Abdominal Bracing:

It is one of the Keys to All Training and Back Care

Bracing should be done throughout the day to tune and build a stronger base of support to your core. It can be as simple as tightening your abdomen for a 5 seconds and then repeating several times. It should be employed when lifting or doing certain activities of daily living and sports.

Simply put, abdominal bracing, happens when you contract the muscles around your spine to create a rigid midsection. When you brace there should be no movement to your spine. Your spine becomes locked and protected. Bracing protects your spine from moving in a position that can cause pain or injury. It also allows delivery of force and power from your legs to your upper body and vice versa. This is especially important when doing a sport, lifting, or manual labor. A consistent training point I make is to keep your back in neutral and to brace your abdomen when doing most exercises especially when lifting.

A brace technique keeps your back in neutral. A lower back that is not in neutral (natural lower back curve) is more susceptible to injury.

Stuart McGill, a leading authority on back care, suggests it creates a rigid shield around the spine that protects the spine and can offer pain relief in certain instances for those with some types of back disorders. He suggests that you should tune the brace for the task at hand. There can be varied degrees of tightening. Perform sub-maximal bracing when lifting something light. Perform maximal bracing when you are lifting something heavy or doing explosive movements. When squatting out of the chair the brace can be low, sustained at 5%, and when doing a maximal sport it can be pulse up 70 to 100%.

There is also some suggestion that bracing protects the back when running, when punching and kicking in martial arts, and may be helpful during contact sports such as soccer, rugby, or football. What I like about it is that you can employ it when doing almost any exercise or daily activity that requires you to protect your spine. I often suggest that people do it routinely throughout the day when standing or especially when seated for long periods of time like a long car ride. This develops brace control and offers a degree of protection and relief when seated for prolonged periods of time.

Another key point about bracing is if you ever are bent over you should brace. An example is when bending over a sink when brushing your teeth. When racking or shoveling it is a must to brace as well and not to twist. Rather move from the legs, keep the core rigid, which delivers the leg force to the arms.

In conclusion bracing feels like the top of the motion of a standard floor crunch or how the abdomen muscles feel when you cough. Another way to imagine bracing is to tighten your midsection as if you were just about to be punched in the stomach. As with any exercise or movement if you have pain STOP and please consult with us (see good video).

Another technique to condition your core is do abdominal hollowing. This is where you suck your navel into your spine. It conditions some of the deep abdominal muscles and it actually feels good. There was and still some debate of which is better bracing or hollowing. Bracing has come out to be the most beneficial spine sparing technique. I believe you can perform both in core training, but when lifting or at times when playing a sport it is a must to brace.