Pilates for the Seated Professional

[Spoon]

I LOVE pilates! Ever since I started doing yoga and pilates, my back pain is much less intense and much less often. I have slight scoliosis, so it is great to find anything for back relief. I know that when I worked in an office all day, I would sit in my office chair and my left side of my back would get all tingly and "fall asleep" like my legs sometimes do. I went to a back specialist to see what I could do and he told me that I could either go to physical therapy or take yoga and pilates classes! Guess which one I chose to do...

Here is a little article I found that talks about the importance of being aware of your body, especially if you sit at a desk all day, and what you can do to help keep the pain to a minimum. Try some pilates; it really can be a big relief to your body!



Pilates for the Seated Professional
By Nick C. Sortal

I may swim, bike or run 10 hours a week, but I sit at my computer three times as much.

So guess which activity causes the most neck, wrist and back pain? The same one that I don't spend a single second trying to fix.

There are a lot more people like me, says Juli Kagan, author of a new book, "Mind Your Body: Pilates for the Seated Professional."

"One would expect health risks on the job if you worked in a coal mine every day, yet the risks are everywhere," she says. "The problem is, today's busy professionals don't take the time to stop, pay attention and prevent injury."

Folks that, say, squint at a computer as they write articles, or scrunch up their ears and shoulders to cradle a phone as they interview sources?

Kagan, of Boca Raton, Fla., combined her two loves to write the book. For the past 15 years she has been a dental hygiene instructor at Broward Community College and Nova Southeastern University and the past eight years she was a Pilates student and became a certified instructor.

Watching dentists and their assistants contort themselves over and around their patients set her on the way to writing her 155-page book ($18.99, MindBody Publishing). She originally wrote a manuscript called "Pilates for the Dental Professional," but she thought the market was too small.

"Most people are just really, really unconscious, unaware of their pelvis, the position it's in. Or that their spine might be making a "C" instead of being upright. Or they might have their shoulders gently coming forward every day over and over.

"So counteracting all that is what Pilates is about. Sitting up taller, lifting the back a little bit higher and being aware of the stomach muscles, which support the back."

Her book guides you in two things: 1) How to squeeze in Pilates techniques while hunched over a computer, so you don't go home with that crick in your neck. And 2) A review of exercises made popular by Joseph Pilates.

My big creaks come from work, when I lean forward to re-read a story or sit with my rear on the front edge of the chair, legs extended all the way out in a half-recline. (One time I did an interview on cable TV, and heard via the host's earpiece: "I think it would be impossible for Nick to slouch more.")

So Kagan sat me down at a desk and walked me through extended arm stretches -- "stretch one hand to the ceiling and the other down to the floor" she says -- and a deep-breathing exercise that required pushing my chest out, my shoulders back and pulling my hands and arms to the side of my chair and back.

We also did about 15 minutes of pre-Pilates joint stretching, such as the cat and thread-the-needle, then mat work from the book, general Pilates stuff such as single- and double-leg stretches -- exercises that are akin to yoga or any other body-centric disciplines.

Since our session, I'm quicker to correct my poor posture, and am aware to stretch and breathe more, especially when the words aren't flowing (and that's pretty often).

Kagan is hoping businesses latch onto her book and distribute it to their employees. Better posture at your desk leads to more hours at the computer, which leads to ... more productivity.

And who wouldn't want that?


Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. Powered by Yellowbrix.