CHHATTISGARH SPORTS NEWS
WOMENS DAY SPECIAL ARTICLE BY DR. MARTINA JOHN- Core and pelvic floor strength is integral to athletic performance
The demands of every sports are different but the one thing that is integral to athletic performance is your core and pelvic floor strength.
pelvic floor muscles are part of your core and contribute to your overall core strength and stability. The core can be thought of as an anatomical box composed of numerous muscle groups. Including the abdominals in the front, the paraspinal and gluteal muscles in back, the diaphragm at the top, and the hip girdle and pelvic floor muscles at the bottom.
Your pelvic floor is located at the base of your pelvis and creates a hammock to support your abdominal cavity by connecting from your pubic bone to your tailbone, and to your sit bones.
Why is this important for athletic performance and sports?
How the pelvic floor muscles help with athletic performance:
Improves strength and lumbopelvic stability which allows for improved coordination and power through your upper and lower extremities
Higher core and spinal stability provides a more stable base, which allows the force generated by the upper or lower extremity muscles to be more efficiently transformed into work.
When the core is unstable, it will absorb the force generated; thus, less force will be transformed into work. Research has shown that baseball pitchers with better lumbopelvic control demonstrated better accuracy (walks + hits/inning) and endurance (innings pitch).
Other research has proven that improved core strength can improve swing stability and velocity of golf club, racket, or bat movement.
Improves response time and ability to change direction
Increased core stability leads to improved postural control which decreases the time it takes to change positions, change directions, and respond to opponent’s actions.
Helps manage intra-abdominal pressure changes
During impact activities the pelvic floor muscles and abdominal muscles contract to stabilize the torso during movements such as jumping. The pelvic floor helps manage the impact and pressure changes.