Non-specific lower back pain is the single most common reason people walk into this studio, and it is also the reason we ask for a private before a group class rather than after one.
What the evidence actually supports
Trials of Pilates-based exercise for chronic non-specific low back pain consistently show improvement in pain and function against no exercise, and roughly parity with other supervised exercise programmes. The honest reading of that is not that Pilates is magic; it is that loaded, supervised, progressive movement helps, and this happens to be a well-supervised way to do it.
The exercise that helps is the one that loads the position you have been avoiding, slowly enough that you do not brace against it.
What we do in the room
We read your physiotherapist's notes if you have them, keep the spine loaded in the range you tolerate rather than the range the exercise usually asks for, and drop anything that provokes symptoms on the day instead of pushing through it. If pain travels down a leg, changes with a cough, or wakes you at night, we will send you back to a clinician before you book anything else.
If back pain is why you are here, book a private first. A coach can build around the restriction in fifty minutes; they cannot do it while also running a class of nine.