Safe Spine

Pilates is known for its core work. Traditionally, this is when we engage the abdominal muscles with lots of sit up type exercises. This is called spinal flexion. Most people are fine to flex their spines but many people aren't strong enough or have issues that means they shouldn't do loaded spinal flexion. This includes myself. I had several herniated discs and I didn't have the strength to move safely without causing those disks more stress. So you can see why I looked for alternatives once I had trained as a teacher. It is only in the last twenty years that studies on the spine revealed that we aren’t always helping the spine with some of the traditional Pilates moves. Some of us, in the Pilates world, rushed to retrain and rethink the new science and the Safe Spine method was born from that.

Only small modifications need to be made to the traditional exercises to make them safe and still keep them challenging. So as a result my classes are safer for those with disc herniations, abdominal hernias, stenosis, spondylitis,  those with pelvic floor problems, those with osteoporosis and those who are pregnant.

So join us for some safe spine work.

Yours,

Andy P.