An injury is something that many athletes are forced to deal with at any level of play whether it is at junior level, high school level, college level, or professional level. Some injuries are more serious than others. But if you have to deal with pain every time you practice or if you have to miss practices and competitions, it is not fun. In many cases, an injury is caused by multiple factors; some you can control (intrinsic) the others you can't(extrinsic). As long as you want to play sports competitively and achieve your goals in the sport, you should be involved in some form of injury prevention program because it is the first step toward success.
Everyone talks about "core" these days and does some type of core exercises to become a better athlete. But why is it and how is it important?! "Core" is pelvis and lumbar spine (and sacrum). And muscles that are attached to them are called "core muscles". Some parts of the body are designed to move and the others are not. Pelvis, sacrum, and lumbar spine are those areas that should have minimal movements, which means that you should be able to control their movement and stabilize them, which requires muscles functions. There is a study done on baseball pitchers to see how the amount of pelvis motion affects their performance (ERA, WHIP, etc). And they found that the pitchers that had 7 degrees or more tilt of pelvis during the measurement pitched worse than those that had less than 7. Another study suggested that tennis players with low back pain had more movement of pelvis in a sagittal plane than those who did not have low back pain. Of course, core stability alone will not prevent injury or enhance performance, however, core stability is a huge factor in those two areas.
Any athletes that are involved in competitive sports should implement injury prevention program and core strength/stability/endurance/proprioceptive exercises should be included in it.
Everyone talks about "core" these days and does some type of core exercises to become a better athlete. But why is it and how is it important?! "Core" is pelvis and lumbar spine (and sacrum). And muscles that are attached to them are called "core muscles". Some parts of the body are designed to move and the others are not. Pelvis, sacrum, and lumbar spine are those areas that should have minimal movements, which means that you should be able to control their movement and stabilize them, which requires muscles functions. There is a study done on baseball pitchers to see how the amount of pelvis motion affects their performance (ERA, WHIP, etc). And they found that the pitchers that had 7 degrees or more tilt of pelvis during the measurement pitched worse than those that had less than 7. Another study suggested that tennis players with low back pain had more movement of pelvis in a sagittal plane than those who did not have low back pain. Of course, core stability alone will not prevent injury or enhance performance, however, core stability is a huge factor in those two areas.
Any athletes that are involved in competitive sports should implement injury prevention program and core strength/stability/endurance/proprioceptive exercises should be included in it.
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