3 Reasons why your Physical Therapist sends you to Pilates
In high school and college I suffered more sports related injuries than I can count. Sure some of them were from the inevitability of playing contact sports, like a concussion, but some just had to do with my training routine.
Some of my muscles were overtrained causing tightness, imbalances, and aches in my body. Other muscles groups were undertrained leading me to sustain multiple knee injuries throughout my running and rugby career. Once I learned about Pilates in Physical Therapy those injuries were essentially non existent.
Pilates stretches what is tight & overworking
The more we can achieve optimal range of motion through our joints the better our nervous system is able to recruit muscles, produce force, and stabilize our body during movement. A lack of flexibility can lead to unwanted changes in that system. An example of this is having a shorter running stride because of tight hip flexors. Does this mean that we don’t perform the job? Nope, we still continue with the action but our body now recruits other muscles to do the job creating a substitution in the movement pattern.
So Pilates has flexibility training integrated into its system. An example of this would be Thigh Stretch. It is exactly what it sounds like- a thigh stretch! It also strengthens your core, glutes and hamstrings while the quads and hip flexors get a big juicy stretch.
2. Pilates creates balance and symmetry to the body.
Pain typically stems from an imbalance in your body. Pilates is designed to work your small stabilizing muscles as well as your primary movers. It incorporates bilateral and unilateral work. It works anterior and posterior chain. It moves your spine in flexion, extension, lateral flexion and rotation. ALL IN THE SAME WORKOUT
In plain terms it works your body in all dimensions, big and small muscles, within the same workout. No need to worry about biasing push vs pull days or forgetting about a body part. It’s your all-in-one workout.
3. Pilates teaches mind-body connection
It is teaching you to master your own body weight regardless of if you are taking mat classes or incorporating equipment based Pilates. All movements stem from your core which is where the term Powerhouse comes from. Pilates helps you to move better, safer, and more efficiently to protect joints such as your shoulder or knee since you are initiating movement from a strong center base.
Did your physical therapist refer you to Pilates to help recover from an injury? Set up a movement assessment to schedule your first session.
