A lot of people understand the benefits of Pilates when it comes to toning and shaping the body. However, Pilates is also a great way to treat back pain. Back pain can be a stressful inconvenience for normal every day life, not to mention when you’re trying to get through your regular exercise routines. Through the techniques found in Pilates, you can learn how to prevent and reduce your back pain. There are several reasons why this works.

With free Pilates exercise, you can learn the methods for proper spinal cord alignment. If your spine is not aligned, you will experience dull, aching pains in all areas of your back. A lot of people also experience pain in the lower part of their backs. Pilates is a fantastic remedy to utilize for learning the proper alignment.

Another great additional benefit of using free Pilates exercise is that you strengthen the postural muscles in your back and learn the proper posture for both resting and exercising. Pilates focus on the proper posture during workouts to prevent back pain. This is also great for alleviating that nagging lower back pain that can drive us crazy.

Through free Pilates exercise you can learn what NOT to do. You will become aware of movements or positions that may stress your spine and cause back pain. You will see things that you may have been doing all along that will contribute to back pain. You will discover how to move properly so that this does not happen anymore.

Here is a great free Pilates exercise designed for people with back pain.

You will need ‘the magic circle’ for Pilates for this exercise. The magic circle is a prop that is used to do some Pilates exercises and you can benefit greatly from using it.

1. Stand with your knees a shoulder length apart, and your head straight. Keep your shoulders dropped. Breathe slowly and deeply.

2. Grab the magic circle with both hands behind your back. Your arms should be parallel, with your elbows bent. Keep the circle low, just above your butt.

3. With a pulsing motion, squeeze in on the circle and back out. Control the push and the pull.

4. Do this five times, and repeat the whole exercise five times. You should be able to feel the muscles working in your upper back.

5. As you master this workout, you can slowly move the ring up further, and increase your exercises to 8 pushes and pulls 10 times.

Here’s another great free Pilates exercise for the back.

1. Sit on the floor with your feet spread apart about half a yard, and your feet pointing up toward the ceiling.

2. Extend your arms out in front of you, fingers pointing, and breathe slowly.

3. On the exhale, allow your body to move forward as if your body were curving to make a C.

4. Pull your abdomen in, flexing the muscles, and continue in the C curve.

5. When you are fully extended, inhale, and allow that inhale to raise your body back up, slowly.

These are just a few of the really great Pilates exercises that you can use to strengthen your back and get rid of your back pain.