We need good body alignment to help maintain a healthy back and stay pain-free but unfortunately, our bodies often have other ideas and we get into bad habits. This article helps you improve your posture which in turn can prevent back pain and other injuries. Jane Hamilton Pilates offers Pilates classes that will help improve your posture.
Body Alignment Problems
Good body alignment is one of the 8 principles of Pilates. We need
good alignment to help maintain a healthy back and stay pain-free
but unfortunately, our bodies often have other ideas and we get into
bad habits.
Gravity pulls our bodies forward whether we like it or not, it is
amazing how we actually manage to stand up and move around day
to day. Our heads are heavy (5kg on average) balancing on our neck,
it is a bit like having a large ball (the skull) balanced on a thin stick
(the spine). No wonder then we get into trouble with our heavy jaw
naturally drawing us forward and our rib cage projecting over the
lower spine like holding a rucksack, and often a very heavy rucksack
if we are carrying excess weight. This natural imbalance of weight
anteriorly means gravity is working against us all day long and with
bad posture and repetitive poor movement, we will increase the risk
of long term weakness and pain in areas such as our neck,
shoulders, middle back and lower back.
Bad postural habits repeated every day, and for many times during
the day, like the ones below can cause injuries and strain to our
joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Do you identify with any of them?
1. Hunching the upper body round and drawing your head
forward for prolonged periods often while reading and texting
on your phone. The new term “Text neck” is used to describe
this.
2. Sitting at a desk for long periods of time, twisting round to one
side repeatedly if your computer is off to the side and not at
the correct height.
3. Sitting on one side of the body dropping into one sitting bone
and repeatedly crossing your legs.
4. Putting more weight into one leg when standing, easy to do if
you are standing for long periods of time.
All of these scenarios create muscle imbalance and skeletal
misalignment and in turn, this can lead to pain in our muscles and
joints.
However, there is hope!
How To Correct Posture
Doing Pilates regularly, checking in with our bodi