Back and neck pain are very common problems nowadays. Sitting long hours, working in front of computers, wrong, little or no physical activity lead to poor posture and weak muscles. Pilates aims to retrain your posture, increase your awareness of how to stand, move or sit properly and works on your flexibility and stability.
All these, along with targeting the key muscles of the pelvic and shoulder girdles create a healthier environment for the body to heal and function. As a result there is less irritation of the tissues in your back and less pain.
When you suffer from back or neck pain and you feel that your back is fragile, a lot of time and emphasis will be placed on the basic principles of Pilates for you. You will start with small, controlled and gentle movements, working deep inside your spine to retrain the muscle groups that form the “core”:
- the Transversus Abdominis
- the Multifidi (deep back muscles)
- the diaphragm
- the pelvic floor muscles.
Research has shown that when you suffer from back pain these muscle “switch off”. Proper retraining can rehabilitate their function and you can return to moving normally and pain-free.