Back Pain Relief: Is Pilates or Yoga Better

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According to the American Chiropractic Association, about 30 million Americans suffer from lower back pain at any given time. That means about 10% of our population are left seeking relief for pain that can affect their mobility, their activities, and even their livelihoods.

For many of these sufferers, various forms of exercise are pursued or recommended by their doctors. The two forms of physical activity most often recommended? Yoga and Pilates. 

But which one is best? The answer is...it depends on the person and the source of their pain.

For the majority of low back pain sufferers, the root cause is related to pulled or strained muscles and ligaments. A smaller amount of sufferers actually have mechanical issues with their spines, most notably related to vertebrae, discs, or the soft tissues that surround them.

The good news is that both Pilates and Yoga offer the opportunity to help - as long as the patient proceeds with care and caution. 

How Yoga Helps with Lower Back Pain

There are many styles of yoga out there and individual practices often mirror the personal tastes and beliefs of the practitioner. Yoga is a very “spiritual” practice that adheres to a robust dogma.

In yoga, activities primarily include putting the body through a cycle of various poses and positions held for periods of time. The practice also emphasizes breathing and respiratory control while moving through a session of positions and poses. 

Most instructors focus on delivering a variety of instruction that helps people with everything from increased flexibility to relaxation and even aerobic and strength conditioning. 

That said, yoga is a very holistic approach that mixes treatments for the mind as well as the body. In fact, with yoga, the mind and body are treated as one and the same, connected at both the physical and spiritual levels.

For most back pain sufferers who list strained ligaments and muscles as the major sources of pain, the benefits of doing yoga are increased flexibility as well as increased blood flow to sore, swollen, or sensitive soft tissue areas that, over time and practice, can be almost life-changing. In some cases, it can even obviate the need for surgical intervention.

Additionally, yoga’s stretching exercises can elongate the spine, put your back in the correct alignment, and increase space between problematic discs and the vertebrae that bookend them.

How Pilates Helps with Lower Back Pain

Joseph Hubertus Pilates created and developed what we now call just “Pilates” in the early part of the 20th century. In large part, he developed his exercise beliefs via a desire to heal physical pain. 

According to Pilates Method Alliance:

“His vision was that a systematic, disciplined approach to physical and mental mastery would raise the individual to a place of higher personal awareness, and would positively impact the world by eliminating human suffering and reducing the need for hospitals, sanitariums, mental institutions, and even prisons.”

Pilates himself developed exercises and even equipment to target back pain (one of his devices was called the “Spine Corrector”). 

In Pilates, the practitioner is led by an instructor who guides them through a series of exercises that are low-impact and that emphasize strength and endurance. 

In particular, Pilates focuses on core strengthening with a holistic approach too. For low back pain sufferers who have a pain source primarily from muscle and ligament issues, Pilates can increase flexibility and strengthen abdominal, back and upper leg muscles that assist in mitigating back pain emanating from soft-tissues. 

One of the major benefits of doing regular Pilates exercises is increased control over little-used muscle groups and bringing a better balance to both sides of your body. With many types of back pain, atrophied muscles, and being off-balance can cause or greatly exacerbate pain in lower back areas. Pilates exercises can strengthen and balance these areas to reduce or even eliminate pain. 

What’s the Fascia and how might it be contributing to your pain?

Finally, I want to mention the role of fascia tissue and pain. The fascia is connecting tissue that wraps everything in our bodies, from bones and muscles to joints and organs.

When this tissue atrophies from lack of movement and stiffens, pain and swelling (and a lot more) occur.

When you work your body out in proper ways that align and balance, it prevents these fascia tissues from becoming inflamed and painful.

If you want to learn more about it, click here for my in-depth fascia article “Your aches and pains may be caused by this part of your body you’ve probably never heard of.”

Getting Assessed Before You Start

While both yoga and Pilates can help reduce low back pain, they can also increase it or even cause greater injury if the patient rushes into exercise without being evaluated by a physiology specialist in pain management through exercise. 

In other words, the best way to proceed in evaluating Pilates or yoga as a treatment method is to reach out to a qualified specialist and exercise instructor before starting any exercise program where the goal is pain reduction. 

Even in our current times of COVID-19 distancing and isolation, evaluation can be done live and online. This can not only help you avoid further injury, but also result in a tailored exercise treatment plan that’s right for your type of pain. 

Contact me today and let’s get you set up for a free consultation and evaluation, as well as recommendations for a specific exercise treatment plan to help your pain. As an experienced exercise therapy practitioner who primarily focuses on helping people treat their pain, I can put you on a path designed to help and keep you safe. 

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