The short answer is yes. A strong set of core muscles acts like a natural corset, helping to support and stabilise your lower back, pelvis and spine during everyday movement. But, like everything else in the human body, your core doesn't work in isolation. Its ability to do its job depends on how well the rest of your body moves and functions as a whole. The goal is to build a core that knows when to switch on, how to work with the rest of your body, and how to support you when you pick up the shopping, dig in the garden or simply bend down to tie your shoe laces. In this article, we'll explore why building core strength is one of the best investments you can make for your long-term back health—and why your future self will thank you for making it part of your weekly routine.
If that sounds familiar, you're probably not just wondering what happened—you're trying to work out why. Was it really that one simple movement? Or was it the final straw after years of smaller injuries, habits, and niggles quietly building up in the background?
It's something I hear from patients all the time. They often have a gut feeling that there's more to the story than the moment their shoulder started hurting. As we talk, the timeline unfolds: "Well, I hurt it playing sport as a teenager... then in my twenties I started going to the gym and that shoulder never felt quite as strong... then I had a desk job... then I spent months decorating the house... and last week all I did was bend down to pick up a bag of shopping." The truth is, pain rarely appears out of nowhere. What feels like the cause is often just the tipping point. And when it comes to shoulder pain, the real source isn't always the shoulder itself.
When the hips don't move through their full range of motion, or lack the strength to control that movement, the lower back often has to compensate. Over time, that can increase the demands placed on the muscles, joints and discs of the lumbar spine. Improving hip mobility, restoring strength at the end ranges of movement, and addressing obvious left-to-right imbalances won't solve every case of back pain—but they can significantly reduce unnecessary strain on the lower back and provide a stronger foundation for pain-free movement.
The good news is that morning lower back pain is often linked to factors that can be identified and improved. While every person is different, there are usually a combination of causes involved. Throughout our lives we accumulate old injuries, repetitive strains, poor habits, and postural stresses that can all contribute to how our body feels when we wake up. When discussing morning back pain with patients, I usually focus on three key areas:
Let’s look at each one in more detail...  A recent client at Unwind came to see me after four months of near-constant pain from tennis elbow. He’d done all the right things — researched exercises, worked with an NHS physiotherapist, and initially made great progress. His day-to-day pain reduced significantly. Then it flared up again with a vengeance. That frustrating feeling of “I’ve done everything — and I’m back to square one” is incredibly common with tendonitis (more accurately called tendinopathy). If you’re reading this, you may know that story well. I do too. I’ve had tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and, more recently, golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis) courtesy of some over-enthusiastic indoor bouldering. What I’d like to share is how I stopped my own golfer’s elbow before it fully took hold — and the approach I used with this client. Upstream & Downstream of the ElbowRenowned physiotherapist Kelly Starrett encourages us not to focus only on the site of pain, but to look at what’s happening “upstream and downstream.” In the case of tennis elbow, that means considering the relaxed position and function of the shoulder, head and neck, wrist, and hand. Many extremity problems also stem from altered alignment in the spine and pelvis, often the result of old injuries the body has adapted around. Since completing Kelly Starrett’s movement and mobility course in 2024, I use his assessment methods to identify areas of restricted motion and weakness. I also draw on Grey Cook’s Functional Movement Screen to help uncover the underlying drivers that often cause conditions like tennis elbow to keep returning just when you think they’ve resolved. The hands-on chiropractic work I provide aims to improve structural alignment, changes that many clients notice from the very first session. The “homework” I give is based on the research of Dr Keith Barr, Professor of Molecular Exercise Physiology, whose work focuses on how tendons heal and how to build their strength and resilience. If you’re interested in learning more, you can find several interviews with him on YouTube and Instagram where he explains his research in detail. This is exactly what my recent client did. He adjusted the exercises he had already been doing — which had stopped producing results — and applied Dr Keith Barr’s principles of tendon healing. After just one chiropractic session, he returned the following week reporting the most progress he’d experienced in months: his daily, near-constant elbow pain had reduced to being mostly pain-free, with discomfort only at specific and predictable times. This was fantastic news and exceeded my expectations for how quickly he might notice improvement. That said, his elbow isn’t completely out of the woods yet. The biggest challenge now will be resisting the temptation to use the arm as normal too soon and risk setting the problem back. At the time of writing this blog it's still early days and with his permission I will add an update on his progress.
Does Winter Make Your Body Feel Older Than It Is?
Could your discomfort be the result of a lifetime of your body compensating for old injuries or poor posture? If so, I can help. In this blog post, I’ll explain how past injuries are often compensated for and hidden from our day-to-day awareness, while quietly building into bigger problems over time. I’ll also share a couple of simple ways you can test the current state of your body.
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