Our Splendid Spines: It’s all about sequential articulation

At this ‘back to school’ time of year, after a break from classes, I will often come back to my own Pilates practice with fresher eyes and an openness to feeling it all a bit different. Add in a couple of long-haul flights, long car journeys, sun loungers, afternoon hammock napping and finally binge-watching ‘Legends’ on Netflix… and my body is super ready to get back to familiar moves it knows will make it feel really good.

When we have been more, let’s say, ‘still’, it is usually our spine that feels stiff and niggly first. When I really think about the spine as a joint, or sequence of joints, I am quite overwhelmed by how amazing it is. An awesome, strong and bendy behemoth, holding us up and supporting really all things. Wow. Just wow.

Quick re-cap: Our spines are made up of twenty four vertebrae and three sections. Seven twisty little vertebrae in our necks (cervical), twelve flexible twisty ones in our rib cage and main breathing bit area (thoracic) and five mighty stabilising and shock absorbing ones at the base (lumbar).

Joseph Pilates famously stated that you are only as old as your spine is flexible. Modern daily habits like sitting at desks, or sadly spending hours in that hammock, can sometimes reduce the full range of movement of these bits, holding them still when they really need to keep fidgeting. Pilates can help this by encouraging articulation—moving one single bone at a time rather than moving the spine as a single solid pole. Distributing movement across all 24 segments reduces local wear and tear on individual joints and discs.

So, whether it is a roll down, roll up, roll back, a rippley cat and extended cat or a spine curl and curl up, rotations and side bends, these are exercises I sometimes call ‘micro Pilates’ as we really have to tune right in and see if we can sense the sequential articulation, particularly in the thoracic spine. This mind-body connection, this really concentrated chat with our vertebrae, and with a focus on breathing, makes Pilates a truly lovely treat for our spines.