Pilates for Posture
Pilates will help you stretch, strengthen and balance the muscles that provide support to the body and protect it against injury and progressive degeneration.
Painful low backs, and sore neck and shoulders have become increasingly prevalent in Pilates studios due to poor posture. This is not merely an aesthetic problem. The association of poor posture with painful conditions highlights the importance of good body mechanics, muscle balance and optimum alignment in the prevention of illness and incapacitating disability.
In a balanced state the muscles will function efficiently and the organs of the body will have appropriate space inside the abdominal and thoracic cavity.
Pain and dysfunction occur because poor posture over time will cause fascia and muscles to tighten, pulling bones out of optimum alignment and giving rise to taut bands in the fascial tissue (trigger points) that can cause referred pain to other areas (e.g. tight ITB and painful knees). It can also increase compressive forces to the spinal discs and nerve damage.
Striving for good posture is an important preventive step against major health problems.
Identify your type of posture
The way a person holds himself or herself on a day-to-day basis is commonly referred to as their posture. An ideal posture has bilateral and equal alignment of both sides of the pelvis and shoulder girdle when looking directly at a person. When looking side on, someone with an ideal posture will have ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, neck and head resting one on top of the other in a relatively straight line (one is not anterior or posterior to the other). Unfortunately, over time and depending on how you hold yourself during the time that you’re awake, your posture will start to change from this ideal. Certain postural conditions will also change the posture of a given person.
There are four common faulty posture types and each is characterised by a specific set of muscle imbalances. Some people may even have a cross-over of more than one type of faulty posture. Pilates aims to correct these imbalances by strengthening and lengthening various muscles involved to the development of that posture, thereby restoring alignment and correct body mechanics.
Kyphosis/Lordosis
This postural type can actually be broken into two distinct parts and are not always present in the same person. Kyphosis can be present in flat back and fatigue postures also. Kyphosis relates the thoracic (upper) spine while Lordosis refers the lumbar (lower) spine.
Kyphosis is identified by the following characteristics:
· Head is forward of the body
· Increased flexion (rounding) of the thoracic spine
In terms of muscles affecting this posture clients with Kyphosis will generally be tight through the pectoral muscles and the thoracic extensor muscles will not be very strong. The neck extensors are short and strong and the flexor muscles of the neck may be elongated as a result. There may be some tightness in the upper abdominals from the constant forward flexion.
Lordosis is identified by the following characteristics:
· Increased extension (arch) of the lumbar spine
· Anteriorly tilted pelvis
Clients with this type of postural imbalance will have hip flexors that are tight/short and hamstrings that may be tight/short and/or weak. The gluteal muscles are weak as a group as are the abdominals. The hamstrings and abdominals generally don’t work in unison to keep the pelvis in a neutral position (resulting in the anterior or forward tilt). There will generally be loading through the lower back during extension exercises because the abdominals are not supporting correctly.
Fatigue or Sway back
Fatigue posture is deemed as such because it can be held without involvement from most of the major stabilising muscles of the body. This posture is the result of the skeleton resting on itself and the ligaments holding the posture in place. Ligaments are not as forgiving as muscles and will not tighten once they are stretched. The laxity in the ligaments can cause issues later on in life when age causes muscle weaknesses.
Fatigue posture is identified by the following characteristics:
· Pelvis is posteriorly tilted and sits forward of the plumbline
· Torso leans back posteriorly to balance out the anterior position of the pelvis
Clients with this type of postural imbalance will have weak abdominals as a group but in particular the external oblique muscles will be weak. The hip flexors will be lengthened from the constant posterior tilt of the pelvis. The hamstrings tend to be short and overly strong, resulting in gluteal weakness. There will be a certain amount of flattening in the lumbar spine and therefore spinal articulation may not be very good.
Flat back
Flat back refers to the relatively small amount of curvature along the length of spine that is present in this posture type.
Flat back posture is identified by the following characteristics:
· Head is forward of the body
· The upper thoracic region has increased flexion (see Kyphosis) and the lower thoracic spine is flat
· The lumbar spine has increased flexion (flattened compared to the usual curve present here)
· The pelvis has a posterior tilt
Clients with this type of postural imbalance will have weak back extensors along the length of the spine as well as tightness across the pectoral muscles and upper abdominals. The hip flexors will be lengthened from the constant posterior tilt of the pelvis. The hamstrings tend to be short and overly strong. Due to the amount of flattening in the lumbar spine, spinal articulation may not be very good.
Military
Military posture is named as such because it is very common in people who have served time in the military.
Military posture is identified by the following characteristics:
· Very rigid throughout the spine
· Elevated chest
· Increased extension (arch) in the lumbar spine
· Anterior tilt of the pelvis
Clients with this type of postural imbalance will have elongation of the abdominal muscles and be very stiff along the length of the spine. There will be next to no spinal articulation in someone that has held this posture for a long period of time. They will have a lot of tension in the thoracic region due to the raised chest position. The gluteal muscles and upper hamstrings are weakened due to the anterior tilt of the pelvis and the hamstrings are often short and overly strong.