chest? Well, do not hesitate any longer… We Can Help. We help people with bad posture improve their pain, awareness, strength and flexibility to allow them to get back to doing the things they love to do…

Call 512-215-4227 to learn more about our many different options for getting to know us. We can send you a free ebook on neck and shoulder pain (or back pain or migraine headaches), a pain journal for you to keep a daily log or set up a phone consult or in person Discovery Session with one of our expert Physical Therapist…

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