Pilates for Lower Back Pain

To help patients with sore backs to manage their back pain, strengthen their back and core muscles, physiotherapists get patients to do suitable pilates exercises. Find out how practising pilates helps.

What is Pilates?

The core, also known as the centre or “powerhouse” of the body, is where Joseph Pilates, the founder of pilates exercises, placed his main focus when he developed his method of exercises in the 1940s.

Pilates exercises, when carried out correctly to build a strong core, use the deep core muscles such as the abdominal muscles, diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles which work together to align, stabilise and protect the spine from injury. Joseph Pilates also designed his form of exercises holistically by including simultaneous involvement of both leg and arm movements.

Apart from the “core”, pilates also emphasises precision, flow, control, concentration and proper breathing during the exercise, with the ultimate aim of improving core strength and achieving proper alignment, good posture and movement without thinking.

Pilates for Sore Backs

People of any age or level can benefit from practising pilates. So, it is common to see pilates being incorporated in a rehabilitation regime to treat patients with lower back pain due to conditions such as degenerative changes in the spine, slipped discs and spinal instability.

Pilates workouts can be performed either with equipment such as the pilates reformer. You can also practice pilates at home on a mat. The benefit of using a reformer is that you can adjust the level of difficulty of a movement based on the resistance of the springs.

In Tan Tock Seng Hospital, physiotherapists with clinical pilates training will incorporate suitable pilates exercises for the patient to tone up their abdominal muscles, manage their back pain, strengthen and improve their back.

Some studies have shown that when pilates exercises are practised over a period of time, the frequency, duration and intensity of lower back pain are reduced.

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