Many people with back pain are told to ‘switch on the core’ or ‘brace the abdomen’ during Pilates.
But is this actually necessary?
A 2026 randomised trial looked at 152 people with persistent low back pain. Both groups completed Pilates 2 sessions per week for 12 weeks. The main difference was the instructions they received:
- One group was encouraged to perform the exercises in a relaxed and smooth way
- The other group was encouraged to specifically activate the core and abdominal muscles.
So, which group improved more?
After 12 weeks, both groups improved. On average, pain reduced from ~7/10 to ~4/10, and both groups also improved in disability.
This suggests that the helpful part may have been doing Pilates and gradually moving more – rather than the specific cue to brace the abdomen.
Interestingly, the group encouraged to keep the abdomen relaxed had slightly greater improvements in disability at 12 weeks compared with the group encouraged to keep the abdomen contracted. For other outcomes, including pain, the difference between groups was less clear.
My read is not that Pilates is ‘bad’ or that core muscles do not matter. Rather, this study adds to a broader message: for most people with back pain, constantly focusing on bracing, protecting, or controlling the spine is probably not necessary.
In many cases, it may be more helpful to move in a way that feels relaxed, confident, and gradually more challenging over time.
So, if you enjoy Pilates, great – but you probably do not need to grip your abdomen the whole time for it to help your back.
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References:
- Lunkes et al. (2026) PMID: 41935896
