For many people, the source of their low back pain is a bad posture. Pain is usually caused by certain muscles that are stronger than the muscles of the other, so it is why you lean forward.

If you are naturally in a flexed position when you are standing – head and shoulders stretching forward – this can put a lot of stress on your back and cause pain.

At the heart of Pilates is exercise that is designed to strengthen your core – responsible for muscles with good posture, including the abdomen and back stabilizers – and allows you to stand up again.

Pilates can not only strengthen your core muscles to improve your posture, it also:

• Create a neutral spine alignment

• Improve your awareness of posture

• Help you breathe better

• Improve joint flexibility

Create a neutral spine alignment

Neutral spinal positioning is where the neck, shoulders, and head are aligned or centered on the spine, so there is no imbalance or greater force in front of or behind the spine. It is this imbalance that may be the root cause of back pain.

Improve your awareness of posture

Part of the Pilates philosophy is to focus on or create awareness of practicing as accurately as possible. During exercise, you become more aware of how to control your muscles, including creating good posture muscles. After a while, you will use this posture awareness in your daily life. The result will be a longer streamlined look as you walk, stand straight and stand upright.

Help you breathe better

Another benefit of a better posture is that you will breathe better. Because you are standing upright now, your diaphragm can work better, make you exhale better, and inhale more air. This in turn provides more oxygen to the muscles, so they can better respond to Pilates exercises.

Improve joint flexibility

With Pilates, you can expand your joints with muscles and ligaments through their full range of motion. By doing so, you can create a balance of power within your muscles, making them more flexible. Increased flexibility also helps to maintain balance and make everyday work easier.

There is no better plan than Pilates for the exercise to improve posture. As you get more and more upright, get a flatter abdominal muscle, give out confidence and show a long face, you will be asked, "You look great! How did you do it?" This will be you Verify that Pilates is right for you.

Pilates pose: "You look great! How did you do it?" was originally published on Spring