Can Pilates help with my aches and pains?

When the body hurts, it can be hard to motivate yourself to add on exercise. What if it starts hurting more?

Pilates is a way of aligning the body, so that muscles and ligaments are moved at optimum length and strength around a joint, or along the spine. This means that with Pilates, your body gets used moving in a more flowing and flexible way.

Pilates exercises can be adapted to start at any level, added on to an already existing exercise schedule, or as the first baby steps towards moving with confidence.

Pilates can be used to bring you back to your “natural” movement. Through life, we add on so many habits in order to adjust to our living environment that it’s easy to forget how freely you could move in the past.

Breath is an important part of Pilates - both to breathe as you move, and also to help release tension. Tension usually builds up to protect your body when it hurts, and it can be difficult to let it go. Through focusing your breath away from your shoulders and directing it down and wide into the rib cage, the body and mind can both relax.

By re-acquainting yourself with the muscles in your stomach, waist, shoulder blades and hips with Pilates, you create a strong and resilient centre in your body.

To book your Pilates lesson at the SOP, please contact Anneli McCullagh directly, email testvalleypilates@gmail.com.