10 Essential Prehab Exercises For Swimmers

10 Essential Prehab Exercises For Swimmers

by | Sep 4, 2024 | Pilates, Yoga

Imagine gliding through the crystal-clear water, each stroke a dance of grace and freedom. The sunlight sparkles on the surface, and as you breathe in the cool, refreshing air, you feel a sense of rejuvenation wash over you.

Swimming isn’t just exercise; it’s a meditative escape, a way to connect with your body and spirit. Each lap brings a sense of flow, allowing the stresses of the day to dissolve with each powerful kick and rhythmic breath.

Amidst this blissful experience, the last thing you need is an injury! That’s where prehab (short for prehabilitation) exercises for swimmers comes into play.

In this blog we explore common swimming injuries and how effective, tailored, prehab exercises for swimmerscan help you maintain your passion for the sport while safeguarding your health.

Overuse Injuries In Swimming

* The information is provided in good will for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional or medical advice. See our full disclaimer here.*

Most swimming injuries fall into the category of overuse injuries. They usually have a gradual, insidious onset/worsening of symptoms over time, starting as a niggle and turning into a naggle!

Some examples of overuse swimming injuries are swimmers shoulder (where the rotator cuff and bicep tendons become inflamed and irritate the nerves and other structures beneath), swimmer’s knee (causing pain on the inside of the knee, particularly common for breaststroke swimmers, and swimmer’s back (also more common in breaststroke swimmers).

Overuse injuries in swimming are usually related to one or more of these factors:

  • A sudden increase in a particular movement (e.g. swimming a long distance when you’re not used to swimming)
  • Excessive and repetitive loading of the muscles/joints (e.g. swimming much further or harder than you’re used to)
  • Not resting enough and/or poor recovery
  • Decreased strength and/or mobility at key joints – shoulders, hips, spine
  • Insufficient core strength and/or joint stability
  • Stroke mechanics and breathing technique

Basically, Tension > tolerance = injury!

Cultivating a prehab routine can help to negate these factors. These essential exercises for swimmers are designed to strengthen, mobilise, and stabilise your body, ensuring that your time in the water remains joyful and unencumbered.

Thread The Needle

This exercise increases mobility in your spine and shoulder, as well as strengthening your triceps and supraspinatus (a rotator cuff muscle).

 

Pro tip: Roll your shoulders open as far as you can as if opening against a wall behind you.

Plank to Downdog

Plank to Downdog strengthens your shoulders throughout the full range of flexion. This exercise improves shoulder stability, core strength, and spine & shoulder mobility.

 

Pro tip: from the downdog position keep your hips high while pushing your chest forward between your arms and looking to your hands to create extension in your spine.

Dumb Waiters

This is a shoulder stability exercise that strengthens the rotator cuff muscles and rhomboids which sit between your shoulder blades.

 

Pro tip: keep your upper arms and elbows tucked in tight to your sides, as if you’re squeezing oranges under your armpits.

IYTs

IYTs improve shoulder flexibility and scapular tracking (how your shoulder blades move). You can do these with or without a resistance band.

 

Pro tip: Keep your shoulders down away from your ears throughout and avoid leaning backwards as your arms raise.

B*stards Variation

This exercise teaches your shoulder blade and shoulder to coordinate their movements and strengthens your rotator cuff muscles. It provides important stability for the catch and pull aspects of your stroke.

Pro tip: Use a light weight first and build to a moderate weight. Aim for high reps and/or continue until you can’t do a single one more.

Side Plank

Use side plank to build strength in your oblique (waist) muscles, shoulders, and outer hips.

 

Pro tip: Imagine a rectangle from right shoulder to right hip, across to left hip, and up to left shoulder. Keep each corner of the rectangle facing the front and don’t allow your shoulders to droop to the floor.

Prone Swimming

This exercise may feel gentle, but you get a big bang for your buck! It strengthens the back line – hamstrings, glutes, erector spinae, lats, traps, and rhomboids. It also teaches your core and limbs to coordinate swimming specific movements in a controlled setting.

 

Pro tip: Keep the headlights of your pelvis stuck down to the floor as you lift your leg to ensure you’re moving from the hip and glutes.

Back Extension

Strengthen your back and improve your flexibility with back extension.

 

Pro tip: Look down to the ground as you lift your upper body to keep your neck in a strong neutral position.

Lats Stretch

The lats are huge muscles on your back and in fact they are the only muscles that connect your shoulder and pelvis. This means there’s a big demand on them in swimming. Show your lats some love with this – the greatest stretch in the world!

Pec Stretch

We could all do with stretching our pecs. These muscles of the chest can cause shoulder and neck pain when they’re tight and unhappy. Keep them sweet with this gorgeous pec stretch.

Build A Routine

These exercises for swimmers are most effective when they become part of your weekly routine. Aim to do at least 10-20 minutes of prehab twice a week to reduce your risk of overuse injury. You can even use prehab exercise as a warmup (though save static stretches like the pec and lat stretches for after your swim).

Get Strong For Swimming With Pilates at Cove

Making and sticking to a plan can be the greatest barrier to those who mean well by starting a prehab habit. Take the thought out of it and let us do the work!

In just 1-2 Pilates classes a week you’ll hit all the major muscle groups involved in swimming whilst building full body strength, stability, and mobility for real life impact.

Book Here

See you on the mat soon!

Jennie

 

Hello@covecornwall.co.uk

Cove Mind & Body

Fore Street

East Looe

Cornwall

PL13 1AD

Pilates on Looe Beach: Honouring a Friendship

Pilates on Looe Beach: Honouring a Friendship

by | Jul 31, 2024 | Events, Pilates, Studio News, Workshops and Gatherings

At Cove Mind & Body, we put heart at the centre of everything we do. We believe that wellness and compassion go hand in hand. There are few things as powerful as a community coming together to support a meaningful cause. So last week, Cove held the first of our Pilates on Looe Beach charity classes. It’s wonderful when we can combine doing something lovely for ourselves where others can benefit too. Embracing the power of the heart allows us to spread love and positivity to all those we encounter.

Through the Pilates on Looe Beach charity classes, we’re raising money for Crohn’s & Colitis UK. This charity is close to my heart, and I have supported them since 2016 through my previous business Reset Sports Massage. I share a cherished friendship with my late dear friend Katie, whose life was impacted by Crohn’s disease. Cove’s connection with Crohn’s & Colitis UK honours Katie’s friendship.

A Fun & Witty Friend…

Katie was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a painful inflammatory bowel disease, at 19, but she never wanted to be defined by her illness. We met in year 8 through mutual friends. In her first year at secondary school, Kate had been friends with the popular girls (of which I was not one!) but she soon confided in me that she hated the cool girl politics. We both wanted friendships that were down to earth, fun, and supportive and we found that in each other.

Many remember Katie for her dry comedy, but together we found humour in the ridiculous. We had each other in stitches daily! I will never forget the day we turned up at Katie’s older sister’s university Halloween party in full body paint and homemade costumes whilst all the other girls had come as cute kittens or naughty nurses! We laughed and laughed. Crazy costumes became our speciality!

We also shared a love of water and swimming, especially outside. When the summer holidays came around, we’d pack a picnic and cycle to a local lake or outdoor pool for the day, or sometimes a special trip to the beach. The activity was important. But what meant more was the space to share our inner lives openly and receive full acceptance and validation from each other in that ride or die way that only teenage girls know.

…With Oodles of Inner Strength

Katie had a serious side too. I remember how she marched me down the corridor to confront our geography teacher when she found out that Mrs Gill had put me on the lower-level exam paper instead of higher. She advocated for me better than I was able to stand up for myself at that time. As an adult, Katie was an early years teacher. She cared so much for her pupils and I have no doubt that she was a powerful advocate for many people over her lifetime. Katie was a strong, brave, and tenacious person who wasn’t afraid to challenge authority or stand up for what she believed.

That formidable strength and bravery served her well when she became ill. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC) are the two most common forms of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). These painful conditions can cause immense physical and emotional challenges for those living with them, and during flare ups they can be debilitating. Crohn’s & Colitis UK fund research projects, develop training and education programs, campaign for public and government awareness, and run a helpline for people with (or supporting someone with) IBD.

Katie’s spirit and impact on my life serve as a constant reminder of the importance of supporting this cause. From fundraising Pilates classes to community gatherings, there will be many uplifting opportunities for our members, friends, and the wider community to get involved. With every Pilates class, every donation, and every act of kindness we pay tribute to Katie’s memory.

I’ve written and rewritten this post many times, trying to find the right level of sharing our friendship without oversharing every little detail and story – they all seem important to me! I hope I have managed to find the balance. Crohn’s & Colitis UK is such a worthy cause. Together, we can make a difference, no matter how big or small our contributions may be.

See you on the mat (or sand) soon!

Jennie

Wellness on the Beach Series

22nd July 2024, 10AM – Pilates with Jennie

2nd September, 10AM – Pilates with Jennie

6th September, 10:30AM – Zen Yoga with Craig

9th September, 6PM – Partner Pilates with Jennie

11th September, 6:30PM Gentle Pilates with Jennie

How To Exercise Your Pelvic Floor

How To Exercise Your Pelvic Floor

by | May 17, 2024 | Pilates, Studio News, Yoga

This is part 2 of Fantastic Pelvic Floors & Where to Find Them.

Hello Pilatinis,

Does the cue to lift or relax your pelvic floor leave you confused? If you’ve ever just stood there pretending to exercise your pelvic floor whilst not really understanding what you’re supposed to be doing, you’re not alone my friend!

Many people’s understanding of the pelvic floor stops with kegels, and most people aren’t doing kegels right anyway. So I’ve written this blog to teach you how to exercise your pelvic floor.

This guide uses a combination of anatomical terms and informal language. This is to help you identify and understand your own pelvic floor through the jargon.

In my last blog post, I talked you through how to find your pelvic floor. If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to check it out now as it contains need-to-know tips before you try the exercises in this blog.

Firstly, let’s recap some key points from the previous blog:

  • The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that create a hammock shape in the undercarriage area. There are up to 18 pelvic floor muscles (depending on how you count them).
  • These muscles help maintain intra-abdominal pressure and continence, support the internal organs, and play roles in sexual function and natural birth.
  • It’s normal not to know how to exercise your pelvic floor because it’s out of sight & mind, functions automatically, and can be embarrassing to discuss. These two blogs aim to help you connect with your body from the comfort of your own home!

The astute readers among you may have noticed earlier that I mentioned it functions automatically.

Nonetheless, knowing how to exercise your pelvic floor voluntarily is beneficial.

Here’s 3 reasons why…

  1. The pelvic floor is like any other muscle. It can contract/squeeze and relax/lengthen. It also has an optimal tone, or state of balance, where it is neither too tight nor too relaxed. Learning to take the pelvic floor through this range consciously can help the muscles to work more effectively when you’re not thinking about it.

2. Everyday activities and normal life stages can affect pelvic floor tone. For example, long periods of sitting, lifting & carrying, hormone changes (pregnancy and menopause), physical injury, periods of heavy coughing. Training the pelvic floor can reduce negative effects of these factors.

3. Another muscle that works involuntarily is the heart. Training your heart through cardiovascular exercise can help it to function better and for longer. Well, the pelvic floor is just the same!

Certainly, most peoples’ pelvic floors naturally rest at the optimal tone. But what happens when the pelvic floor isn’t at its best?

The Overactive Pelvic Floor

If your pelvic floor is too tight it has poor flexibility and is unable to relax. A tight pelvic floor is usually weak as well, as it’s unable to generate the force to support the body properly. You may experience some or all of the following symptoms.

  • Incontinence
  • Pelvic heaviness, pressure, tenderness, or prolapse
  • Flatulence, especially if it’s difficult to hold in
  • Pain in your low back, pelvis, or tailbone
  • Changes in sexual function, sexual sensation, and/or delayed or absent orgasms.

The Underactive Pelvic Floor

If your pelvic floor is weak, you may experience some or all of the following symptoms.

  • Chronic constipation
  • Incontinence or trouble starting or stopping the flow when you go for a wee
  • Painful urination, urgency, or frequent need to urinate
  • Pain in your low back, pelvis, or tailbone

If you have any symptoms of overactive or underactive pelvic floor you should seek medical care from your women’s health physiotherapist, physiotherapist, or GP.

How To Exercise Your Pelvic Floor – The Exercises

I know what you’re thinking… you’re ready to try the practical exercises! And we’ll get there shortly.

First, sit up tall on a firm chair, and make sure you can feel your sit bones against the seat. If you like, close your eyes to help you focus on the physical sensations.

Take a moment to identify your pelvic floor, find the hammock area from your clitoris/base of your penis to your left sit bone, back to your bum hole, and to your right sit bone.

How does this area feel when you are not doing anything? Is it tight, soft, hard, relaxed?

Easy Squeezy

Now, focussing on your pelvic floor area, do whatever you think a kegel is.

What happened?

Does your hammock lift or pull downwards? Did it move or contract in position? Did the whole hammock move or just a tiny part of it?

Most people will notice that just a tiny part squeezes, usually around the urethra (wee hole), especially if you were taught to kegel only using the cue to stop the flow of wee.

Remember, the pelvic floor covers the area of the wee hole, bum hole, and vagina for women. So, by only squeezing the wee hole, you’re not getting much bang for your buck!

Let’s try again.

This time, try to lift your pelvic floor upwards, away from your underwear.

Use between 3-5/10 effort, to avoid bigger muscles taking over. If you feel your glutes squeezing, activating, or tiring, you’ve not quite got it yet.

Notice all 3 holes squeeze and close, stopping the flow of wee, holding wind, and squeezing a tampon.

Here’s some other cues that may help:

  • It may feel like a pincer squeezing and lifting like an amusement claw pick-up game.
  • Imagine picking up a Malteaser without using your hands.
  • And a lovely one courtesy of one of my Pilates clients; “imagine sitting in a bath of eels and you don’t want any to get in!”

For many people learning how to exercise your pelvic floor doesn’t come straight away.

So, for the next few days, try 3 of these contractions each time you boil the kettle. Eventually you’ll start to feel those muscles engage!

Control The Holes

Now you know how to contract your pelvic floor, you need to be able to relax it too.

Stay seated on your firm chair with your sit bones on the seat. But this time, slump forwards. It’s important to stay slumped throughout this exercise, so if you struggle to feel the cues try slumping deeper and trying again. You can rest your forehead on a table for support, as long as you remain slumped through the torso.

Take a big sigh. Do you notice your pelvic floor lower? How low does it go? Does it go down low?!

Now, relax your jaw, relax your shoulder blades, maybe close your eyes.

We’re going to work with the breath, squeezing on your exhales and relaxing the pelvic floor on your inhales.

Take 3 big breaths, noticing your belly, your ribs, and your low back stretch with each inhale.

Keep going with those deep breaths.

I’m going to bring your attention to different areas with each breath, but feel free to take more than one breath at each stage until you’re sure you can feel the cue.

Inhale

Your belly is soft, though full of air

Exhale

The lower belly, bellow your belly button, pulls away from your t-shirt

Inhale

Relax your bottom. Notice your tail bone lift and push back.

Exhale

Notice your tailbone close like a flap drawing forward.

Inhale

Feel your anus/bumhole soften, widen, open.

Exhale

The anus closes like a gentle kegel

Inhale

Feel your undercarriage stretch soft and wide. The sit bones draw apart and open.

Exhale

Notice the undercarriage close and gently tighten.

Inhale

The vagina lowers and stretches slightly. The labia (vagina lips) open like French doors.

Exhale

The vagina lifts and tightens and the French doors shut.

Notice how pelvic floor relaxation is just a gentle drop and stay, which is why I love the visual of a hammock so much. It’s held in integrity, but not bulging, pushing, or straining.

Try this exercise a few times a day for up to 10 breaths each time until you truly understand how to exercise your pelvic floor and how it feels when it relaxes. Once you’ve felt that connection, try it from different positions e.g. in the shower, whilst watching telly, or on all fours.

About The Breath

Many people say that the breathing is confusing when they first try Pilates. The pattern feels opposite to what they feel comes naturally. Breathing the opposite way isn’t incorrect, but through using the Pilates breathing pattern (as above) you’ll probably feel more movement!

Experimenting with the breathing pattern can be an interesting way to connect with the pelvic floor though, why not try contracting as you inhale or even without a breath. Notice how much harder that is!

Balance Your Pelvic Floor with Pilates at Cove

Our Pilates classes are designed to include exercises that help you strengthen and relax your pelvic floor both voluntarily and involuntarily. Why not join a class to find your balance?

Book Here

I hope this blog has helped you to understand how to exercise your pelvic floor. If you haven’t felt connected to your pelvic floor before it can take a while to get used to, so don’t worry if you didn’t get it first time. Keep trying and over time you will start to feel the engagement!

 

See you on the mat soon,

 

Jennie

 

How To Find Your Pelvic Floor

How To Find Your Pelvic Floor

by | May 2, 2024 | Cove Mind & Body, Pilates, Studio News, Yoga

This is part 1 of Fantastic Pelvic Floors & Where to Find Them.

The pelvic floor. It’s kegels, right?

In my beginner’s Pilates classes we often spend time learning how to find your pelvic floor. This part of the class usually results in scrunched faces and eyes rolling upwards as people try to connect with the elusive muscles. And how do you know if you’re doing it right, anyway? You can’t SEE the instructor’s demonstration, and she can’t see your effort to check it! So, I decided to write this “how to find your pelvic floor” guide to solve that problem.

Both men and women have a pelvic floor and benefit from using it. This blog includes information relevant to both genders.

This guide uses a combination of anatomical terms and informal language. This is to help you identify and understand your own pelvic floor through the jargon.

The Bottom Of The Can

Picture your torso. The part of your body between your shoulders, to your bottom. Imagine that area as a cylinder or Coke can. Your rib cage and abdominals create the sides. Your diaphragm is a large umbrella shaped muscle that caps the top. And at the bottom? The pelvic floor muscles.

These muscles all work together to stabilise your trunk, keep your insides in, and control intra-abdominal pressure.

So, let’s look closer at the pelvic floor.

It’s a collection of up to 18 muscles (depending how you count them) that line the base of the pelvis.

Their most important role is to support the organs that sit within the pelvis (e.g. bladder, rectum and others). When we cough, sneeze, lift heavy objects, or vomit, that intra-abdominal pressure increases, and pushes the pelvic organs down. The pelvic floor’s job is to stop the organs from being pushed out during strain (prolapse).

The pelvic floor is also key to maintaining continence, so you can move through life without wetting yourself. Lastly, they support the presenting part of a baby during natural birth, and help the baby maintain a birthing position.

It’s normal not to know how to find your pelvic floor.

Here’s 3 reasons why the pelvic floor is not discussed enough:

1. It’s a bit embarrassing. The pelvic floor is all to do with continence, wee, and wind. Not exactly dinnertime conversation!

2. When it’s working well, it works automatically. You don’t HAVE to think about lifting your pelvic floor when you cough, it just happens.

3. You can’t see it. The pelvic floor is out of sight and out of mind.

But here’s the thing. Even though it’s normal not to know, you’re missing out on a whole range of benefits if you don’t learn to connect with your pelvic floor.

  • The pelvic floor weakens over time, with some injuries, and during menopause. It’s never too late to learn how to use it though! Like any other muscle, the pelvic floor muscles strengthen with use.
  • Strengthening your pelvic floor contributes to an easier birth and postpartum recovery.
  • The pelvic floor is key in sexual function, so knowing how to control it makes for fun and pleasurable sex. If you experience pain during sex, you should consult a women’s health physiotherapist.

Are you ready to try something practical?

Here’s how to find your pelvic floor.

Take a seat, somewhere you can sit upright. Make sure you’re sitting tall, with your feet firmly on the ground, and can feel your sit bones against the chair.

Now, bring your finger to your belly button. Trace downwards as if along the fly of your jeans until you reach your clitoris or the base of your penis.

This is the front of your pelvic floor.

Next, trace further still.

Women: trace from your clitoris, past your vagina, to your tailbone, just above your anus (bumhole). Notice you’ve traced a hammock shape from the front to the back of your body.

Men: trace from the base of your penis (underneath), along your perineum (gooch), to your tailbone, just above your anus (bumhole). Notice you’ve traced a hammock shape from the front to the back of your body.

This is the base of the pelvic floor.

Now, men and women, notice the base of your sit bones as they rest on the chair.

These are the sides of the pelvic floor.

See how these three points create a diamond shape in your undercarriage area. The whole area that you have drawn is your pelvic floor.

Notice that the pelvic floor encompasses the urethra (wee hole), rectum (bum hole), and vagina for women.

Controlling the pelvic floor gives you control over the hole!

Visual Prompts

Here are some great videos and diagrams to help you visualise the pelvic floor.

For Women: click here and scroll to the second image. This shows you a bird’s eye view of the pelvic floor oriented with the spine at the bottom of the picture.

For Men: see the video here. This shows you the pelvic floor anatomy and what happens when you engage them.

Kegels: How To Do Them (Properly)!

Learn how to exercise your pelvic floor in our next installment of “Fantastic Pellvic Floors and Where to Find Them” in which I will walk you through some simple exercises to contract and relax your pelvic floor.

Read More

I hope this article has helped you understand how to find your pelvic floor. It’s important to keep the pelvic floor strong to support the body for daily life as well as during special life events such as pregnancy and menopause. 

See you on the mat soon!

Jennie

Harnessing the Healing Power of Pilates for Sciatica

Harnessing the Healing Power of Pilates for Sciatica

by | Apr 22, 2024 | Cove Mind & Body, Pilates, Studio News

Sciatica, a nagging and painful condition affecting countless people worldwide, can turn everyday activities into uncomfortable ordeals. Pain, numbness, and tingling that runs down the leg occurs when the sciatic nerve is irritated, compressed, or damaged.

Whilst GP advice is important for diagnosing and ensuring appropriate treatment, Pilates can play an effective complementary role in relieving sciatica. Delve into this blog post to explore how you can harness the healing power of Pilates for sciatica and make it a thing of the past.

Covering sciatica causes, Pilates for sciatica goals, exercises for varying fitness levels, and six bonus sciatica soothing tips, this guide contains invaluable information for your recovery.

A Pain in the Back Side

Sciatica is a radiating pain that starts in the buttock and spreads down the leg. It can go as far as the toes, or just to the knee. It’s usually described as a burning sensation or dull ache. Although many people refer to any radiating leg pain as sciatica, a true clinical diagnosis includes neurological symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or progressive muscle weakness.

* If you experience acute sciatica pain AND problems controlling bowel and bladder movements OR loss of feeling in the saddle area you should seek urgent and immediate medical care*

Sciatica is usually caused by irritation or compression of the sciatic nerve, which originates at the lower back (L4-S2) and travels to the legs. This nerve’s job is to send & receive movement and sensation information between the brain and parts of the thigh, lower leg, and foot.

Sciatica is not usually a condition in and of itself. More often it is a presentation related to a spinal or biomechanical problem such as;

  • Tight hip muscles & gait patterns (Piriformis syndrome)
  • Disc problems (herniated, bulging, “slipped”)
  • Narrowing spinal canal (Spinal stenosis)
  • Vertebral displacement (Spondylolisthesis)

Treatment options include patient education, physiotherapy, medication, and surgery depending on the cause. Pilates for sciatica is often recommended as a self-management technique.

In many cases sciatica eases within 6-8 weeks, especially if you take steps to manage it at home. But you should see your GP if the pain doesn’t get better, gets worse, or restricts you from your daily activities.

Managing Sciatica with Pilates

Although medical advice is crucial to diagnosis and appropriate treatment, Pilates can be used as an effective self-management tool for sciatica. The exercises strengthen and stretch all the affected muscle groups. Your instructor is also on hand to ensure correct technique and encourage you.

The goals of Pilates for sciatica include:

  • Strengthening the hamstrings
  • Strengthen the gluteals
  • Improve general posture & core strength
  • Stretch hamstrings, gluteals, & low back
  • Teach safe & proper movement patterns (e.g. for lifting and bending)

Try these Pilates for sciatica relief exercises:

Shoulder Bridge

Lie on your back with your knees bent.

Tuck your tail bone under to flatten your low back against the mat.

Press through your feet to lift your hips from the floor, but keep your low back flat.

You can target the hamstrings more by beginning with your feet further out from your body.

This exercise strengthens the lower abdominals, buttocks, and hamstrings, and mobilises the lower spine.

Resisted Deadbugs

Lie on your back with your knees bent.

Lift one knee to your hand and push, resisting your knee with your hand and your hand with your knee. Hold for a few seconds before switching.

You can make this harder by preforming this exercise with both legs in tabletop ensuring you keep a neutral pelvis.

And harder still by adding a stretch with your opposite arm and leg.

Strengthen your lower abdominals and hips whilst testing your coordination.

Lift & Lower with Hamstring Curl

Lie on your side with your legs long. Use your top hand to stabilise, or rest your hand on your top hip. Draw your belly button in and lift your waist from the floor.

Lift your top leg to hip height, then bend your knee squeezing your heel to your bottom. Gently lower and repeat.

You can make this harder by holding a Pilates ball or small cushion behind your knee. Lift & lower with your knee bent, squeezing the ball.

To strengthen your hamstrings, hip, and waist, and to strengthen proper biomechanics of the low back and hip.

Hamstring stretch

Lie on your back with your knees bent.

Loop a strap (or belt or towel) around one foot and stretch your leg up into the air. Keep your foot flexed and your knee straight (even if that means you need to lower your leg a little). Hold for 30-45 seconds each side.

Advance this stretch by straightening your other leg.

Stretch those tight hamstrings.

Figure 4 Stretch

Lie on your back with your knees bent.

Place left foot onto right knee. Stay here for a gentle stretch or lift and catch behind your right thigh for a deeper stretch. Hold for 30-45 seconds each side.

Release the pesky piriformis, a muscle that runs over the sciatic nerve and can cause irritation.

Don't Let Your Niggles Turn Into Naggles!

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And here’s some bonus tips…

Six more Sciatica Soothing Strategies

  1. Use hot & cold packs to manage inflammation and discomfort. Generally, heat soothes sciatica well, but use ice after exercise.
  1. Avoid static positions. Don’t sit or stand for prolonged periods but switch between the two.
  1. Carry on with your daily activities. Although sciatica can make daily life uncomfortable, it’s important not to let it stop you as staying active eases symptoms and reduces the risk of other complications developing.
  1. But modify where needed. Modify activities that cause discomfort e.g. put your foot on a chair or step to tie laces instead of bending down. Don’t be shy to ask friends and family for help too!
  1. Wear supportive shoes. Flat shoes are terrible for sciatica, but so are high heels! Choose a trainer with a heel-toe drop of ½ – 1 inch or insert 4-8mm adhesive heel lifts into flat shoes.
  1. Walk that walk! Daily walking is really helpful to sciatica, as it flosses the sciatic nerve and encourages gentle twisting in the low back. Walking might cause discomfort at first, but after the first 5-10 minutes your pain should ease. Stick your favourite podcast or playlist on to distract you in the beginning.

See you on the mat soon!

Hello@covecornwall.co.uk

Cove Mind & Body

Fore Street

East Looe

Cornwall

PL13 1AD

Empowering Midlife Women: 4 Benefits of Pilates in Menopause Wellness

Empowering Midlife Women: 4 Benefits of Pilates in Menopause Wellness

by | Apr 12, 2024 | Cove Mind & Body, Pilates, Studio News, Wholehearted Living

When it comes to menopause, it can seem that women have been dealt the short straw. They hit their 40s or 50s and begin experiencing hot flushes, incontinence, and other symptoms they never had before. However menopause manifests, there’s no doubt that midlife is a time of change. Doing Pilates in menopause can support your body’s changing needs.

Although I haven’t hit menopause yet myself, I have worked with many women as they navigate this new life stage. Personally, I manage my own hormone related condition which, although different from menopause, has taught me empathy for people who are balancing life and health. I’ve learned to listen to my body and adapt my lifestyle to support the symptoms of fluctuating hormones. Body changes like menopause can feel worrying and frustrating, but they also offer the potential to become an empowering time when a woman can re-learn her body. This blog explores 4 ways that doing Pilates in menopause can be a stepping stone to better midlife health.

“Body changes like menopause can feel worrying. But they also offer the potential to become an empowering time when a woman can re-learn her body.”

ONE

Pilates in menopause reduces incontinence.

Oestrogen is influential in pelvic floor elasticity and thickness of the urethra lining. So, as oestrogen declines during menopause, you may notice an occasional leak when you laugh, jump, cough, or sneeze. This can feel frustrating and embarrassing, but it is in fact an extremely common experience. It’s important to address urinary incontinence, as it can cause UTIs if left untreated.

The Pilates method teaches you to engage your deepest core muscles, including the pelvic floor. More than just ‘kegels’, your body will learn how to control all parts of the pelvic floor during movement as well as static posture. Though this can take concentration at first, over time, pelvic floor control will become natural and subconscious.  

TWO

Pilates develops mindfulness.

Many women in menopause experience heightened anxiety, stress, and mood swings. Stress boosts cortisol, which can play havoc with already fluctuating reproduction hormones. Perhaps you also get brain fog and find that you forget things that should be second nature. When my condition first developed, I would sporadically experience this symptom too. I once found myself tongue tied over the word ‘hamstrings’ mid class!

Practicing mindfulness, grounding, and relaxation techniques has dramatically eased my experience of brain fog and, whilst I still experience anxiety sometimes, I feel better equipped to manage it.

Pilates is a mindful movement practice, and breathwork features in every class. Mindful movement teaches us to be aware of how our body feels and anchors us in the present moment. Just spending that hour lovingly in your body can help bring you down out of your head. The key is to work with your body and breath rather than fighting it. Take breaks when you need, and choose the level that suits YOU best, not your neighbour.

At Cove Mind & Body, we play calming music and use fragrant essential oils to create a tranquil space that feels like home. My favourites are grounding vetiver and uplifting citrus.

THREE

Pilates can improve bone health.

The body has cells that build bone and cells that ‘eat’ bone. These two types of cells work together to maintain a healthy skeleton. However, during menopause, the decrease in oestrogen causes the body to absorb bone minerals faster than it can build them. This leads to reduced bone density, which is a risk factor for fractures and osteoporosis.

We can work to counteract the decline in bone density by stimulating the bone building cells. When muscles pull on bones, they create a signal to the bone builders to work harder. Pilates involves weight bearing, balance, and resistance-based exercises. So, regularly doing Pilates in menopause is an enjoyable way to strengthen your bones. The controlled, low impact nature of the method makes Pilates a safe choice with minimal risk of falls.

FOUR

Pilates balances & strengthens muscles.

Scoliosis is often thought of as a condition that develops in adolescence. But many women are first diagnosed during menopause. Scoliosis describes a lateral and rotational curvature of the spine. Women may first notice that they experience new muscle pain on one side of their body, or that their clothes hang differently but they can’t work out why. There is some debate over the precise link between menopause and scoliosis, but there are some suggestions that it’s related to degeneration of the vertebral disks and bones.

Whilst doing Pilates in menopause can’t reverse scoliosis, it can significantly improve pain, mobility, and posture by creating balance across the muscles. Pilates exercises lengthen areas that are compressed by scoliosis and strengthen areas that are weak. Even if you don’t develop scoliosis, menopause is correlated with muscle wasting. So, regular strengthening movements like Pilates is recommended.

Just what you need

Times of transition can rouse a renewed focus on health and wellbeing. Whether your symptoms are primarily physical, mental, or emotional, Pilates is an excellent tool to support your mind & body’s current needs. The gifts of Pilates in menopause include stronger bones, stress and anxiety relief, muscle and postural balance, and improved urinary continence.

If you haven’t tried Pilates before, it’s never too late to start. These benefits can be experienced in as little as 12 weeks. Start (or continue) your Pilates journey at Cove Mind & Body. Reserve your space in our next beginner’s or mixed ability Pilates classes here.

Hello@covecornwall.co.uk

Cove Mind & Body

Fore Street

East Looe

Cornwall

PL13 1AD