February is one of our favorite months at SolPop Pilates because it’s “Pelvic-uary!” Pelvic-uary is a month completely dedicated to the pelvis and the surrounding muscles that support it. The pelvis is the cornerstone of Pilates principles and one of the most cued body parts. So why is it so important? The pelvis is a basin-shaped structure that houses some of our most vital organs and yet, the bottom of this bowl is completely open between the sitz bones, pubic bone, and tailbone. This diamond-shaped space contains the pelvic floor, a group of muscles that help to stabilize your core in addition to many other bodily functions. There are several layers of muscles here and they fit like a hammock at the base to support our organs, and spine and aid in intra-abdominal pressure. In fact, the pelvic floor is often considered its own diaphragm and works in relationship with your respiratory diaphragm to maintain the correct level of pressure in your abdominal cavity. Ok, but why do we care about it in Pilates??? Think of your pelvic floor as the light switch to your transversus abdominus, which is your deepest level of abdominals. These muscles work together to help stabilize your pelvis and lumbar spine. Ideally, however, you wouldn’t need to think about contracting these muscles and they would contract perfectly and beautifully before movement. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen and if you suffer from chronic low back pain, you might need to retrain these two to work in harmony, which is what we do a lot in Pilates when we bring awareness to our breath and these muscles. Awareness of these muscles and finding the right amount of contraction is the key to pelvic health. This month we will also bring attention to the alignment of the pelvis and to the other more superficial muscles working to help stabilize us and move us through space. These include our adductors (inner thighs), abductors (outer thighs), and glutes. Our inner thighs are fascially connected to our pelvic floor, so we get the added benefit of working all of the muscles that help us find and support this connection. Come into the studio this month to experience this connection to translate it into your everyday living!
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