Preventing Back Pain in Planks

I know we've been doing lots of planks with our annual assessments from last month, and we should all continue to incorporate them as they held to provide a foundation of core strength protecting you from injury and generating power in rotational sports - including firefighting.

So here's a video from an injury specialist outlining some basic things to avoid. Below the video is a text/picture version with some additional info.

Planks are common exercise that people end up using to target their core. It is a real common body weight exercises that people do in the gym or in the bootcamps but often times it is done wrong. And with it being done wrong, it ends up putting unnecessary stress on the back  and can lead to a back injury or back pain.

3 Plank Exercises Mistakes that Can Lead to Back Pain

CLICK HERE to watch the video on YouTube

I want to highlight the 3 mistakes that people make when it comes to a plank that leads to back pain.

Mistake #1 - Teepee Plank

The first mistake is performing the Teepee Plank.

What happens here is the hips are up in the air and you get over activation and contraction of your hip flexors which changes the position of your low back and puts greater stress on your low back. Plus it puts extra stress on your shoulders.

Mistake #2 - Dropping the Hips

The next one is people end up dropping the hips and arching through that back and that arching through the back puts unnecessary stress on the back, specifically the facet joints, which can lead to irritation and potential injury and pain.

Mistake #3 - Muscle Imbalances

And then thirdly, I will get Orsy to get into a good plank position. What happens is in the third one is people won't activate the right muscles. This is a common muscle imbalance.

They won't bring in their gluteus maximus and they won't bring in their lats in order to bring in that last layer of muscles when it comes to the plank.

They will get their abdominals in there, they will get their obliques in there but then what you need to do is bring in those lats, bring in those glutes as the last set of muscles that activate around that core and lower back which will help protect it.

If the plank ends up bothering your lower back, look to see if you are making one of those three mistakes doing a Teepee plank or if you are dropping the hips or if you are not activating the right muscles, making sure to bring in your gluts and bring in your lats.

If you are looking for a program to help you out with your back pain and get you back to pain-free workouts, then check out Fix My Back Pain:

Rick Kaselj, MS