Core Strength Versus Core Stability
Which is more important: Core Strength? or Core Stability? And what’s the difference, anyway?
First, let’s talk about what makes the “core”. The so-called core consists of the muscles in the trunk that surround your spine and abdomen. They work together to both mobilize and stabilize the spine. (1) Your core muscles provide protection from potentially harmful forces during functional movement. The core is not just the abs that make up the 6 pack we aim for. It also involves your lower back muscles, your glutes, your pelvic floor muscles, your latissimus dorsi, and even your diaphragm, along with some others. (2)
Core strength exercises are what we typically think of when we target training our “core”- sit ups, crunches, oblique twists, V-ups, ect. Core strength involves an isotonic muscle contraction where force is generated by changing the muscle length through concentric (muscle shortens) and eccentric contractions (muscle lengthens). So this is what takes place when we do a classic sit-up. Your abdominals and hip flexors (and some other muscles) work together to move your trunk into different positions, such as bringing your trunk up towards your thighs (sit-up) or rotating your trunk to the side (russian twists). We can refer to core strength exercises as trunk
Core stability is actually the opposite of movement. You can think of it as anti-movement of the trunk. This involves using your core muscles to resist movement of the trunk, providing stability to the spine. Take a plank for example. Your goal on a plank should be to avoid letting gravity take your belly down toward the ground. You are using your muscles to keep your spine neutral, flat like a plank of wood. Another example of core stability at play is a football player blocking opposing player. The player utilizes core stability to prevent excessive movement at the trunk that might cause injury.
So what’s more important, core strength or core stability?
Both aspects of training the core are important for different reasons. Training the core has been strongly associated with prevention and treatment of low back pain (3) and other musculoskeletal conditions.
Think of it like this: you need core strength to assist in lifting objects, pushing objects, pulling objects- big movements. Core strength is also needed in athletic movements like jumping, sprinting, changing directions.
You need core stability to prevent adverse movement to the trunk (spine, ribs, pelvic girdle) when you are doing those big movements. Core Stability allows you to balance, stay upright, and keep stable positioning. Being able to use your muscles properly to keep your spine in a stable, supported position can help prevent increased stress and shear forces upon the supporting tissues of the lumbar spine.
The answer is we need both core strength and core stability. In my experience, people focus largely on core strength exercises (like the ones listed at the beginning) and often neglect core stability exercises.
But we must also consider that it is not just our muscles working to stabilize our spine. Neuromuscular control is needed to provide our nervous system with the proper sensory input from the interactions of our bodies and the environment so there is constant feedback allowing refinement of movement. (2) Lack of neuromuscular control can contribute to decreased coordination of the core muscles. This can lead to compensation and decreased efficiency in our stabilization during movement. Ultimately, this can lead to painful conditions, such as overuse strains and insult to our osseous and soft tissues in our low back.
A comprehensive training program including core strength, core stability, with focus on proper neuromuscular control, can help prevent/reduce low low back pain and improve function. Proper core training may also be associated with other injury prevention and athletic performance improvement.
Check out the videos on this page to give you examples of targeting core stability.
Chang WD, Lin HY, Lai PT. Core strength training for patients with chronic low back pain. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(3):619-622. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.619
Akuthota, Venu; Ferreiro, Andrea; Moore, Tamara; Fredericson, Michael. Core Stability Exercise Principles, Current Sports Medicine Reports: January 2008 - Volume 7 - Issue 1 - p 39-44 doi: 10.1097/01.CSMR.0000308663.13278.69
Frizziero A, Pellizzon G, Vittadini F, Bigliardi D, Costantino C. Efficacy of Core Stability in Non-Specific Chronic Low Back Pain. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 2021; 6(2):37. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk6020037