A study was published today in the academic journal “Spine” that examined the effectiveness of Pilates in helping people with low back pain. As a Chiropractor that helps many people in Grantham suffering from back pain, I read this type of research so I know the best treatment and what recommendations to give to my patients.
“would Pilates be any good for me?” and “would Pilates help” is a very common question I get asked in the clinic here at Prime Chiropractic. So after reading this article I though I would share its findings and my thoughts on them.
What did they do?
It was a systematic review which means that the researchers looked at lots of different studies on Pilates for low back pain, rated how good they were and then came up with a conclusion as to weather they thought this meant Pilates was an effective form of exercise to help people with low back pain. In this study they looked at 126 trials and reviewed 10 of them.
Did they find that pilates helps low back pain??
They found that overall there was some evidence that Pilates did indeed decrease pain of people with low back pain when compared to not doing anything. However no conclusive evidence exists that pilates is any better than any other type of exercise.
What this means
Here at Prime Therapy Clinic we will as a general rule always give exercises for people with low back pain. We will also encourage patients to increase their general exercise. For patients with lower back pain what is important is that they do some exercise and this should be exercise that they enjoy. If they enjoy pilates then brilliant. This is more than likely going to help. However if they do not enjoy it and are doing it because they are forced to they are unlikely to continue and therefore it is unlikely to help. The Chiropractor at Prime Therapy Clinic will discuss what exercise you might enjoy and tailor exercises recommendations based on this as this is what is most likely to get longer term results.
If you would like to discuss exercise for low back pain and want to make an appointment with the Chiropractor then book online here.