As a Physiotherapist and Pilates teacher it has been my privilege to teach people therapeutic exercises for over 30 years. I am a firm believer that doing any activity which involves movement is better than not moving. But it definitely is the case that we get more ‘bang for our bucks’ when we focus on HOW WELL a movement is performed.
Moving Well? Why bother?
Moving well is when we perform an exercise with the joints in the ideal alignment and activate the right muscles at the right time in the right way. This can reduce our risk of injury and wear and tear as forces are shared more equally between all the different structures involved: Muscles, ligament, tendon, cartilage, discs etc.
Pilates Insurance Policy
Painful knees, hips and backs can all get in the way of moving about freely hence why prevention is my preference. It is vital to look after our bodies and keep moving. But as the Bananarama song says ‘it ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it’. Luckily for you Moving with Precision and Control is at the heart of every Pilates movement and it is this attention to detail which sets pilates above its competitors in my opinion.
This is where my expertise in teaching corrective exercise gives me the edge over other teachers. I have observed thousands of people moving over the years and developed my ability to communicate the subtleties of moving well to anyone in need. This is what I refer to as my Pilates Insurance Policy.
Pilates Reaches the Parts!
This brings me to share Sylvia’s story (a made up name and she gave her permission to share this story). Sylvia came to see me after having suffered years of intermittent low back pain. Following surgery for severe sciatic pain, although a relative success, there was some persistent weakness in her left leg and ongoing episodes of low back pain.
What quickly became obvious was that Sylvia had a ‘habit’ of tucking her pelvis underneath her. When we discussed it, she was aware of doing this and informed me that this was a movement she did in order to ‘protect herself’. But why did this matter? To get technical this pelvic tuck actually caused the lower lumbar spine to be in slight flexion, which lumbar discs do not like. Not only that, tucking the pelvis reduces the range of hip extension available when walking. This resulted in a slightly unusual gait pattern which I observed and she said ‘felt restricted and tiring’ to her, but she didn’t know how to change it for the better.
Faulty Movement Habits
These ‘faulty’ movements which people adopt, usually subconsciously during episodes of pain. Faulty movements become a ‘habit’ so that even when the pain subsides we might continue to move in a ‘faulty’ way. In my opinion this is one of the reasons why pain persists long after an injury has healed leading to chronic pain and disability for some people.
Sylvia and I worked together and she was highly motivated to change her movement habits. She is thrilled with the results and she tells me that people are actually commenting on how well she looks as she walks about her village. Not only that walking now feels effortless and takes a whole lot less energy than it did before.
Pilates Changes Lives
Bold claims I know! But in my vast experience of working with people it is true. Try this Pilates workout and invest in your own Pilates Insurance Policy today.
