After practicing pilates for several months I felt better and my core was so much stronger and more able to alleviate back pain. I always questioned why it worked so well, so as I began to explore and study this concept as an instructor I was amazed by my discovery.
Unlike popular belief your core is really our inner unit of muscles surrounding the spine from your pelvis all the way up to your shoulders. They are the stabilizing muscles which are designed mostly for endurance and support for your joints.
Pilates focuses on strengthening this inner unit which allows for the body to align itself with proper posture and joint function. It frees the spinal curvatures to have proper weight distribution, so the load on the discs is manageable on your back.
Pilates work focuses on building proper posture by training this inner unit to function and move in new ways. This happens by strengthening and training the proper muscles to fire at the proper time. For example, slouching over with your head protruding forward and your shoulders shrugged up to your ears would be improper posture. Instead as your core is strengthened your middle back can pull the shoulder blades down and back, your abdominal muscles can fire to support and straighten your back which leads to your head aligning back with your spine. As a sloucher, the first time you try this will feel strange and uncomfortable. Your body will only naturally resist this since it is not your usual habit. Since sitting sloucher style is your habit proper posture will be nearly impossible unless you retrain your fascial tissue (fascia is a connective tissue that surrounds muscles, groups of muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, binding those structures together in much the same manner as plastic wrap can be used to hold the contents of sandwiches together.[3])wikepedia.com) and your mind. Yes I said "mind," pilates work is deep, it challenges your mind body awareness and connection.. If you are constantly sitting improperly your fascia begins to form to keep you in that pattern, this pattern is now your habit, and habits become neurological,Aha! the mind body connection.
Fascial tissue forms sort of like a little spider that weaves a web encasing you in that position. This creates tightness and stiffness, and makes any attempt to correct your posture an uncomfortable experience. This connective tissue needs to be retrained to create new postural habits. This is revolutionary in back pain, unless this changes you will always suffer from pain because your postural habits will not allow for proper function. A good pilates instructor will want to give you a great work out, but the goal of great instructor will be to retrain your body and mind to correct postural function and alignment.
Unlike popular belief your core is really our inner unit of muscles surrounding the spine from your pelvis all the way up to your shoulders. They are the stabilizing muscles which are designed mostly for endurance and support for your joints.
Pilates focuses on strengthening this inner unit which allows for the body to align itself with proper posture and joint function. It frees the spinal curvatures to have proper weight distribution, so the load on the discs is manageable on your back.
Pilates work focuses on building proper posture by training this inner unit to function and move in new ways. This happens by strengthening and training the proper muscles to fire at the proper time. For example, slouching over with your head protruding forward and your shoulders shrugged up to your ears would be improper posture. Instead as your core is strengthened your middle back can pull the shoulder blades down and back, your abdominal muscles can fire to support and straighten your back which leads to your head aligning back with your spine. As a sloucher, the first time you try this will feel strange and uncomfortable. Your body will only naturally resist this since it is not your usual habit. Since sitting sloucher style is your habit proper posture will be nearly impossible unless you retrain your fascial tissue (fascia is a connective tissue that surrounds muscles, groups of muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, binding those structures together in much the same manner as plastic wrap can be used to hold the contents of sandwiches together.[3])wikepedia.com) and your mind. Yes I said "mind," pilates work is deep, it challenges your mind body awareness and connection.. If you are constantly sitting improperly your fascia begins to form to keep you in that pattern, this pattern is now your habit, and habits become neurological,Aha! the mind body connection.
Fascial tissue forms sort of like a little spider that weaves a web encasing you in that position. This creates tightness and stiffness, and makes any attempt to correct your posture an uncomfortable experience. This connective tissue needs to be retrained to create new postural habits. This is revolutionary in back pain, unless this changes you will always suffer from pain because your postural habits will not allow for proper function. A good pilates instructor will want to give you a great work out, but the goal of great instructor will be to retrain your body and mind to correct postural function and alignment.
