Skip to main content

Flex, rotate, extend and articulate your spine.


Articulate your spine!  How many times have you been asked to do this in a Pilates lesson?  If you come to one of mine, probably lots.  

The cue, "articulate your spine" is used in the large pelvic tilt exercise and is used to promote movement between each individual vertebra.  In a large pelvic tilt you start in the Pilates relaxation position.  Firstly you tilt your pelvis so that your lower back moves closer to your mat and your pubic bone rises (a small pelvic tilt).  Then leading from your pubic bone you peel your spine from the mat one vertebra at a time, until you reach a bridge position.  To come back down, I like to think I am trying to imprint my spine into sand.  So to make a really good spine print I have to get each vertebra to touch down individually finishing with my tail bone.  Naturally I am engaging my core throughout the whole exercise. 

So what do we achieve by articulating our spines?  We have lots of muscles in our back and the deep muscles of the back are the target for articulation.   We are working the erector spinae group that includes the spinalis, longissimus and iliocostalis.  You can feel these muscles as a slight bulge in you back either side of your spine.  Deeper than these are the transversospinalis group which includes the semispinalis, multifidus and rotatores.  These muscles hold each vertebra to the next in a network of crossed layered muscles.  There are also more muscles running between the vertebra,  but now we are getting very complicated.  

Needless to say, articulating through each vertebra has a great impact on a large number of muscles that you don't always think of.  These deep small muscles contain a high density of muscle spindals sending sensory information about movement to the nervous system. Keeping these muscles healthy and active is great for your spinal health.  

Next time you are asked to articulate your spine take your time over the movement and really concentrate on the deep spinal muscles. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pilates key principles: Concentration

 In a world of attention grabbing, Pilates is a 55 minute window of calm.  As a teacher of small group and solo Pilates I can tell if my clients are having a busy mind day. When the mind is elsewhere, movements are not as exact and clients ability to complete a challenging move is compromised.  It is OK to have a busy mind, we are not robots, however letting go of your thoughts and concentrating on the movements your body is making will help your Pilate practice to develop.  These are my top tips for concentration: 1) Be present, use the repetitive nature of the warm up to connect with every part of your body.  Try to visualize each part of your body, be selfish and only focus on yourself.  2) Pay attention to the alignment of your body.  The beautiful line from your toe, through your ankle, knee and then into your hip.  Maintaining correct alignment will increase the difficulty of an exercise.  Why not challenge yourself to completing level ...
Post a Comment
Read more

When I stretch my hip flexor muscles I feel it in the front of my thighs. Is this right?

 The short answer is yes!  In my first post I talked about the movement of hip flexion and listed the hip flexors.  We have already covered the iliopsoas the main flexor of the hip.  Today I am going to talk about the rectus femoris muscle which also assist with hip flexion.  The rectus femoris is the large muscles at the front of your upper thigh.  If you sit down with a tray on your lap, the tray would be resting on your rectus femoris. It is part of the quadriceps, four muscles on the front of the leg between the pelvis and the knee. Rectus femoris is the only quadricep that reaches over the hip joint as it originates on the front of the pelvis.   In class I often reference your ASIS ( A nterior S uperior I lliac S pine), you have two and they are the nobly bones you can feel through your skin at the front of your pelvis.  Well you also have two  AIIS ( A nterior I nferior I lliac S pine) this is another nobly part of the pelvic bon...
Post a Comment
Read more

Osteoporosis

 Osteoporosis is a condition that lots of us recognise, but do we really know what it is?   It is a condition where your bones lose strength, this would not be noticed until you had a slip or a fall, you may not even know you have it.  However because the bones have lost some of their strength a simple accident could end up causing a bone fracture (break).  This condition impacts both females and  males.  How do the bones lose strength?  Your bone are just as alive and changing as your skin.  It is normal for us to shed some old skin as we grow new skin.  In our bones, old bone is absorbed by cells called osteoclasts and then new bone is built by cells called osteoblasts.  This process is know as bone remodeling and keeps our skeleton healthy.  As we travel through phases of our life the hormones that balance this cycle change.  As we get older some aspects of our bodies don't keep working as efficiently as they used to....
Post a Comment
Read more