Most of us know that sinking feeling: Yowch! — you’ve tweaked something in your back. Believe it or not, though, that could make this the perfect day for pilates workouts.
Just about everyone suffers low back pain at some point in their lives — 80 percent of American adults have been through it, according to Monique Parker of the University of New Mexico-Taos. Next to colds, sore backs are the second most common reason people call in sick.
But Parker is among the fitness experts who’d tell you that back pain shouldn’t stop you from moving. In fact, the odds are good that lack of activity is behind the problem to begin with.
“How we live each day — including our habits and activities, the food we put in our body, the stimuli in our environment, even our thoughts — determine our state of health,” Parker says in a post for the Taos News.
“Many people who experience chronic backache also have stiff muscles — they go hand-in-hand,” she writes. “So if you feel back discomfort regularly, it could be the result of not enough exercising!”
OK, we don’t mean to preach.
But Parker specifically mentions pilates as a means of relieving and staving off low back because it stretches the deep abdominals muscles. “It also strengthens the back by contracting the glutes and muscles of the back,” she notes.
Of course, it’s important to check with medical professionals if you suspect something more serious is going on. But if you’re cleared by your doctor, contact us and let our experienced and trained professionals help you get moving again.