Hey guys, it's Kim here - You may have noticed, especially after watching my online classes, that I have very limited movement, particularly through my spine. I was lucky enough to be born with the trifecta of spinal conditions kyphosis, lordosis and scoliosis.
Kyphosis is an exaggerated, forward rounding of the back and "those rounded shoulders" this is inherited as my Dad and both his sisters have exactly the same condition. Lordosis is the excessive inward curvature of the spine in the lower back - think duck butt! And finally scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine rather than being straight up and down, my spine makes an S shape through the middle of my body. Effectively my spine curves forward, back and side to side.
Now you'd think with all those curves, I'd be super bendy and have heaps of movement through my spine. Unfortunately, it is exactly the opposite. Although instinctively I could tell from my own experience, a little research proved that having a mis-aligned spine causes the muscles to work harder to keep the spine stable, causing some muscles to lock up tight and other muscles to be overstretched and weakened.
As a teenager, my mother dragged me along to a specialist to help relieve the chronic pain I was suffering, only to be told that surgery involving a rod down my spine to straighten me out was my best option. I remember his words: If you don't, you will be in debilitating pain by the time you are 40 (Happy to say this is not the case!) Swimming was my only other alternative but what these experts failed to take into account is that to swim effectively, you need to be able to rotate through your spine to breathe. Maybe if I'd persevered, swimming may have helped but I was at real risk of drowning constantly!
Then along came Pilates and I found a way to move my spine without drowning. The focus on postural alignment was exactly what I'd been looking for and I just wish I'd found it so much earlier in life. The emphasis on core strengthening, flexibility, and correcting muscle imbalances makes Pilates a perfect exercise option for anyone suffering from structural imbalances. Many high impact activities are actually detrimental for scoliosis sufferers as the risk for spinal trauma is quite high. Pilates non-impact approach enables me to build strength and improve my posture without risk of additional injury.
Pilates helps by:
- Improving core strength
- Improving flexibility
- Correcting muscle imbalances
- Focusing on balance and stability
- Focusing on postural alignment
Note: Pilates cannot cure scoliosis, kyphosis or lordosis a but regular consistent practice can help to alleviate pain by keeping the muscles mobile and limber, and reduce muscle imbalances.
And I can attest that Pilates helps keep me relatively pain free as I can't imagine where I would be without it.
