IS PLANKING GOOD FOR MY BACK PAIN?

I receive so many questions like this on a day-to-day basis, and my standard response is … well, it depends! I know it’s not overly useful to hear that, so let’s break it down into 6 reasons as to why it may be fabulous or detrimental to your healing.

The NO camp:

- Your injury is acute or undiagnosed

- People are notoriously bad at creating an ideal plank shape. Heads drop, shoulders collapse, bellies and pelvis’ sag low and legs don’t help out.

- Excessive load around the area of the body that is ALREADY not working optimally

- Doing too many reps / extended duration

- Only using plank as your remedy

- You’re looking for the “burn” as validation of success

The YES camp:

- You are aware of your injury status and how to manage your symptoms

- Fix your form and you’re on to a great start

- Establish correct muscle firing to support your spine before attempting full plank

- Start slow and then introduce co-ordination patterns or increased time holds

- Your body needs to move in all ranges and positions to gravity to ignite the healing process

- Being able to breathe, have longer holds, add more variety and still maintain amazing form

We have been conditioned to work out at a professional athletic level but the majority of us are barely even at a novice level of fitness. I believe in functional movement which basically means that we are using our bodies the way they were designed to move. Ever had the privilege of watching the growth stages of infants – how they learn to roll, have tummy time, adapt to a crawl position and progress to squatting?

Well when injury strikes, it’s critical to go to the beginning, to set up the foundation of movement so that you are putting yourself in the best environment to heal. Looking at the reasons why an injury has occurred (trauma or habitual) is part of the process and this may require re-patterning of some of your lifelong habits. Altering your mind about what healthy movement consists of is another hurdle for some to overcome.

So, while planking may seem like an effective way to get stronger around your central frame, know that there are many more questions we need to answer before we say a convincing YES or NO!

Did you know that Pilates is one of the best methods for helping to restore good function and mobility of low back pain? I’d definitely start here.

If your back is good and planking doesn’t stir up strain or stress for you, take a play with me in my 15 minute video - 30 second planking drills.