You already know stability in general is a must so you don’t keep falling over throughout your day. But core stability in particular is also a must when it comes to efficiently performing any type of functional movement, period.
As we noted in our previous post on barefoot training, stability refers to your body tension. This tension is the foundation for generating power, force and efficient movement. One goal of barefoot training is to speed up the time it takes your core to achieve stability so you can enjoy more power, force and efficient movement while lowering your risk of injury.
Core Stability in Barefoot Training
Barefoot training focuses on core stability, defining the core as the lumbopelvic hip complex, or LPH complex. The LPH complex includes:
- Your hip joints and pelvis
- Your spine and ribcage
Your LPH complex is supported by 29 pairs of muscles, creating a powerful lumbopelvic cylinder that must be stabilized for your body to perform at its optimum levels.
Stability vs. Instability
You can glimpse the importance of stability by comparing pushups done on a waterbed to those done on the bedroom floor. Do your pushups on the stable floor and you can use more force than you can on a waterbed. The stability of your body works in the same way.
If your hip joint is stable, like the bedroom floor, your gluteal muscles can move more forcefully and efficiently than they can when your hip joint is lacking stability, like the waterbed. Stabilizing your hip joint before you try to power up your gluteal muscles is a prime example of reflexive stability. This refers to the programming of a motor pattern in your brain, or building a reflex that gives you stability.
Achieving Hip Stability
Your hip joint is made up of your femoral head articulating with your pelvis in the hip socket. The socket contains a cartilaginous ring known as the labrum. It’s the labrum and the six deep area muscles, known as deep lateral rotators, which stabilize your hip joint from the back. The psoas major muscle stabilizes your hip joint from the front.
The hip stabilization process involves:
- Feet activating the lateral rotators
- Lateral rotators activating the pelvic floor muscles
- Diaphragm kicking in
Once the lateral rotators, pelvic floor and diaphragm are stabilized, your psoas major muscle has a stable foundation from which it can work to protect the front of your hip joint. This keeps your femoral head in place, preventing it from sliding to the front to damage your labrum. Your hip is then stabilized.
Thanks to all these muscles firing in coordination and creating a stable base, your gluteal muscles can now be activated. When the gluteal muscles fire properly, they pull the femoral head back and help keep it centered in the socket.
What Happens without Stability
The centering of the femoral head in your hip socket is known as joint centration, and this is where greatest stability occurs. If your femoral head is not centered and stable, it can move forward in the socket and stress the labrum. The majority of labral issues are at the front of the hip, but proper gluteal activation helps to keep the femoral head from moving forward and creating or exacerbating such issues.
It is necessary, however, to go through the entire sequence of muscle activation to build up hip stability so your psoas and glutes can work correctly. This counts double if you happen to already have a labral tear or other hip issue. You need to work a lot of muscles before your hip can achieve stability.
Barefoot training speeds up the stability process by focusing on your feet, which are what activate the deep rotator muscles and set the entire cascade of LPH stability in motion. Once your core is stable, you’ll notice your body can function with greater strength, efficiency and ease.
REFERENCES:
- Splichal E. Application of Barefoot Science in a Rehab Setting An Evidence-Based Approach. Presented as a seminar topic by Evidence Based Fitness Academy; April 6, 2014.