How to maintain a healthy and mobile spine at any age

How to maintain a healthy and mobile spine at any age

If you’ve ever taken a Fitness Pilates class, you’ve probably noticed the emphasis on spinal mobility in a number of exercises.

Today we explain why spinal mobility is so important and how we can maintain a healthy spine during a time of increased sedentary activity.

USE IT OR LOSE IT

We’re built to move and stay active. The day we stop moving, that’s the day our body will start to adapt to inactivity.

In order to maintain the body’s normal function, the spine needs to adapt as it helps transfer the load through the body.

If we have a stiff spine, we will lose part of our function and other parts of our body may compensate as a result of this lack of motion. So, it’s really important to combine movement and stability; we need to do it with control and that’s why we call it ‘dynamic stability.’

There are several benefits related to spinal mobility, including:

• Improved range of motion in the joints
• Faster reaction time and agility. If the spine is used to moving, the nervous system will be more quickly able to respond and adapt when forces cross the body
• For injury prevention. Movement helps stimulate the creation of new synovial fluid inside the joints. This is crucial for articular cartilage to help prevent osteoarthritis
• Improved neuromuscular control for daily activities
• Stress reduction

How pilates helps improve spinal stability and mobility

Pilates is a perfect method for helping us maintain spinal mobility and stability as it is a form of ‘functional exercise’ – helping us restore and maintain function for everyday life, we can incorporate spinal articulation for all planes of motion and adapt/modify thousands of exercises.

Try some mobility workouts today CLICK HERE

Book the more mobility certification workshop Thursday 9th August HERE