Giving Side Plank A Second Thought

Hello Everyone!  Have I been a busy girl! Lately, I have had my hands tied-up (a) studying for my Smart Fitness National Council for Certified Personal Trainers exam and (b) both of my lovely kitty cats decided to get sick...at the same time. But, here I am, a week later, a few hundred dollars poorer (thank you vet bills) but having passed my NCCA personal training exam with flying colors! Yay me!

 So in lieu of my new accreditation, I wanted to share one of the more interesting things I learned during my training regarding the widely popular side plank (see right).  Now I have been doing this move for years, have seen countless other gym-goers performing this,  and have seen it incorporated into almost every group fitness class I've ever attended.  Point is, side plank seems to be one of the more widely used moves to target core musculature. Although the benefits of side plank are in fact numerous (improves balance & support, strengthens shoulder/upper body and improves lateral core control)
there are just as many risks associated with this "waist widdler".

Many of these risks stem from poor form.  Three of the most common postural faults include:
       - Sagging downward into the supporting shoulder, this places increased pressure on the shoulder joint.  You want your shoulder to be depressed away from the ear, and be sure you are squeezing your shoulder blades together.
       -  Flexing of the hips, or sticking your butt outward, throwing the spine out of alignment. Squeeze the glutes together to combat this tendency.
       - Allowing the hips to sag towards the ground.  You want to keep the body in a straight line. The only exception here is if you are pulsing the hips up and down (in a controlled motion of course).

Traditional side plank on forearms to protect the wrist

Poor form aside, side plank can cause pain and injury to some individuals, specifically in the wrists and knees.  This is because regardless of perfect posture, when done with the supportive arm extended, excessive pressure is put on the wrist, and load is placed on the knee at an unnatural angle.
To correct the concern regarding the wrist, try moving down onto your forearm (see the picture above).  Now let's think about the dilemma of the knee. 

Our knee joint is designed to move in a hinge motion through one, and one plane only, the sagittal plane.  However, in side plank position, the load is placed on the knee in the frontal plane.  Think about it, when standing upright with your knees straight, you wouldn't want someone to hit you on the side of the knee would you? That would hurt and could potentially cause a pretty nasty injury!  But in side plank, that is exactly where you are placing pressure, on the side of your knee. To make side plank easier on the knee, try modifying the pose by using your top leg as a stabilizer, or better yet, coming down onto the knees(see below picture).

Modified side plank to protect the knees

When using these modifications, just be mindful to not use the extra support/stabilization as a crutch, you don't want to risk compromising the effectiveness of the move for your core.

As I said before, I am not in any way discrediting the benefits of side plank, this is a killer move!  It can just be done very wrong and if the performer isn't familiar with the risks that could be associated with the pose, they could be putting themselves at risk of injury.  So next time your work-out regimen calls for some good 'ol side planks, just take a moment to reconsider the positioning of your shoulder, wrist, hips and knees so you can modify the pose to what feels right for you and your exercise goals.