Understanding Role of Stabilizer Muscles

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TweetYour body has two types of muscle(really more than this, but the others are in your internal organs), movers and stabilizers. Movers are big muscles that move your body parts, hence the name. Stabilizers are muscles that hold your parts in place and prevent you from being damaged while the movers are moving you.

According to the American Council on Exercise "Stabilizing muscle contractions are generally isometric contractions that act to support the trunk, limit movement in a joint, or control balance. In other words, muscles acting in a stabilizing role aren’t directly involved in lifting a weight, but instead keep certain parts of the body steady so that the primary working muscles can do their job properly.

Small movements in the spinal or peripheral joints such as the hip or shoulder can cause pain, degeneration and poor biomechanics. Localizing and strengthening the stabilizer muscles helps minimize these harmful joint translations and create a solid body framework.

The three principle stabilizer muscles function at:

The trunk or core consists of a deep stabilizing layer attaching directly to the spine, and a secondary layer which produces spinal movement. The deep layer, transversus/multifidus, is responsible for stabilizing the individual spinal segments. Most individuals with back painURL] will present with a dysfunction of this important muscle group.

The hip joint- This proximal joint in the lower limb must be dynamically balanced to permit efficient biomechanical motion in walking and running. The gluteus medius muscle is the stabilizer of the hip joint and specific strengthening of this muscle will help prevent knee injuries and maximize the potential power of quadriceps

The shoulder complex-The most mobile joint in the body, the shoulder complex relies heavily on stabilizer function for correct mechanics and injury prevention. The lower trapezius muscle controls the positioning of the shoulder blade providing a platform for the development of power and avoiding injuries to the rotator cuff. Lower trapezius activity also reduces upper trapezius tension, one of the prime causes of neck pain
and tension.

Why is it essential to develop Stabilizer Muscles?

There are a few reasons:

The inability to stabilize the body during strength training may reduce the amount of weight you’re able to use on exercises. For example, the military press exercise directly works the shoulders and triceps. The lower back muscles, though, help stabilize the trunk, and if they’re weak, then the amount of weight you can use on the exercise is reduced – regardless of how strong your shoulders and triceps are. This then reduces the effectiveness of the exercise on the target muscles.

Athletic movements outside of the weight room depend largely on the ability of the body to stabilize itself. A football lineman throwing a block drives forward with his hips, but if his feet, calves, torso, and shoulder girdle aren’t tight, then the power of his block is vastly reduced. Even everyday activities, like picking up a bulky sack of groceries or walking up steps, requires the body to balance and steady itself, which in turn requires strong stabilization abilities.

Stabilizing contractions in and of themselves build muscle. Competitive power lifters rarely do direct abdominal flexion work, such as crunches, but they often have very impressive abdominal muscles because they train extensively in the squat and deadlift. Both squatting and dead-lifting put the ab muscles in a stabilizing role rather than a motive role, but nevertheless cause the abs to get stronger and more muscular. Using any of your body’s muscles in a stabilizing capacity can directly result in added muscular size.

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