The Science

You didn’t come this far to stop

How Core Charger Works:

Proprioception

Your body uses proprioception to activate specific muscles to keep you in the best alignment and configuration to stay safe. Core Charger takes advantage of these proprioception receptors to trigger both Abdominal Bracing and Posture Correction.

Proprioception receptors are specialized sensory receptors in muscles, joints, and tendons that provide the brain with information about body position and movement. Key proprioceptors include muscle spindles, which sense muscle length, and Golgi tendon organs, which detect muscle tension. These receptors send signals to the central nervous system to help with balance, posture, and coordinated movement.

1. Abdominal Bracing

Abdominal bracing provides the individual with abdominal core stability which allows them to better utilize distal strength. This means that a very stable set of contracted core and abdominal muscles allows the individual to use the strength in their shoulders and arms to their greatest potential. Abdominal bracing stabilizes the spine as the muscles surrounding the spine are contracted. Currently known abdominal bracing methods require the individual to correctly position their pelvis and back (i.e. good posture) before beginning abdominal bracing. Current abdominal bracing methods only ensure that the spine is stabilized and supported in whatever posture it was in when the bracing began.

Abdominal bracing does not look exactly the same on every individual depending on the method used to achieve bracing, but abdominal bracing is well known to experts in the fields of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, chiropractic, sports medicine/training and core stability/posture research. In addition, abdominal bracing and methods to perform the manoeuvre are known to some athletes, most of them at the very highest of skill levels. One of the goals of abdominal bracing used by physiotherapists, chiropractors and researchers is to have the individual able to hold an 8%-10% contraction of all abdominal bracing muscles all the time so that the spine is supported and protected at all times. An additional goal is to have the individual vary their abdominal bracing muscle contraction levels to match their changing levels of physical activity and exertion.

Abdominal bracing is difficult to describe and teach. The abdomen can be thought of as a cylindrical canister with the body of the canister being the muscles enclosing the abdomen, the top is the diaphragm muscle, the bottom is the pelvic floor muscles. All these muscles in contraction will form a strong canister unit. Contracting all these muscles with equal effort and all at the same time is abdominal bracing. Maintaining abdominal bracing muscle contraction as a constant and also varying the level of bracing muscle contraction requires high levels of skill and mental effort.

Typical instructions for abdominal bracing do not make sense to the average person:

• Stand-up straight with shoulders down and back.

• Squeeze your glutes to set your pelvis

• Brace your abs like someone is about to punch you in the stomach

• Diaphragmatically breath into this braced position

One method published in Current Sports Medicine Reports instructs the individual to contract the abdominal muscles like the “rings of a tree”, then check that the muscles are contracted by testing for resistance by pressing on the abdominal muscles with the fingers. In this method the individual is instructed to begin in a “neutral position” which is intended to instruct the individual to have good posture before beginning abdominal bracing.

• Place the spine in a neutral position

• Produce a submaximal isometric contraction of the abdominal muscles (imagine the muscles squeezing in, like the “rings of a tree”)

• Press fingers into the abdominal muscles, muscles should resist depression by the fingers

[ , Vincent, Heather K. PhD, FACSM; Vincent, Kevin R. MD, PhD, FACSM, FAAPMR, Current Sports Medicine Reports17(4):111, April 2018]

2. Posture Correction

Posture correction techniques are known to the same group of people as abdominal bracing, but not limited to experts and those who are highly skilled. Correct posture explanations and methods are ubiquitous.

Typical posture correction instructions for the pelvis, lower back, upper back, shoulders and neck are, nevertheless, difficult to describe to an individual and consist of many steps that the individual needs to follow in order to achieve corrected posture. Some of the instructions typically heard are:

• to help correct your standing posture

  • keep your shoulders back and relaxed

  • pull in your abdomen

  • keep your feet about hip distance apart

  • balance your weight evenly on both feet

  • try not to tilt your head forward, backwards or sideways

  • keep your legs straight, but knees relaxed

• to correct a hunched back:

  • gently lengthening your neck upwards as you tuck in your chin

  • seated rows in a gym or pull-ups

  • chest stretches

• to correct a poking chin:

  • gently lengthen your neck upwards as you tuck in your chin

  • use your finger to push your chin back toward your spine

  • bring your shoulder blades down and back towards your spine

  • pull in your lower tummy muscles to maintain a natural curve in your lower back

  • adjust your seating

3. Abdominal Bracing and Posture Correction Intersection

There is neither a simple explanation nor simple method for abdominal bracing, but abdominal bracing is well known to experts. There is no simple method for correcting total posture, only separate instructions for correcting parts of good posture such as hips/pelvis, lower back, upper back, shoulders and neck. The intersection of abdominal bracing and posture correction is devoid of any cause and effect connections between the two fields.