By
in
Often, lower back pain is the result of other muscles in the body being tight or imbalanced.
When your Calves become tight, your body’s centre of mass shifts forward and cause your low back muscles to over-activate. Your low back arch (lumbar lordosis) increase to maintain upright posture when you STAND. This add stress to your low back muscles and the rest of your upper body will over compensate for this weight shift.
In your normal WALK, if your ankle is unable to flex and point well, it prevents normal hip swing, shortens your stride and cause your upper-body and hips to take on extra work and become overused, weak or tight.
Tight Calves will negatively affect your RUN style and hinder run times. You will use more energy and struggle due to calves not releasing and relaxing sufficiently during long runs.
So if you are someone who STANDS, WALK or RUN, use the PBT Pilates ball to release your Calves. Here, one of PBT’s Pilates teachers Adelind offers 3 tips for releasing your Calves to relieve lower back pain :
1. Contract forward so that weight is on the ball
2. Cross opposite ankle over the shin
3. Alternate inward and outward rotations of the thigh
Written by: Jerry Teo
