My Journey Through Pilates

My journey through Pilates

BACK PAIN!?

Does this make you shudder??

Perhaps you are either suffering at the moment or have experience in this debilitating injury.

Pssst… I myself suffered for many years but I can now confidently say I have it under control.

After a childhood growing up on a farm with three older brothers and plenty thrills and spills I had developed disc herniations at L4/L5 and L5/S1 by 19 years of age.

Lucky for me I married a fantastic Chiropractor who managed my bad episodes and he also introduced me to #pilates.

Between the two they kept surgery at bay and allowed me to give birth naturally to 3 beautiful, crazy kids!

Did you know that #backpain effects 80% of us in our life time? It is second only to the common cold for conditions affecting humanity.

BACK PAIN!?

Does this make you shudder??

Perhaps you are either suffering at the moment or have experience in this debilitating injury.

Pssst… I myself suffered for many years but I can now confidently say I have it under control.

After a childhood growing up on a farm with three older brothers and plenty thrills and spills I had developed disc herniations at L4/L5 and L5/S1 by 19 years of age.

Lucky for me I married a fantastic Chiropractor who managed my bad episodes and he also introduced me to #pilates.

Between the two they kept surgery at bay and allowed me to give birth naturally to 3 beautiful, crazy kids!

Did you know that #backpain effects 80% of us in our life time? It is second only to the common cold for conditions affecting humanity.

Back pain comes in so many forms. You don’t have to have prolapsed discs to have pain. An angry facet joint, spasms in your QL’s etc. can cause horrendous pain.

These names may not mean anything to you but what I can tell you is that most of them can be helped by strengthening up the core muscles in your spine and supporting joints.

Pilates REALLY works and I can attest to this! I practice Pilates from Monday to Friday and this keeps my back so strong and mobile.

I am not saying you have to do it 5 times a week (although it really helps). My clients benefit hugely from Pilates doing it 2 to 3 times a week.

What I want and need you to know is that if you have injured your spine, back pain isn’t a once off thing. Like the flu it can recur. So many people expect to be fixed and never have to suffer again but the truth is you will more than likely have more episodes.

I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but as long as you know that, you can work on keeping yourself strong. The trick is to keep the period between your episodes longer and longer.

Movement is KING people!! Don’t be lulled into doing nothing because you are suffering! That’s the enemy right there! Get yourself booked into the #salterpilates studio so I can help you build up your confidence to move again.

I did end up having microdiscetomy surgery 5 years ago after doing something daft on my mountain bike where I managed to blow my disc completely.

Because my core was strong my surgeon decided he was only going to do a discectomy and not a fusion (thank goodness!).

My surgery was a huge success and I competed in the 230km Transbaviaans Mountain Bike Race in 2019 after being told I would have to quit riding after surgery.

As I mentioned before, it is not a miracle cure and I still have to keep my body mobile and strong. I do have the odd angry back moment but now I just manage it correctly and live a very happy active life, still doing crazy activities.

“You are only as old as your spine” Joseph Pilates

Let Pilates keep you and your spine young!!