11/26/2025
Keep moving, it tells your brain you are safe!
A 2019 study by La Touche et al. explored how people with chronic low back pain imagine movement.
Researchers compared 100 people with back pain to 100 without, asking them to visualise and “feel” movements in their mind (known as visual and kinesthetic motor imagery).
🔍 What they found...
People with chronic low back pain:
Found it harder to imagine movement clearly.
Took longer to mentally picture or “feel” movement.
Those with poorer imagery ability also had more fear of movement, lower self-confidence, and greater disability.
⚠️ Limitations:
It was a cross-sectional study so we don’t know if pain causes poor imagery or if poor imagery contributes to ongoing pain.
Imagery ability was self-reported, which can be influenced by attention or motivation.
✨ What this means for Pilates & movement teachers:
Chronic pain isn’t just about the body, it can change how the brain represents movement.
Helping clients reconnect mentally with how movement feels and looks can support their recovery - this is why mindful practices like Pilates can be so powerful with managing pain symptoms.
Focus on perception of movement while moving 💪
Movement is medicine
Tom
