Pilates for Health Conditions
Due to its non-impact nature and rehabilitative properties, Doctors and Physiotherapists often recommend the Pilates method as a good choice of exercise for a series of health conditions including degenerative diseases.
Pilates can be modified to meet individual demands and capabilities. From fairly common conditions like Osteoporosis to more serious illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis, Pilates offers modifications to suit anybody.
Pilates will have a positive affect on managing health conditions, particularly when it comes to improving the quality of life and handling the day-to-day activities of living.
Pilates improves range of movement, flexibility, strength, balance and coordination. Core strength, another well known benefit of Pilates will have a positive impact on posture and spinal stability and therefore protect the spinal cord and nerves and enhance synaptic activity.
Further more, the mental benefits of Pilates include a heightened sense of self, increased confidence and greater awareness of movement.
Below are some of the conditions that can benefit from the Pilates practice:
Osteoporosis
Pilates offers a great range of exercises that focus on and offer resistance for the muscles around the spine and the hips, the areas most affected by Osteoporosis. Pilates teaches you how to move well, improves posture and balance therefore reducing the risk of fractures and developing an increased thoracic curve. For active sufferers of Osteoporosis, the method offers a range of exercises that will challenge your body and your bones whilst avoiding spinal flexion, which could cause damage.
Arthritis
Arthritis sufferers are reluctant to exercise fearing that by doing so the pain will worsen. Lack of physical activity however, will lead to loss of muscle mass and increased joint pain and degeneration. Pilates is great for increasing joint mobility, space and support. Strengthening and stretching muscles around the joints can help to decrease the symptoms and deformity that arise from joint inflammation and cause pain in Arthritis.
Muscular Dystrophy
Pilates can help increase the quality of life of people who suffer from MD by increasing range of movement, core strength, lower body strength and muscle balance, improving posture, balance and confidence. The breathing component of Pilates will also benefit MD sufferers.
Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia (FBM)
Pilates can help sufferers of FBM by increasing range of movement and joint strength and also by having a large focus on breathing. Pilates will help FBM sufferers to re-connect with their bodies by enhancing the mind-body connection.
Research suggests that FBM may have some correlation with hyper-mobility. Pilates will help to stabilise the joints and spine and could therefore alleviate some of the pain related to the lack of joint support seen in hypermobile clients. Although sufferers of FBM may not experience a decrease in pain, the increase of strength and endurance will significantly improve their quality of life.
Both Fibromyalgia and hypermobility require that you work with an experienced instructor that will have a sensible approach and modify resistance accordingly to manage fatigue.
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Pilates focuses on strengthening the muscles that improve balance and stability while also helping to reduce muscle stiffness and spasticity, all of which are common problem for sufferers of MS. Breathing and increased body awareness can help to reduce the stress experienced resulting from a diagnosis of MS. When practiced in a cool room and with appropriate clothing it has a reduced risk of overheating the body.
Parkinson’s Disease
This debilitating disease causes patients to lose their ability to control movement. As a result clients will experience a loss of balance, fatigue, impaired co-ordination and a decreased level of dexterity. PD involves the loss of dopamine, which can also have a role to play in the depression that a lot of patients experience. Pilates works the body in a holistic way, which can actually help clients with PD to become more co-ordinated in their movements. It also strengthens all muscles in the body including the core, which helps overall with balance as well as muscle rigidity that can occur in PD. Instructors are able to alter programs to suit the needs of clients and therefore if fatigue is greater one week than the next, the class can be adjusted to suit. Exercise is widely known to help with symptoms of depression and is the case here as well. Although there have been no scientific studies to date, anecdotally, Pilates has been shown to really help with the quality of life for people with PD.