Chronic Back Pain Remedies: Why Pilates Reformer Exercises May Work Like Magic for Lower Back Pain by Sandy Greiner, NCPT

You bend down to pick a sock up off the floor and BAM! Your back goes out. Ninety percent of adults struggle with serious back pain at some point in their lives. It can happen from a common everyday activity like picking something up off the floor or it can start with a stiff weekend warrior's paddle tennis match. Either way, it's not always caused by the movement that seemed to precipitate the painful event.

Of course, you should see your doctor if you have severe acute or chronic back pain. However, for mild to moderate pain, or to prevent pain from happening in the first place, Pilates had been shown to help.

Dr. Brent Anderson, founder of Polestar Pilates, found that healthy people with stiff mid-back – think all of us slouchers – improved spinal mobility after just one Pilates reformer session. Pilates prepares the body for sports, yoga, dance and fitness by waking up segmental movement of the local stabilizing muscles so that our global stabilizing muscles don't take over and create unhealthy compensations and restrictions leading to back pain.

A certified Pilates teacher's eyes on your movement patterns may help reduce or prevent back pain. Try it! 

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