Jason had done everything his trainer told him.

He’d added planks. Bird-dogs. Dead bugs. Pallof presses.
He held side planks until his ribs quivered and his socks were soaked.

And yet, his back still hurt.

Every time he squatted, he felt a catch in his lumbar spine. After long meetings, his low back burned. He told himself his “core just wasn’t strong enough yet.”

But here’s the irony: Jason had a strong core.
What he didn’t have was a coordinated, intelligent, responsive spine.

Because despite the hype…

Core strength isn’t the cure for chronic back pain. Functional control is.

Where the “Core = Cure” Myth Comes From

The belief that back pain is caused by a “weak core” comes from older studies showing that patients with low back pain had delayed activation of certain trunk muscles—especially the transversus abdominis and multifidus¹.

So naturally, rehab and fitness communities jumped on the solution: strengthen the core.

But here’s what later research discovered:

• Core muscles are often overactive, not underactive, in people with back pain²

• There’s no consistent link between core strength and pain relief³

• People with the strongest abs can still have disabling pain

• What actually changes with successful treatment is motor control, not just force output⁴

In other words, your ability to brace isn’t the issue.
It’s your body’s ability to adapt, stabilize, and coordinate under load.

The Anatomy of True Spinal Stability

Your spine is inherently unstable—it’s designed to move. But it’s also protected by a complex, dynamic control system:

• Deep local stabilizers (like the multifidus and transverse abdominis) fine-tune segmental control

• Global stabilizers (like obliques, erector spinae, and QL) manage large, multi-joint movements

• Proprioceptive feedback loops between joint capsules, fascia, and the brain constantly adjust tension and alignment in real-time⁵

When functioning well, this system reacts subconsciously—like adjusting your posture on a boat.

But with back pain, this system falls apart.

Here’s what we commonly see:

• Delayed activation of key stabilizers

• Compensatory bracing from superficial muscles

• Impaired proprioception—meaning your brain no longer “knows” where your spine is in space⁶

• A phenomenon called “smudging” in the brain’s motor cortex, where representations of spinal movement become blurry or distorted⁷

This leads to stiffness, rigidity, protective guarding, and eventually—yes—more pain.

Not from weakness. From confusion.

Why Core Exercises Often Make Pain Worse

Let’s go back to Jason.

When he braced hard during a squat, he was doing what he thought was right: locking down his spine to protect it.

But what he was really doing was feeding his brain the message: “Movement is dangerous. I must stiffen up.”

His nervous system stayed in high-alert mode. His breathing got shallow. The deep stabilizers shut down. And the joints of his lumbar spine lost their natural adaptability.

He wasn’t lacking strength.
He was lacking coordination.

Core exercises that teach bracing, holding, or rigidity can reinforce fear-based movement patterns. Especially if they aren’t paired with:

• Spinal mobility

• Sensory feedback

• Graded exposure to load and motion

• Breath control and diaphragmatic re-training

In short: you can’t isolate your way to spinal health.

What the Research Says About What Actually Works

So if core strength isn’t the answer, what is?

A systematic review of motor control-based therapies found that interventions focusing on proprioception, coordination, and segmental mobility were more effective than traditional strengthening exercises for chronic low back pain⁸.

Another study found that restoring lumbopelvic motor control improved both pain and disability—even when strength levels didn’t change significantly⁹.

And perhaps most importantly, manual therapy that improves spinal movement—combined with retraining—shows consistent benefit in rewiring these control systems¹⁰.

That’s exactly what we focus on in our chiropractic clinic in Ashland, OR.

How We Help Patients Relearn Spinal Control

In Jason’s case, we didn’t add more planks.

We started with spinal adjustments to improve joint motion and proprioceptive input. Then we layered in movement strategies that emphasized timing and control, not tension.

Here’s what that looked like:

• Low-load proprioceptive work: quadruped rocking, pelvic tilts, “feather-light” breath-led movements

• Breath retraining: restoring diaphragm engagement to reduce over-reliance on superficial core muscles

• Unpredictable loading: using resistance bands, stability balls, or light perturbation to challenge real-world control

• Functional re-integration: teaching him to move with fluidity—not rigidity—under load (squats, carries, lunges)

After four weeks, Jason’s pain was down 70%.
By eight weeks, he was squatting again—without bracing, without fear.

And for the first time in years, he stopped thinking about his back every time he moved.

What to Do If Your “Core Training” Isn’t Working

If you’ve been told to “strengthen your core” and it hasn’t helped—or worse, made you feel stiffer, sorer, or more anxious about movement—you’re not alone.

There’s a better way.

You don’t need a six-pack.
You need a spine that’s awake, adaptive, and trustworthy.

That’s what we do every day in our Ashland chiropractic office—helping people stop guarding, start moving, and get back to doing what they love with a spine that feels safe again.

References

1. Hodges PW, Richardson CA. Delayed postural contraction of transversus abdominis in low back pain associated with movement of the lower limb. Spine. 1998;23(24):2671–2676.

2. van Dieën JH, Cholewicki J, Radebold A. Trunk muscle recruitment patterns in patients with low back pain enhance stability. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2003;13(4):379–386.

3. Lederman E. The myth of core stability. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2010;14(1):84–98.

4. Macedo LG, et al. Motor control exercise for persistent, nonspecific low back pain: a systematic review. Phys Ther. 2009;89(1):9–25.

5. Brumagne S, Cordo P, Lysens R, Verschueren S, Swinnen S. Role of paraspinal muscle spindles in lumbosacral position sense. Spine. 2000;25(8):989–994.

 

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