Back Pain Anyone?
Almost everyone has experienced back pain at some point in their life. It’s not pleasant, it’s inconvenient, it’s pas bien. Today let’s talk about back pain caused from poor posture and movement habits.
Prolonged hunching and overall inactiveness (from sitting, driving, looking at your phone) can all lead to back pain. A body that is inactive and misaligned has excess stress on joints and shortened muscles that reduce your joints’ range of motion (the fibers in the muscle are tighter together and the fascia bound together), creating imbalances throughout the entire body, which can translate to back pain.
Poor movement habits can also contribute to back pain. For example, if you bend forwards from the waist instead of the hips, the back muscles will be doing all the work to lift you back up, causing these muscles to be overused.
What can you do to help with all of this? Pilates, of course! 😉
The following are all part of Pilates and will help reduce and even heal your back pain:
- Strengthen your core. A strong core can better support your spine. Finding stability in the lower back and pelvis will help create a strong base for you to work with.
- Increase your spinal mobility and back strength. Train your spine to extend more (bending from the mid back as you tilt your breastbone up) to help counteract the hunching. Rotations and side bending will also help improve the mobility in your spine. If your back is tender, start with small movements, and make sure you engage your core throughout the move.
- Stretch and strengthen hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors. When these muscles are inactive and shortened, it can create a sense of pulling on your lower back. It’s important to note that a feeling of a “tight” muscle doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a strong one. Pilates offers active stretching (contracting one set of muscles to stretch another), which is the best way to gain both flexibility and strength.
- Pilates helps your body understand how to move more efficiently. In the case of bending over from the waist instead of the hips, Pilates exercises teaches you proper squat techniques to use glutes, hamstrings, and quads when picking something up.
Check out this video for a full body workout that will strengthen your core, work on your posture, and offer some great stretches.
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Cheers,
Gabrielle Saran