Pilates for Back Pain

More and more chiropractors today are recommending Pilates for their clients’ aching backs.  When Pilates is done consistently, many people experience relief from back pain.  What is it about doing Pilates that works well to relieve a person’s aching back?
Pilates is effective in relieving back pain because it addresses the structural imbalances in a person’s body that leads to back pain.  Such issues like pelvic instability, poor posture, lack of core support, muscular imbalances, and lack of body awareness all affect back health.  These issues are resolved when a person does the Pilates stretches on a regular basis.
Correct Posture Exhibited by Pilates Workouts
When a person begins to do Pilates, he or she has to concentrate on how the different body parts are lined up.  This is known as our alignment.  When we are standing or sitting, we tend to think of our alignment as our posture.  However, having good posture is a dynamic process and depends upon the ability of our body to align all of its different parts to respond to different demands effectively.  When this alignment is off, uneven stress is placed on the skeleton and especially on the spine.  Pilates exercises are done while paying attention to this alignment.  Uniform muscle use and development are created which allows movement to flow through a person’s body in a most natural way.
A very common postural imbalance that many people have the tendency to do is to either tilt or tuck the pelvis.  Neither position does the body any good.  In fact, by tilting or tucking the pelvis, weakness is created on one side of a person’s body and there are overly tight areas on the other side.  The spine is denied the support of the natural curves and a domino effect of pains and aches are created all the way up one’s spine and even going into the neck.  When one does the Pilates exercises, one becomes increasingly aware of the proper placement of their spine and pelvis.  An inner strength is created that supports the natural curves of one’s spine.  As you can see, Pilates has been the key for celebrating better backs for a large number of people.
Core Strength Developed by Pilates
You must have good core strength in order for the body to have proper alignment.  What does having core strength mean?  It means that all of your body’s trunk muscles are flexible, strong, and working together in an effort to stabilize and support the spine.
To have proper core strength, you have to look much deeper than just the big surface muscles that we often think about such as the rectus abdominis, the big back muscles, or those beautiful 6-pack abs.  The core muscles are usually the ones that are found below the surface musculature.
Many forms of exercise simply focus on giving added strength to the big muscles such as the ones that we can see and the ones that are responsible for doing big movements.  However, Pilates trains the body in such a way that all of the core muscles are working together to stabilize and support the back.  When core strength is developed effectively, the body is trained to know when to release and to activate the core muscles.  While core strength seems to be the catchall term, it is better to say that the core coherence that is taught by doing Pilates is essential for back health.
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