The Side Plank is often seen in gyms as a warm-up or cool down exercise, or another of the plethora of ‘core’ exercises. Really its best used as a diagnostic tool. It can be an fantastic tool for determining if there is an asymmetry in the lateral chain. The side plank can help uncover if the tight area on one side of the low back is due to a weak QL (Quadratus lumborum) and is it why you always get lateral knee pain when running or low back pain when golfing or other rotational activities (shovelling). In this week’s video I’ll demo the Side Plank/Bridge as well as introductory exercise the Side Plank with bent knees.
When using the Side Plank as a means of finding asymmetry all you need to do is time how long it takes to do on each side, ideally there should not be a big time difference side to side. Pain should not be experienced during a Side Plank in the back, hip or shoulder.