Movement is often the best way to relieve back pain. Just by taking a walk, you get your blood circulating to those aching muscles and creating a better environment for healing. Even if your back pain is the result of a more serious injury or condition, movement is often still the best approach to feeling better as long as it is prescribed and monitored by a physical therapist or physician. Pain free movement can easily be achieved using Pilates equipment in a rehabilitation setting. Pilates exercises can be performed in pain-free positions and allow you to move with the assistance of springs and straps. When you can move your body without pain, you will become stronger and get on the road to reducing your back pain.
Conditions that lead to back pain are often a result of poor postural habits, core weakness, muscular imbalances or all of the above. Faulty movement patterns get set within your body and are difficult to change without help from a movement professional. With Pilates rehabilitation, these patterns can be retrained so that your nervous system learns a more efficient, pain-free pattern of movement. The old and dysfunctional pattern can now be replaced with a new, efficient and pain-free one!
Back care tips everyone can use
Don’t slouch
Whether sitting or standing, check in with your body and find balance along your spine. Is your head balanced over your rib cage? Is your rib cage balanced over your hips? Finding balance and maintaining the natural curves through your spine helps distribute forces evenly avoiding too much stress to any one area.
Move around
If you spend most of your day sitting behind a desk, take a movement break every hour. Getting up out the chair to stretch and move, even if just for a few minutes, will give your joints and muscles relief from being in one static position.
Strength train
Seek out a professional who will guide you through exercises appropriate for your body and condition. Strengthening your core, which includes your abdominals, back and hips, will create more stability through your spine and allow you to move with more ease.
Just as everyone is unique, so is their experience with pain. My goal was to provide some general guidelines and give you a bit of insight as to how Pilates can be used for rehabilitation.
