Pilates Helps Lower Back Pain
Did you know? Lower back pain effects over a third of the UK population. Around 20% of people effected will see their GP about their back pain.
It can be extremely debilitating, especially if you suffer daily and it causes issues with your sleeping. Lack of sleep also reduces your pain tolerance by making the central nervous system more sensitive which intensifies the pain you experience. Pain is more painful when you’re tired!
Here’s a few common causes for back pain:
- Poor posture due to your working habits and environment – This could be a badly set up work station, your driving position or a repetitive movement pattern
- Being overweight or pregnant – this causes you to have a forward tilting pelvis due to the excess weight putting more pressure on your lower back
- Glutes (bottom muscles) that don’t work correctly
- Tight hamstrings and Hip Flexors
- Weak or over-trained abdominals
- Lack of body awareness, especially postural
- Herniated discs
- Stress
Pilates can help!
It helps to reduce back pain, improve your posture, core strength and body awareness, as well as increasing flexibility.
It does this through focusing on the six principles of Pilates:
- Centering – Bringing your focus to the centre of your body, which is often referred to as the ‘powerhouse’. All movement derives from the centre, the deep core stabilising muscles.
- Control – Helping you to reconnect with your body to have complete control over the movement using the right speed and muscles.
- Concentration – Bringing your full attention to the movement and performing it slow and controlled in order to get maximum results. It is a complete mind-body connection.
- Precision – Pilates exercises should be performed in a very precise and exact way, using the right muscles in the right order to perfect technique and good movement patterns.
- Breathing – Breathing is an important part of your Pilates practice. Full deep lateral breaths are used throughout the repetitions of the exercise, exhaling on the effort. Breathing correctly also helps to reduce stress and tension which results in you feeling mentally relaxed during and after the exercises.
- Flow – The ultimate goal of Pilates is to help you move fluidly with ease both during the exercises and afterwards
During our Pilates classes you are given demonstrations of the exercises with lots of verbal cues on how to set up and how to move throughout focusing on your breath, core engagement and your movement pattern.
After the demonstration our instructors guide you through setting up correctly, once you’ve set up you are then given lots of verbal cues to remind you on exactly what to do and what to focus on. If we see you performing the exercises incorrectly we give you more individual support and guidance.
If your back pain is aggravated at all, we’ll also give you options and adaptations so you can get the most from the exercise.
All Pilates exercises have lots of different levels so you can work at your own ability, starting with the basics and progressing to different levels as your technique improves.