If you have lower back pain, then lateral flexion (also known as side bend) exercises are the best exercises for lower back pain.
Lateral flexion of the trunk (also know as side bend) is a movement that is rarely used in our day-to-day activities. Yet, go to any type of fitness class and you will find side bend stretches included for almost all warm-up and cool down routines.
This is because side bends help to improve lumbo-pelvic stability, provides lower back pain relief and trim your love handles. An unstable lumbo-pelvic area will lead to acute lower back injury, sharp lower back pain, spinal disc degeneration or even knee pain issues as the force from the feet is unable to travel up the whole spine.
Imagine if you stomp your feet hard on the ground and that force generated by the stomp get stuck in your lower back area instead of being cushioned by every vertebrae of your spine as the force travels up from ankle, knees, pelvis, lower back and upper back. You will experience lower back pain simply due to excessive pressure created when we walk or sit. The lower back vertebrae may also degenerate faster than other parts of the spine due to excessive erosion of specific lower back vertebrae when that pressure is unable to travel up to the upper spine.
A deep side bend also helps to open up the sides of your ribs, thereby allowing you to breathe deeper into the lower lobes of the lungs instead of shallow breathing. Shallow breathing may create tension in the neck and shoulders.
What muscles are involved in a side bend exercise that makes lateral flexion so important?
Last month, we covered the importance of having strong obliques and proper rotation patterns. Our focus for this month is on Lateral Flexion of the torso.
The primary muscles used in a side bend are: External/Internal Obliques, Quadratus Lumborum and the Erector Spinae.
Quadratus Lumborum (QL) are muscles located deep in the sides of the lower back. Contracting one side of the QL results in a side bend, while contracting both sides of the QL muscle results in a spinal extension. The QL plays an important role in the stability of the lumbo-pelvic area as it connects the pelvis to the spine.
Erector Spinae (Spinalis Group) is a group of muscles that extends vertically up the length of your back, and are involved in both lateral flexion and spinal extension. Weakness/tightness in the Erector Spinae may result in overworking the QL muscles to pick up the slack, hence resulting in back pain. If left untreated in the long run, shoulder pain and kyphosis may also occur due to tightness in the QL, erector spinae and obliques.
Our body always tries its best to perform any movement we want. However, performing the movement correctly visually does not necessarily means that the right muscles are used to do the job. Any muscle compensation will lead to imbalances and ended up with back pain or knee pain.
Remember, your muscle is painful because it is overworked, not because it is weak! The overworked muscle is often the stronger muscle. If you push the stronger and painful muscle to work further, it will lead to injury or a total breakdown (sprain or tear) - so that it do not need to work anymore (same goes for our mind!). Hence, to relieve any painful muscle, you have to train the weaker muscle to start working to reduce load on the painful (and stronger) muscle. Once the weaker muscles tone up and share the load, the stronger and painful muscle will learn to work less and the ache will naturally go away! It's almost like magic.
HOW CAN FLEXION OR SIDE BEND EXERCISES HELP ME?
Flexion helps to stretch and stabilise jumbo-pelvic area and relieve issues such as:
1. Tightness in your lower back that may lead to lower back pain
2. Acute lower back injury (eg some people can sprain their lower back with just a hard sneeze!)
3. Chronic lower back pain aka pain that is always there but cannot be diagnosed with MRI or Xray. Doctors will tell you, your back is fine. However, you know it is not fine since it is always sore! 🙁
4. Accelerate spinal disc degeneration. An unstable lumbo-pelvic area means an unstable spine and you may be excessively moving only particular vertebrae thereby causing premature spinal disc degeneration. A stable lumbo-pelvic area utilise the whole spine to perform the movement instead of only a few specific vertebrae
5. Knee pains - when the force from the ground (as you walk or jog) travels upwards from feet to ankles to knees to lower back and get “stuck” at the lower back area due to unstable jumbo-pelvic area, the force shoots right back to the knee instead of being cushioned by vertebrae of the entire spine. This is usually described as knee pain after a jog. If the jumbo-pelvic area is stable, the force travels up from lower back and cushioned up all the way to the upper back, thereby reducing pressure on any particular joint.
A basic stretch you can do daily at home is the seated mermaid.
If mermaid seating is uncomfortable for you, perform this exercise in a cross-legged seated position instead.
To strengthen the muscles involved in lateral flexion, try the side plank:
If you find it difficult to balance with the legs stacked, bring the top leg forwards on the mat instead to increase stability.
Simply take 5 mins a day to do these 2 exercises daily (6-8 reps on each side) to increase lateral spinal flexibility and strength, and eventually build a better posture!
Here are some tips to ace this month's side bend flow in class:
If you want to improve your lower back pain or knee pain, our Instructors can help you to accelerate your recovery and performance by using Pilates Reformer machines.
Give us a call/whatsapp us to book your next Pilates Reformer Flow class! See you soon!
Find out about the Flow Challenge and how you can get FREE CLASSES every month!
Do each of the exercises 8 - 10 times for each side. It will take you 5 - 8 minutes. You should do it on the floor with the support of a Yoga/Pilates mat or a soft towel on a carpeted floor. These exercises should not be performed on the bed! You can do these exercises first thing in the morning to increase flexibility of your spine or at the end of the day to stretch out those tired muscles.
If you want to improve your lower back pain or knee pain, our Instructors can help you to accelerate your recovery and performance by using Pilates Reformer machines.
Purchase your first Reformer Pilates class offer here! See you soon!
Pilates is your ally in the war against diabetes. In 2017, Singapore government declared war against diabetes. As of November 2023, more than 400,000 people in Singapore live with diabetes, with the number projected to rise to 1 million by 2050!
Let’s look at some facts:
Recent reports show worrying trends that diabetics is affecting younger adults, as young as 30 years
What are the key reasons driving high rise of diabetics cases in Singapore? They can be attributed mainly to Singaporeans living a stressful and sedentary lifestyle and that most time-starved Singaporean reach out to fast food and convenience foods with high processed sugars.
Besides managing your weight, sleep and diet, what else can you do to reduce the risk of developing diabetes? Let's find out.
Diabetes is a disease brought on by either the body's inability to make insulin (type 1 diabetes) or by the body not responding to the effects of insulin (type 2 diabetes). It can also appear during pregnancy.
One should also be concerned about pre-diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance stage. This is a condition whereby one’s blood sugar is higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is always accompanied by pre-diabetes. Hence it is crucial to know if you are in a pre-diabetes stage and start working on precautions to prevent the full onset of type 2 diabetes.
Do you know that “lean people with a high body fat content have a higher risk of developing metabolic diseases like diabetes”? It is important to not only screen for your blood sugar level but also your body fat and visceral fat percentage. Pilates Fitness friendly front desk can assist you to measure your body fat percentage – do track on your body fat percentage on a monthly basis.
There are different types of diabetes and each type may have different symptoms. Some of the common symptoms include:
Singapore Ministry of Health has shared that “of the more than 400,000 diabetics today, one in three do not even know they have the disease.” If you have not screened yourself in the last 18 months, do make an appointment soon and screen yourself yearly to check on your blood sugar levels.
A clinical research conducted in 2013 – The effect of Pilates exercises on general health in women with type 2 diabetes concluded that “concluded that Pilates exercises can be utilized as an effective and safe method to improve general health in patients with type 2 diabetes.”
More specifically, here are 3 ways that Pilates can improve diabetes patients’ quality of life:
Pilates exercises have been shown to significantly reduce fasting blood glucose, post-prandial blood glucose, and HbA1c levels in diabetic patients. An 8-week Pilates program was found to be effective in lowering these markers.
Studies indicate that Pilates can improve lipid profiles in diabetics by reducing triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. However, it does not seem to significantly impact HDL (good) cholesterol.
The intensity of Pilates appears to play a crucial role in regulating blood glucose levels in diabetics. Higher intensity programs (over 200 minutes per week) were associated with greater reductions in fasting blood glucose compared to lower intensities. Reformer Pilates classes provide resistance training that increase muscle mass. When your muscle mass increase, your body fat percentage will be reduced correspondingly.
Pilates classes have no impact to your joints. This allows one to practise Pilates regularly, even on a daily basis. This makes a big difference especially to overweight diabetics patients since most exercises of moderate intensity may be overwhelming for overweight patients. As diabetic patients generally recover slowly from cuts and injuries, it is important that they choose an activity such as Pilates that has less chances of causing sport injuries.
Pilates classes require one to have mind-body connection to perform the Pilates exercises correctly. Pilates helps one to focus and improve mental health which is a great help to diabetic patients. Mental complications such as depression, anxiety and/or aggression are often accompanied by diabetes. Participating in activities that not only challenge one physically but also mentally will help diabetic patients tremendously.
Reformer Pilates, particularly when performed at higher intensities for around 8 weeks, can positively influence blood glucose control, lipid profiles, and other cardiometabolic risk factors in individuals with diabetes. There is no age, gender or fitness limitation in practising Pilates. Pilates is easily picked up by everyone including the elderly or someone who has not been exercising for a long time. Pilates is efficient as one hour of Pilates class helps to tone up full body, increase mind-body connection, improves posture, coordination and flexibility. Join us in war against diabetes – get started with your Pilates class now!
Shoulder extension exercises are the best exercises to fix rounded shoulders
It is known that shoulder extension exercises can correct rounded shoulders and fix shoulder posture and forward head posture.
Shoulder extension is the movement of your arms from the sides of your body to the back.
95% of the population spend their time with hunched shoulders over a computer or their phones for the better part of the day, which is one of rounded shoulders causes. In March, we focus on shoulder exercises for forward head posture and rounded shoulders to correct bad posture. Shoulder extension exercises are the best posture corrector for rounded shoulder and forward head posture.
Over time, long hours in a rounded shoulders or forward flexed shoulder position leads to a kyphotic posture, which brings about issues such as:
If left untreated, this bad shoulder posture of rounded shoulders and forward head may eventually become permanent leading to chronic neck and shoulder aches and pains due to long term tightness and stiffness of the neck and shoulder area.
Shoulder exercises fix rounded shoulders posture and comes in handy to help open up the tight chest muscles while strengthening the weaker muscles of the back.
Shoulder extension exercises increases the mobility and flexibility of the shoulder joint, which decreases the risk of shoulder or neck injuries, as well as stiffness on the back and shoulders. It is important to do shoulder stretches regularly to ensure the range of movement is not affected. Limited range of movement puts stress on the shoulder joint and may cause injuries easily. The same shoulder exercises to correct rounded shoulders can also increase the mobility of your shoulder joint.
Besides helping to correct shoulder posture and reduce rounded shoulder posture, shoulder exercises also tone your triceps and latissimus dorsi muscles - say bye to bat-wings arms and bra bulge!
After knowing the benefits of shoulder exercises, let us look at the anatomy of the shoulder exercises. Understanding the anatomy of shoulder exercises and shoulder stretches help you to target the muscles better and have a more effective workout.
The primary muscles used in a Shoulder Extension are: Latissimus Dorsi (Lats), Triceps, Lower Trapezius, Posterior Deltoids and Rhomboids.
To reduce the painful and uncomfortable symptoms of rounded shoulders and forward head posture, our aim is to strengthen the shoulder extensors listed above, and lengthen the front muscles such as the pecs and biceps.
A basic strengthening shoulder stretch you can do daily at home is a bilateral shoulder extension.
To further strengthen the shoulder extensors against gravity, try the superman. Superman is one of the most effective shoulder exercises to correct rounded shoulders.
As you get stronger, progress to a reverse plank to challenge the strength of your posterior deltoids while opening up the chest:
Simply take 5 mins a day to do the first 2 shoulder exercises / shoulder stretches daily (6-8 reps) to improve shoulder flexibility and strength in the shoulder extensors, and eventually build a better posture!
You may choose to add the third shoudler exercise if you have more time, or whenever you are comfortable to increase the difficulty of the shoulder exercise.
Here are some tips to ace this month's shoulder extension flow in class:
If you want to improve your rounded shoulders and forward head posture or tone up your triceps and lats, our Instructors can help you to accelerate your recovery and performance by using Pilates Reformer machines.
Give us a call/whatsapp us to book your next Pilates Reformer Flow Class! See you soon!
Find out about the Flow Challenge and how you can get FREE CLASSES every month!
Do each of the shoulder exercises 8 - 10 times for each side. It will take you 5 - 8 minutes. You should do it on the floor with the support of a Yoga/Pilates mat or a soft towel on a carpeted floor. These shoulder exercises should not be performed on the bed! You can do these shoulder exercises first thing in the morning to increase flexibility of your shoulder joint or at the end of the day to stretch out those tired muscles.
If you want to improve your rounded shoulders and forward head posture or tone up your triceps and lats, our Instructors can help you to accelerate your recovery and performance by using Pilates Reformer machines.
Give us a call/whatsapp us to book your next Pilates Reformer Flow Class! See you soon!
Find out about the Flow Challenge and how you can get FREE CLASSES every month!
“Candice, I went to doctor recently and he told to continue whatever I’m doing because my high cholesterol is managed! I told him, the only change I did was attending Pilates classes thrice a week at Pilates Fitness. I’m so happy that my bad cholesterol levels went down!” Chirped a happy client (let’s call her Client A) at the end of her Pilates class.
In the past few months, I spent a lot of time at the front desk or covering Pilates classes as the team takes turn to go on leave. I always treasure these extra hours as it provides me a chance to interact directly with my clients and learn more about them as individuals. In fact, what Client A experienced is medically proven. Pilates can lower high cholesterol levels. There was a study released by Journal of Exercise, Nutrition & Biochemistry (2014; 18 [3], 267–75) that shows that consistent Pilates classes may help people to improve “good” HDL cholesterol levels.
Recently, I’ve paid more attention to incurable but non-terminal diseases such as high cholesterol levels, diabetes and high blood pressure. Although these medical conditions can be managed and may not be terminal, one who has any of these medical conditions will need to lead a structured lifestyle of daily medications, diets and regular medical checks. Prevention is better than cure – in this case, there is no cure.
Cholesterol is a waxy substance also known as lipid that your body requires for many functions, including the production of new cells. Your body can produce cholesterol or you can get it from the foods you eat.
Anyone 20 years old or older need to check on his/her cholesterol levels at least once every 5 years. You can go for a blood test call Lipoprotein Panel to measure your cholesterol levels:
| Total Cholesterol Level | Category |
| Less than 200mg/dL | Desirable |
| 200-239 mg/dL | Borderline high |
| 240mg/dL and above | High |
| LDL (Bad) Cholesterol Level | LDL Cholesterol Category |
| Less than 100mg/dL | Optimal |
| 100-129mg/dL | Near optimal/above optimal |
| 130-159 mg/dL | Borderline high |
| 160-189 mg/dL | High |
| 190 mg/dL and above | Very High |
| HDL (Good) Cholesterol Level | HDL Cholesterol Category |
| Less than 40 mg/dL | A major risk factor for heart disease |
| 40—59 mg/dL | The higher, the better |
| 60 mg/dL and higher | Considered protective against heart disease |
Source: NIH Medline Plus
The reason why we need to do regular test of our cholesterol levels is that having high cholesterol levels does not give rise to any symptoms. As such, you may be a sufferer of high cholesterol levels and not know about it until it escalated into something more serious such as coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. You can also read more about other issues associated with high cholesterol levels here.
Foods high in saturated fats (fats from animal sources) or trans fats (fats from processed food) would increase your cholesterol levels.
Some examples are:
Think of cholesterol as a salted egg bun – the salted egg center is the cholesterol, the bun on the outside is the protein carrier that carries the molecule through the blood. The molecule that the salted egg bun carries is called a lipoprotein and it can be either low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (bad cholesterol) or high-density (HDL) (good cholesterol).
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or the bad cholesterol has more salted egg center and smaller proportion of bun and vice versa. “The good cholesterol molecule prevents the buildup of cholesterol in your arteries whereas the cholesterol molecule leads to buildup, and eventual blockage, of your arteries.”
The magical chant is the same for all incurable diseases – exercise, healthy diet and maintain healthy weight for your height. The issue is not how. The issue is what and where. What exercise should you choose? What should you eat? Where can you do them?
Pilates classes at Pilates Fitness are more effective in increasing the “good” HDL cholesterol levels because all Pilates Fitness classes are of medium to high intensity and provide both resistant and cardiovascular training. To the modern office warriors – Pilates classes at Pilates Fitness are extremely time efficient. You only need to do one hour of Pilates to complete 2 tasks that you normally need 2 hours to complete - tone your muscles and perform cardiovascular exercises. In fact, the slowest class such as the Core and Body Aches Pilates classes at Pilates Fitness can be benchmarked against intermediate classes at other Pilates studios. Our full time Pilates instructors are trained in a way to conduct these Pilates classes safely so that you enjoy greater benefit at a shorter time. In addition, Pilates provides more than the fitness benefits – Pilates corrects your posture and teaches your body how to move effectively, thereby reducing muscle tension and body aches.
Lastly, we all know that there are many things that we should do but it is difficult to ensure we do that - too many temptations! It is easy to get distracted with the issues of life and discontinue regular exercise. Hence in order to reduce your bad cholesterol levels, it is important to 1) find an exercise that you enjoy and 2) ensure that you can exercise in close proximity to your work or home. If you enjoy the activity and it is close to your work/home, it is easier to clock in 150 minutes of mid to high intensity exercise a week.
