Heads Up on Your Body

Does Pilates Give You Sciatica?

You may have noticed that I’ve written a few posts on sciatica, and I also happen to be a pilates instructor and do pilates myself. It may have you wondering, does pilates cause sciatica?

No, pilates does not cause sciatica, but there are certain positions and movements in pilates that can spark sciatica if done incorrectly for your specific body.

If you feel sciatic twinges after a pilates session, or if your low back aches and feels tight (a possible sign of upcoming sciatica) after pilates, you might need to look at these factors:

1. Spring Tension
If your springs are too heavy, you could be bracing down into your low back and shoulders in an effort to push your legs out. This undue pressure into your back could create muscle tension-induced sciatica.

2. Extreme External Rotation
If you turn your legs out too far, you are not only using poor form, you’re sending all the energy of the rotation straight into your low back, the place where sciatica typically originates from.

A good rule of thumb is, rotate you legs so there is a fist’s width between your big toes.

If you look down and see that your feet are turned out wider than a fist’s width, you’re turning out too far.

3. Squeezing your sitz bones.
When externally rotating your legs, its just the bones and muscles gently spinning into the position. This rotation shouldn’t feel any more tense than just standing with your legs parallel.

Squeezing your butt tightly while turning your legs out is one of the number 1 causes of pilates-induced sciatica.

You can “hold on” to your sitz bones too much during any pilates exercise, no matter what the position. If you think that this is what’s attributing to your pain, ask your teacher to help you learn to drop the sitz bones… you’ll work more from your core and less from the periphery!

4. Connecting into your abdominals incorrectly
Be sure that you’re not pushing your low back down into the mat as you connect your belly button to your spine. Keeping neutral pelvis and the natural curve of your lower spine while you connect in is not only the proper way to do pilates, but it will also save your back from pain and even strengthen your back and abdominals.

5. Specific exercises
Try leaving out one of these exercises each session, and see how you feel the next day. Sometimes these exercises just don’t work for people prone to sciatica:

-Stomach Massage
-Teaser
-Climb a Tree
-Overhead
-Side Kicks
-Tower
-Monkey
-Hamstring Stretches

These are just some suggestions to try with your instructor! Always be sure to tell your instructor how you feel before, during, and after your session so they can help you figure out what is inducing the sciatica and to structure the best session for your body!

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