CAN PILATES
DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD FOR YOUR BACK?
One of
today’s most popular
exercise classes, with a massive 25 million attendees in
the U.S. and over a million attendees in the U.K., is having doubts cast upon its
effectiveness in helping back problems.
Pilates, a
celebrity favourite for its ability to keep the body toned and slim,
concentrates on targeting the transversus abdominus muscle (a deep
abdominal muscle) and the lifting of the pelvic floor
muscles while at the same time
breathing through the lungs and the side of the rib cage. This stance is to be kept throughout the
exercises but medical experts have found that these muscles aren’t as pivotal
to strengthening the lower back as they once thought.
Fiona Troup
a physiotherapist and trained Pilates instructor said that she had seen many
people who had done their backs serious harm and that unless Pilates was
tailored to an individual and taught correctly according to the diagnosis of
their back it can cause
injury.
Physiotherapists
are taught to teach their patients how to contract the transversus abdominal
muscles and the multifidus, in the lower back but according to Professor
Carolyn Richardson the fitness industry has made this technique as popular as
stretching and that because of bad teaching or misinterpreting the instructions
the technique can easily be done incorrectly so that the correct muscles aren’t
targeted thus leading to the back becoming more vulnerable.
Claire
Small from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy stated that when done
correctly all the core abdominal and pelvic muscles should contract
simultaneously but when the technique is done incorrectly it can cause the pelvic
muscles to descend which potentially weakens the back. On the other hand according to Fiona Troup a strong
back requires strong muscles throughout the
shoulders,
spine and buttocks.
If you
suffer from back
pain it is important to see your doctor and also a
physiotherapist if you want to begin an exercise programme.
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