How Pilates Exercises Can Help with Back Pain
If you have been suffering from back pain, you’ve probably even been told Pilates for back pain can help you But let’s talk about how Pilates can actually help that back pain, and eight exercises that you can do at home on your own to support your core strength and alleviate some of that back pain. Let’s get into it.
Hi, I’m Lesley Logan, co-founder of onlinepilatesclasses.com and I have been teaching Pilates since 2008 and during all those years of teaching, I have worked with clients who have a sudden back ache or pain that sticks around for a little longer than they want. And I’ve also worked with people who have chronic back pain that have been with them for many, many years. And the coolest thing I’ve been able to see about Pilates is how it meets them where they are, and that’s Pilates always says that. So whether you’re injury free and watching this for a friend, or you’re someone who has just found themselves upon an ache or a pain. The great news is that Pilates will meet you where you are, and it’s going to take you where you want to grow, but we have to have some consistency, and we have to have some more information around that back pain that you’ve got. So hopefully, if this pain has been with you for a while, you have checked with a doctor, gotten some understanding about where the problem lies and maybe even what caused it, and some contraindications, so that your teacher or myself on you can actually work together to figure out the best Pilates for your body. First, let’s get into some questions.
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Can Pilates Strengthen Your Back?
This is a great question, and the answer is yes. So if that’s all you want to know, the answer is yes, but the truth is, why? How does it do that? So first of all, your back muscles are actually all part of your core muscles. So the muscles that it’s not just your abs right? The muscles around your center, around your shoulder girdle, your hips and the muscles of your back are part of your core. And the thing that people get wrong about Pilates is that they think Pilates is all about just the abs. But what they don’t realize is that every single exercise actually requires us to work from our back line body. Exercises on the Mat and Reformer are actually designed to stretch and wake up our backside and then also strengthen those muscles. And so in every exercise, if you’re doing Pilates correctly, you are actually strengthening your back or working from the back connections to stretch it.
What Type of Pilates is Best for Back Pain?
Alright so, can Pilates address different types of back pain? So first of all, I should say that while Pilates is really amazing and can address a lot of things, there are going to be some instances where you should probably be working on one on one sessions with an expert in your ache or pain, especially if this is something that is chronic or acute, and I wouldn’t suggest starting off in group classes. If you are someone who’s dealing with chronic back pain, or you have had a recent injury, it’s so important that you know your body, especially when you’re going into a group situation. However, a lot of back pain comes from just sitting around all the time and having a weak core, and so absolutely, Pilates can help address that. Some back pain comes from having tightness in the muscles that are constantly pulling the body out of alignment or pulling on the back. And yes, Pilates can help with that. Other types of back pain are going to come from some sort of asymmetries or imbalances in the muscles. It can even come from some nerve issues. In cases like that, you’re going to want to have an expert in your injury tell you what is allowed in your body and what’s not allowed, and then ideally, I’d love for you to start working with an expert in Pilates who specializes in back conditions. If you go to Online Pilates Classes we have an amazing teacher, Lori Watson. She’s a queen of modifications. She’s even done some workshops for us, and she has a fusion in her back. And she’s actually suffered from some back issues for 40 years, and Pilates is the only reason she’s able to walk and she can live a somewhat pain free life without having her back issues cause things like that.
However, you have to understand your back pain. You have to have some information so that your teachers can work with you. Because our spine, our back, actually has a lot of different parts. You can have a problem in your neck. That’s actually part of your spine. You don’t think about like that. We call it the neck. You have your thoracic spine, that’s part of your back, that’s a whole different type of curve, and that can cause different issues. Then you actually have your lumbar spine, which is a different curve in the body, and where a lot of back pain lies. Pilates for sore back can be incredibly helpful, but if we don’t have enough information about what caused it and also what you should be avoiding, it gets really difficult to address the pain using Pilates.
Can Pilates “Fix” Your Back Pain?
The other thing I want to say is it’s really important that you know that Pilates doesn’t fix people, okay? So can it help support all different types of back pain? Can it work around different back issues? Absolutely. Stenosis, fusions, osteoporosis, arthritis, herniations. Yes, absolutely. In fact, there’s a friend of mine who’s a teacher who broke her back, and she has some amazing Pilates exercises that a doctor told her she would never be able to do. Pilates can help with all those things that does require an expert in the area when you’re dealing with some of the more major issues, and it’s really important that no teacher ever tells you they can fix you.
The Benefits of Pilates for Back Pain
And here’s the thing. When you are doing Pilates and you’re balancing your imbalances, you can actually have some relief around that back pain. In fact, it can be reduced over time. Now, is it going to be reduced in the first class? Probably not. If you are consistent with a Pilates practice and you are actually really working on strengthening your imbalances, your weaknesses and stretching areas of your body, you can actually have that major relief. It also can reduce the worsening of the back pain. Back pain relief exercises, like those found in Pilates, can also reduce the worsening of the back pain. So some people do have conditions that are not fixable by surgery, or they’re going to have them for their lifetime, but we can actually, with consistent Pilates practice, give you your life back, give you the opportunities to travel and keep up with kids and grandkids and friends and try new things. That is one of the things that I really love about my clients who had chronic back pain, and they come consistently to do their Pilates practice, and they take their OPC classes, omitting what’s not right for their body. They have a lease on their life that they didn’t have before, and it really allows them to have the energy and stamina that they want.
Prevent Back Pain with Pilates
Pilates also can be really essential in preventing back issues or injuries from coming, like happening at all, or actually coming back. And I love that, because it’s really nice. Once you have reduced some back pain and you’ve finally gotten your core strength back, it’s really nice to know that you are hopefully preventing it from happening again, especially if you stay consistent, because that’s the important thing. A lot of people are like, “Oh, my back pain’s gone. All right, I’m good”. And they stop doing their Pilates, well, that’s going to bring it back. You do have to be consistent about it, but it is going to very much help you, especially if you are working with someone who is able to work around the injuries and issues that you have and help strengthen the imbalances that you have. If you want to know more about how Pilates can help with back pain and injuries, I’d love for you to check out this video. It’s really essential, and it goes through all of those topics.
How Pilates Strengthens Core Muscles
So, Pilates helps strengthen your core in a variety of different ways. And I was just nerding out about Joseph Pilates work the other day. I was actually looking at his pictures. I was looking at him. I was looking at his before and after pictures. And here’s what is really cool about how Pilates strengthens the core. It doesn’t just strengthen in one plane or by bracing. In fact, if you- By one plane, I mean, if you go to the gym and you do abs, you’re usually lying on your back and you’re doing some crunches, right? And you do multiple sets. In Pilates, we actually do each exercise, ideally only three to five times, because we’re working on the quality of the movement, and then we change the plane. So we’re actually strengthening your core in a flexion, an extension, in a tall back, in a twisting and a side body movement. And then we do that upside down, right side, up, seated, standing, lying on your side. And so because Joseph Pilates created this incredible method, we get to actually strengthen the core in multiple different planes. And if you’re someone with back issues, you might lose a couple of those spine shapes. A lot of back issues do not appreciate flexion. But that doesn’t mean we lose the other other spine shapes that we can do and the other ways to strengthen the body. And so because Joseph Pilates gave us these different ways of doing it, seated, standing, kneeling, side, it allows you to strengthen the whole core in a 360 way, which is going to reduce back issues and prevent future ones from coming.
Mind-Body Connection: Healing Through Pilates
Alright, so mind, body connection and back pain. Let’s talk about it. Here’s the thing, while I have not had back issues, I have had a knee injury, and what happens when our bodies have an injury is they actually don’t want to use that body part. They have a memory of using that body part, and it felt bad, so they want to avoid doing it right. So the thing about Pilates is it allows your mind and body to connect often, using breath and focusing on what’s moving from where, and it allows you to re connect to your body and understand, are you actually in pain right now? Or this is a worry about the pain? It allows you to really understand what movements you need to avoid, but also what movements are safe for you to do, specifically, because every single body is different, and the more your mind and body connect, the more you understand your body from a day to day basis, allowing you to make better decisions outside of your Pilates practice for what your body is able to do. You’ll be able to really have an understanding “Oh, I’m feeling tired today. Why I’m feeling tired? It’s really hard for me to do these things”, and you’ll give yourself that grace and understanding because your Pilates practice gave you that mind body connection. Also, there is this amazing thing about our bodies, when we can actually have a mind body connection that reduces the stress and cortisol levels in our body, and it often allows some of that pain that we are feeling to subside and really give us a moment to feel what it’s like to be in our body.
Top 8 Pilates Moves to Relieve Back Pain
Pilates Shoulder Bridge
Alright, so let’s get into these exercises. So most of these you can do at home on your own. There’s a couple that I really love on equipment, and we’ll address those, but some of these you can actually do at your house, and the first one is shoulder bridge. So shoulder bridge, there’s actually several different variations that Joseph Pilates gave us, but what I love about shoulder bridge Pilates for lower back pain is it actually strengthens the back side of your legs, your hamstrings and glutes, while stretching the front side of your legs. So definitely pay attention to what’s going on your pelvis. I don’t want you to look like a W. Work that tailbone towards your knees. It’s going to help you strengthen your glutes while opening the front of your hips. And if your hip flexors are pulling on your lower back, that’s going to be a nice stretch that you need to reduce that pull on your lower back. Also, because your arms are pressing into the ground, you’re strengthening your upper back. And then you can use those leg muscles for when you’re standing after you’ve done this exercise.
Pilates Swan Prep
The next one is Swan Prep. And here’s the thing about Swan prep, if you happen to have back surgery, there are a few exercises that your doctor is going to give you pre and post back surgery, and Swan prep is one of them. And the thing that you want to be mindful of is that you’re not doing it from your neck and you’re not doing it from your lower back. So something I really like to encourage people to do is understand that you can have length in your lower back and extend your upper back. In fact, a lot of people think that extension only happens in lower back, because that’s how the lumbar spine is. But our thoracic spine does have extension opportunity for us. And then when you do Swan prep, keeping your lower back long, I’m not trying to flatten it out, you’re just keeping it long and focus on that extension the upper back, you are going to find you have a stronger upper back, which increases better posture, which reduces back pain, and also you’re working against gravity, so the abdominal muscles are getting stronger to support that lumbar spine.
Pilates Single Leg Kick
Alright, next you have single leg kick. If you watch a lot of my videos, you know, I like to sneak a single leg kick into everything. And the reality is, it’s because it’s so good, okay? It gives you the ability to work on extension, strong extension of your upper back, while strengthening the back sides your legs. So think shoulder bridge, but on your stomach and stretching the front of your thighs, okay? So, so important. The stronger our hamstrings and glutes are, the the easier it is for to stand in our postural muscles. A lot of times, people have tight and weak hamstrings and glutes, and then we kind of sit in our joints, and so there’s a lot of pressure. So single leg kick is really amazing for that. If the extension part scares you, you can actually leave your chest down and just do the kicks.
Pilates Push Ups
Next, we have push ups. And here’s the thing, there’s tons of research that show that playing some push ups are actually one of the best exercises you can do for your core, as long as you’re not letting your lower back sack. But I love the Pilates push ups, because it really does help you hold your whole body up, work your core against gravity, keeps your spine in a tall back. So unlike the last couple of exercises I’ve done, this particular spine shape is a tall back, which means if you can’t do extension, you can’t do flexion, you’ve got a friend in the push ups. If you can’t do the elbow bends, yet, I highly recommend holding the plank. You can do push ups also, same exercise, at a wall or at your countertop or on a chair. Changing the height of the push ups, the higher up you go, the easier they are, so you can work your way down to the floor.
Pilates Thigh Stretch
Alright, I have another amazing Mat one you can do. It’s the thigh stretch. And this, if you watch my videos, you know I love a thigh stretch. The thigh stretch is awesome. Again. We have another tall back exercise that is stretching the front of your legs while strengthing the back of your legs. Are you sensing a theme here? Because here’s the deal, we sit too much. A lot of people’s back issues come from being seated too long. Or maybe you’re like, I don’t sit that much. I walk all the time. I run all the time. Yes, all frontal plane stuff that is actually tightening up the front of your body and pulling on that back. So these exercises really help stretch the front of that body and strengthen the backside, body and thigh stretch is one of my favorites. If you can’t be on your knees, you’re going to do the shoulder bridge from the beginning.
Pilates Standing Tendon Stretch
Last one for the Mat that I have for you, and this is like, by the way, I should just say the entire Mat practice, if you would just omit the ones you can’t do are going to be essential. But, you know, let’s give you six just to focus on, especially if you’re new to this. Standing tendon stretch, this exercise can look really simple and like, how is this going to strengthen my core and strengthen my back? But what it actually does is it calls for your feet to connect to your seat, your inner thighs and outer thighs to connect. Again, taking pressure off of your lower back, because then you’re standing in more muscles. The thing is, is that some of us have so many imbalances that it’s actually affecting our knees or our feet, and then the further down the chain that things are affected, the more pressure is going to go onto that lower back. So strengthening your feet, strengthening your inner thighs, if you’re doing this exercise correctly, it’s not a calf raise, it’s definitely a glute inner thigh exercise. And if you are not letting your pelvis tip forward, meaning your tailbone sticking out, you’re going to get a lot of lower abdominal work in there too. Add the arms pushing into the head, and you’re going to get the upper back connections that you need. It’s going to stretch the front of your chest, full body exercise right here for you. They’re great to experience at a studio. In fact, whenever I get a client who’s first time doing Pilates and they say they have back issues, I do like to do a leg spring and arm spring exercise, and that’s what our next two are.
Arm Springs on the Cadillac
Let’s talk about the arm springs first. The arm springs put your back in a tall back and it allows us to teach your arms how to move from your back. It also lets me see where you tend to brace or not brace, or what’s disconnected. Because it’s a full body exercise. Even though it’s called arm springs, the abs are still working. Everything is supporting the spine, so really let’s us see if you tip, do you push your lower back in? What’s going on? Excellent for taking a lot of pressure off of the spine and still strengthening the back.
Leg Springs on the Cadillac
The leg springs it’s the second exercise I chose. This one allows me to see like if your quads are supported. So we have those leg springs actually doing the work of what a lot of people’s hip flexors would do. Do you feel these leg movements affecting your back? Because if you don’t, then it actually allows us to retrain your body, retrain how you move your legs, using your legs moving from your stomach, from your ab muscles, and from your glutes and hamstrings and your thighs. That way, we can then open up even more Mat and Reformer exercises to your practice. And if you are wanting a workout, if you’re like, “I really want to try Pilates, these look really great, but I would love a guided workout.” We actually have a wall Pilates workout for you, and it’s a true wall Pilates workout. It’s actually real exercises that Joseph Pilates gave us at a wall. And because you’re using the wall, your back is nice and supported, and it can actually really benefit you, because sometimes, especially if you’ve got back issues, getting on the floor is not always an option. So try this workout here on our channel for free.
Healing Back Pain with Pilates
I hope this was helpful for you. Hope this created some curiosity and some understanding and allows you to have more movement in your life, especially if you’re dealing with some back issues. If you have some chronic back pain that you’re aware of and you’re wanting to have Pilates in your life more consistently, at Online Pilates Classes we actually do provide feedback on your form, so if any exercises are bothering your back, you can actually show us a video of you doing it, and we can tell you exactly what’s going on. You also have access to an entire community, including some of our favorite humans who do have back issues themselves, and they’re teachers, to help you understand what exercises in the classes to omit and what exercises to replace those with. And so I would love for you to check us out at OPC YouTube and and discover how Pilates for back pain can transform your practice and help you move with confidence
Pilates: Strengthen, Move, Live Pain-Free
If you have any questions, feel free to put in the comments below. We do answer our questions here live on Sundays at 9am Pacific Time. And we hope that you find more ways to include Pilates into your body, because it is one of the ways that you can have the most fun, the most life and youthfulness and stamina to do all the things that you want, because back pain does not have to be something that you live with forever. There are ways to work around it, strengthen your body and do life better. Thank you so much. Have an amazing day.