Biofeedback goes beyond therapeutic diagnosis and monitoring. It is also an effective tool for demonstrating muscle activation during strengthening exercises, like those used to develop core strength and stability.
Core strength and stability are critical to everyday function, comfort, and safety, as well as athletic performance. So, how to use biofeedback for core training? Utilizing biofeedback for strength and conditioning exercises encourages engagement, pushing muscles to their maximum controlled output for great results. It also helps to identify imbalances, improve accuracy and compliance, and build stamina and control. A strong and stable core is the basis of all functional movement. Targeting the abdominals, back, and hips balances strength over the entire core. Ensuring adequate core strength in these muscles can alleviate back and joint pain, improve balance, and reinforce safe movement patterns. If you stand, walk, lift, or twist in your daily life, then improving core stability could improve your comfort and overall physical capability! From basic posture to high performance athletics, getting your core up to snuff lays the foundation for success.
Tying in audiovisual feedback to core stability exercises improves performance during exercise, and demonstrates progress towards goals. With evidence-based tech, you can add biofeedback to your core strength programs in order to get the outcomes you’re striving for!
The purpose of the mTrigger Core Series (Copyright mTrigger, LLC, 2021) is to provide basic education on the use of the mTrigger Biofeedback System in conjunction with common core stabilization exercises. The full series covers set up and electrode placement for the various core musculature motor points in order to achieve the most accurate feedback. The series demonstrates a variety of core stabilization exercises in 3 levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced/functional. Check out some examples of exercises below!
BEGINNER EXERCISES:
INTERMEDIATE EXERCISES:
ADVANCED EXERCISES:
Hi Amy
Thank you for presenting such a thorough presentation on core training. I am an outpatient PT. We usually see patients once or twice a week.
2
1. How would you implement BFB into that treatment structure?
2. Is this feedback to be performed daily? If so , I could rent units for a given period.
3. What’s you’re criteria for progressing them from beginning to intermediate to advanced? Is it simply about them understanding and getting good readouts? Or do milliVolt output readings factor into it?
Thanks! Glenn
Hi Glenn, it’s our pleasure! Thanks for your thought-provoking questions.
1. BFB can be incorporated as often as you see fit – we recommend implementing it early and often to encourage volitional control, particularly in post-op scenarios! It should be used during whichever portions of your sessions focus on muscle re-education. That can range from simple isometrics, all the way through to dual channel dynamic assessments later in a program. Measurements like average MVC in Track and the Neuromuscular Deficit Test are great to implement consistently across sessions.
2. Daily feedback helps track progress and keep patients motivated and informed, so many of our users do loan or rent units out to patients for home use. That is a fantastic way to keep tabs on their performance even when they are only in the clinic once or twice a week!
3. There are no set microvolt levels to attain – it is, like you said, about them reaching their custom goals; as their stamina, strength, and control improve with the help of BFB and other tools, it is helpful to increase the level of difficulty until they reach the desired level of performance/outcomes.