How Pilates can improve your posture

January 7, 2011

I’ve never really understood how Pilates can make you stand taller, so I checked in with Body Harmonic Pilates founder Margot McKinnon. Here what she had to say:

“When we look at our own or another person’s posture, we are seeing their muscles and bones trying to hold the person up against gravity. And gravity is a strong force indeed.

So when you see someone with very rounded shoulders and a forward head carriage she is showing an imbalance between the front and back muscles of the torso. Basically the front muscles are extra short and the back muscles are extra long.

When they are at their appropriate lengths, you see someone without rounded shoulders and without a forward head. Another example would be someone with a big arch in the lower back that extends up past the waist. This person has shortened back muscles and elongated abdominal muscles. When these muscles work in proper balance you see someone with a slight arch in the lower back and abdominal muscles that pull inward slightly rather than poking outward.”

Hmm. So it’s all about balance. Pilates helps by creating balance in the muscles of your body so that tone is appropriate around every joint, says Margot. “When muscles work in optimal balance with each other they pull the bones into correct alignment, and voila, posture improves.”

Neat.

(Oh, and BTW you might want to sign up for Pilates classes if you’ve got some job interviews in store.)

Filed under: Fitness Swellness,Healthy Swellness

Tags: exercise, fitness, Kristen Stewart, People's Choice Awards, Pilates, poor posture, posture, reformer, slouch