At the crossroads of Pilates, yoga, stretching and postural analysis, this new approach invites overhaul our way of holding ourselves but also of doing sports. Back pain, evil of the century? According to the survey carried out by OpinionWay in 2017, 9 out of 10 French people suffer from back pain. In question, stress, overweight, prolonged inactivity, almost permanent sitting and of course, bad postures, when we carry heavy loads, work at a desk or exercise.
Generic advice from the pros:Play sports to strengthen your back. "Not always a good idea", retort Jessica Braud, alias Jess, and Mariana, Alias Roumy, coaches and sports medical educators at the origin of a new postural concept:the body reboot.
"Fitness rooms attract a lot of people referred by their doctor or physiotherapist; unfortunately, they risk above all making things worse by practicing muscle strengthening on erroneous postures", deplores Roumy. The tandem of female coaches denounces loud and clear the bad indications in vogue in the gyms, but also in the offices of certain health professionals. Flagship example:puff out the chest, pull out the chest and squeeze the shoulder blades to pull the shoulders back. "An anatomical heresy", indignant Jessica Braud. "This gesture risks deforming the dorsal column even more, which will accentuate the lumbar and cervical lordosis (Editor's note:deformation), thus causing a compaction and compression of the discs", argues this toned brunette.
Same observation for the back corrective belts prescribed by specialists. The spine undergoes this constraint in a passive and powerless way but does not straighten up because the strategic muscles remain asleep. Born from a misunderstanding of the body, this postural received idea generates trauma and chronic pain , especially if the person has had back pain for years, or has repeated lumbago.
Video of the day:"It is precisely to put an end to this approach by "forcing "that we launched our concept", explains Roumy, also a former professional dancer and dance sport teacher. In order to straighten the spine, priority is given to the activation of the spinal erectors. Located along the spine, these muscles that nobody talks about are the real actors of a correct posture.
When they are awake, the spine can become straight, strong and functional, able to serve as the basis for all our movements. The body regains its natural position, it frees itself from bad tensions, pain and obstacles to performance. Body Reboot's expertise helps people in pain as well as athletes and dancers, who finally manage to understand why they can't perform certain movements.
First step:after an analysis of the posture and an examination of the abdominal strap, it is a question of unloading the muscular tensions to attenuate the pains and to restore mobility. Cervical, back, lumbar... massages are necessary when there is pain. They deactivate "trigger points" or contractures, promote muscle recovery and alignment of their fibers, activate blood and lymphatic circulation to drain toxins.
Other essential tools:stretching and yoga. "It's not just relaxation. The more intense the stretches, the more their benefits are optimized:they decompress the vertebral discs and give length to the spine", describes Roumy.
Once the bulk of the tensions have been evacuated – this can take several weeks – the student is able to concentrate on the placement work around a natural posture, without compensation. Done well, in the gym or at home, bodybuilding will anchor the work of rebalancing. Example:we learn to engage the abdominal box so as not to pull on the lower back during exercise.
"During abs sequences, students are often asked to draw the navel towards the spine, but what happens between the navel and the pubis", asks Jessica Braud. This region is often "dead", prey to relaxation because we do not know how to engage it. Yet it is on this caisson that the column and the bust rest. As a reinforcement of the bodybuilding, Pilates will mobilize the "core" (deep muscles of the center of the body) in order to better distribute the forces and to build an abdominal belt and a flawless column. The secret of the Body Reboot:the student focuses on his feelings. It is by infusing consciousness into the muscle that we gradually understand how it moves.
As for the treatment protocol, it takes several individual sessions, at least once a week. Once the good postural reflexes have been integrated, it is possible to continue the work in group lessons, within the framework of the sports association Moving Forward. Recognizing a trigger point, massaging oneself with a massage roller or a tennis ball, stretching the hips to unblock the pelvis and relieve the back by ricochet... Everyone slowly learns to make the right movements, armed with a better knowledge of his body. "The more people straighten up, the more they feel the anatomical logic and understand the postural impact on health and their general condition", summarizes Jessica. New habits that change lives.
Find out more www.bodyrebootparis.com
