Poor posture can have serious consequences including back pain, neck pain, muscle injury, and spinal stress. Almost 60% of people experience back pain at some point in their lives.
Fortunately, most people respond to non-surgical treatment to correct body posture. Pilates exercises have proven effective in correcting poor posture and can contribute significant benefits such as improving movement and reducing stress.
Holding a good posture is not easy because the key is not stretching but strengthening your muscles and stabilizing your body in a way you can be more upright against gravity.
Pilates is a form of exercise that focuses on postural alignment. It helps to improve the strength of the body, flexibility, enhance breathing and balance. It focuses on the mind-body connection and increases your muscle tone, and this will have an amazing effect on how your body looks. With that comes increased confidence and an overall sense of wellbeing and contentment.
At The Hundred Wellness Centre, we offer various Pilates classes with our certified trainer, which will help to improve your posture and overall health to achieve your physical fitness goals.
8 key benefits of good posture
- Preventing muscle injury.
- Reducing back pain by reducing the pressure on your spine.
- Reducing muscle tension and headache.
- Increasing lung capacity and breathing efficiency by providing more space for the lungs to expand.
- Reducing joint pain
- Improving blood circulation.
- Improving digestion.
- Increasing self-confidence.
How Pilates Can Help Your Posture
Pilates exercises are predicated on developing strong “core muscles” of the back, side, pelvis, and buttocks. These muscles form a sturdy central link between your upper and lower body. Weak core muscles will cause slumping, which tips your body forward and thus off balance. In Pilates, you will train your body how to contract and release core muscles. Contracting and releasing will cause overall core strength.
Good posture will follow when you know the importance of your core muscles and engage them in stabilization and stretching exercises.
Deep breathing forms one of the vital exercises during Pilates. The diaphragm is the main breathing muscle, and it is located in the middle of the core. The diaphragm expands on an inhale and shrinks on an exhale. Focusing on your movement and breathing during Pilates exercises may help you become more aware of your posture. For example, you may notice that your shoulders bend during exercises, but if you lengthen your spine and pull your shoulders back and down, you will be able to breathe more deeply and efficiently.
Pilates increases the strength of abdominal muscle and spine posture, thus it has shown to be an innovative technique to prevent neck-shoulder disorders and allow participants to have fewer thoracic disorders and other vertebra diseases.
Although correcting your improper posture can take some time, it is important to start your healthy habits now and engage in Pilates classes to enjoy all the benefits of good posture. We also offer ladies-only pilates classes if you wish to exercise with a group of like-minded women.
