Pilates and your Body

Why is pilates so good for your spine ?

Firstly your spine is the most important bone and joint system in your body. It is our backbone, our shock absorber and our muscle systems around the spine enable us to be the upright creatures we are!! We need to look after this to the best of our ability as you only get one.

Two major areas pilates can help you with are

• Strengthening the muscle systems around the spine to support and protect existing injuries.
• Improving your alignment and posture to reduce the risk of new injuries.

Thinking of the spine as a series of building blocks can help with this analogy. If the blocks are out of alignment it causes pressure to be built up unevenly which may make these areas to weaken. Over time, the weakened areas may progress into a permanent site and source of irritation which we perceive as – pain!


So! If these building blocks are held in place by our muscles, they are less prone to excess movement and therefore stress and strain. Pilates concentrates on these smaller deeper muscles which hold and support our spines. Exercises are done on the floor and also using equipment such as swiss balls and foam rollers as well as larger pilates equipment such as the reformer. If we concentrate on turning on these muscles again, our bodies can learn how to become more stable, stronger, efficient and less prone to injury.