Liam Day-Lavelle

Pilates Powerhouse of Core Muscles VS the Anatomy Trains Myofascial Core

Joseph Pilates spoke about the “powerhouse” as being the key to strength and control of the whole body. He treated the whole body even when a client came with a very specific complaint. The powerhouse was defined as the muscles of the central body, the abdominals and the low back, and the center of vital life energy. If you were lacking strength or integrity in the powerhouse then the rest of the body was also compromised. This would suggest that there is a strong connection from the powerhouse out to the limbs. More recently the term “core muscles” arose from the physiotherapy discipline with a more specific list of muscles and a similar location to the Pilates’ powerhouse. The core muscles in the physiotherapy definition consist of the transverse abdominus, the pelvic floor, the breathing diaphragm, the lumbar multifidus and the psoas. Both the powerhouse and the core reside in the mid to lower torso or the center of the body if you view the body from top to bottom and facing front. With the exception of the psoas, this “center” definition fails to anatomically connect the upper torso, head, arms and legs to the mid and lower torso.

The Canadian Dictionary defines core as

1. The fibrous central part of some fruit containing the seeds.
2. The central or innermost part.
3. The basic or most important part.

Tom Myers' point of view of the myofascial muscular core is innermost to the long axis of the skeleton, and central if you take a cross sectional view anywhere in the body except the skull. The Myers’ core is close to the bone, takes into account the whole of the body, and gives it stability from one end to the other in any direction. This view also takes into account most of the Pilates’ repertoire as involving, in their entirety, the core muscle systems. To illustrate this point consider a body doing “the hundred”. If performed fully with legs straight, arms reaching, chest curled forward with the head up, one could then be working through the core of the arms, the core of the legs, as well as the core of the torso and neck. The whole of the body is involved, from the mid point of the torso (gravity center) to the periphery of the hands, feet and head as well as from the core muscles close to the skeleton out to the surface muscles close to the skin.

The myofascial concept of core as defined by Tom has positively changed my way of assessing issues and prescribing corrective exercises for my clients.

Liam Day-Lavelle lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

President of: www.PilatesAssociationofCanada.ca

Director of: www.pilates-etc.net

Pilates