This article provides a clinically useful definition and outline of core stability clarifying important links between proximal stability and distal mobility and function.
It describes the role of specific muscles in spinal control, including key synergistic activation patterns. It encompasses the role of anticipatory postural adjustments and biomechanical considerations. There is an emphasis on functionally relevant assessment and training of specific muscles including considerations such as the planes of stability, closed or open chaining and whether the muscle is acting eccentrically or concentrically within functional activity.
Although some of the options given in the paper may only be relevant to very high level neurological patients there are many excellent core principles and clinically relevant aspects of information that will greatly assist the neurological therapist in their clinical reasoning and functional retraining of core stability.
