Ever since Joseph Pilates created his fitness regimen in the early 1900's, people have enjoyed the fitness regimen and basked in the numerous benefits it proposes.
It was originally designed as an alternative option for injured dancers but has now grown to be a popular trend practiced by over 12 million people worldwide.
Pilates is a low impact workout, meaning your joints will not be under stress while you work out. This is a great option for thousands of people who cannot perform high impact workouts. When incorporated into daily life properly and frequently enough, pilates can have surprising muscle strengthening results.
If you're a pilates enthusiast or are just thinking about giving it a try someday, follow along to learn more about the rehabilitative benefits of Pilates!
It's the perfect exercise regimen for older adults and people recovering from injuries.
1. Pilates Can Help Those With Spinal Curvatures and Diseases
Improper posture can have disastrous effects on your body, especially when the muscle strain is prolonged and not addressed. Bad posture can affect ligaments tendons, and muscles in your back and shoulders. In some cases, this can lead to discomfort due to compensatory and improper movement patterns and eventually injury.
Pilates combats this issue, which is commonly seen in people who work long hours sitting at desks or those who have developed scoliosis or spinal degenerative disease over the years.
By strengthening your core and back muscles, pilates allows you to properly align your spine and shoulders in order to achieve ideal posture and alleviate some of the stress it places on your spine.
A pilates class will also give you the mental tools to become aware of your posture and your movements, teaching you how to properly recognize when your spine is not aligned. People with scoliosis or spinal diseases can really benefit from this sort of mental awareness.
2. It Increases Core Strength, Promoting Muscular Symmetry and Spinal Health
As mentioned above, pilates increases your core strength. Core muscles are vital to everyday movements, from walking to standing to running. They control your stability and balance, making you function effectively and lessening the probability of injury.
Pilates strengthens your core muscles so your body does not have to overcompensate for inefficient movements, becoming stiff and tired. It allows muscles to do their jobs freely and effectively while still properly supporting your posture. This can relieve stress, unnecessary stress on the spinal discs, alleviating and even preventing injuries like herniated discs. In addition, with pilates exercise, you will work both sidesof your body evenly to make it more symmetrical and prevent overuse and injury which is bias to your dominant side in your daily activity.
3. Pilates Teaches You Proper Rehabilitation Techniques
Many times, physical therapy involves having patients perform exercises that they are not prepared to do, either because they are too painful or because they do not know how to perform them correctly.
Pilates combats this issue by making it a priority to teach how important muscle alignment and proper body positioning are when it comes to performing exercises for rehabilitative purposes. Not knowing how to align the body to achieve maxium results can not only slow the healing process, but can also cause further injury.
4. One of the Best Benefits of Pilates is That it Increases Flexibility
In this respect, pilates works on a lot of dynamic stretching.
The stretches and exercises performed in pilates routines target the muscles for elongation and strengthening. Increasing the dynamically functional flexibility of your muscles gives you a larger free range of motion, which can improve your performance in other workouts and make your body feel more relaxed.
Pilates can thus be a great way to address stiffness of joints and other flexibility-related injuries. By stretching strengthening the muscles around the joints, the body slowly begins to increase its ability to move the joint with a greater range and without pain.
5. Pilates Can Restore Function to Those With Slip Discs
People with herniated discs, or slip discs, also benefit from Pilates. The activation of stabilisation muscles in the areas surrounding the neck and back with disc problem can be an alternative to pain relief techniques by providing better support.
Postural issues can be addressed, preventing the disk from wearing out more and causing more pain. Additionally, the strengthening of muscles that surround the disc can relieve any unnecessary strain on the spine by allowing you to perform fluid movements.
6. Pilates is A More Active Rehabilitative Approach Than Some Passive Physical Therapy Methods
Due to Pilates' rehabilitative nature, many find more success with it than with physical therapy, depending on the extent of the injury sustained. Pilates is a very adaptable form of training, whereas physical therapy can seem restrictive to some.
Physical training may target one specific area of the body, such as a knee following knee-replacement surgery. However, Pilates is a whole-body exercise routine. It targets not only the affected area but also other areas of the body so as to prevent further injury.
Pilates has also inspired many to continue on the track to rehabilitation since it not only strengthens muscles but also strengthens the mind by increasing motivation and inspiring feelings of hope.
7. It Can Aid in the Recovery of Hip and Knee Replacement Surgeries
One of the greatest benefits of pilates is its improvement of the mobility of joints. This is due to the fact that the muscles around these joints are being strengthened and elongated with every class, increasing your range of motion safely.
Increased joint mobility decreases how stiff your joints feel. When pilates is done regularly and for extended periods of time, it can also help decrease the risk of arthritis. Additionally, this can be a great treatment or alternative for those who have undergone hip or knee-replacement surgery, allowing them to regain full control in the post surgically.
8. It Increases Blood Circulation to Speed the Healing Process
Proper blood circulation ensures that oxygen and nutrients are traveling to every part of your body quickly and efficiently. Poor blood circulation can affect the heart, brain, limbs, and internal organs, leading to a number of unpleasant side effects.
Pilates ensures that your circulation is in tip-top shape, keeping your heart healthy and going as far as lowering blood pressure. It's the perfect workout regimen for those looking to improve their heart health and maintain their body properly oxygenated.
Additionally, when your body is properly oxygenated, injuries can heal more quickly. Without proper blood flow, the affected area will not have the necessary resources to recover in a timely manner.
9. Pilates Can Heal and Strengthen Your Bones
Pilates not only increases your muscle strength, but it can also increase your bone strength!
This is great news for people with osteoporosis or those who have recently suffered bone injury or invasive surgery, such as hip replacements.
Pilates attacks weak muscles not only by aiding in the reduction of body fat but also in the actual strengthening of bones. This will allow your bones to heal and rebuild and can also prevent future bone injury.
As pilates is also a fom of body weight training, it helps to strengthen our bones and skeletal structure by loading it during exercises.
10. Pilates Can Motivate You on the Road to Recovery
Rehabilitation can be a frustrating and arduous process. Sometimes, it can seem all too complicated for the results that are being obtained.
Discouragement is something commonly felt among those trying to recover from injury or illness.
Pilates gives you the tools to feel motivated and hopeful about the recovery processor exercise in general, teaching you stress reduction techniques, mind and body awareness, and improving your overall physical and mental health.
It provides you with tangible results and realistic goals to keep you happy and healthy throughout your rehabilitative journey.
Wrapping Up
Pilates can be an amazing alternative form of exercise for those who suffer from any type of bodily injury or who cannot sustain more intense forms of physical activity. It promotes concentration, stability, and stress-reduction, making it the perfect form of exercise for those on the road to rehabilitation.
The benefits of pilates are undeniable. If you're looking for an amazing Pilates studio, look no further. Here at Pilatique, we tailor every exercise to your needs, no matter the age, injury, or experience level.
Give it a try! It can change your life.
Although, Pilates is a low impact workout you can accomplish great results. Pilates exercises are used in almost every other doctrine, even in physiotherapy. It benefits for back pain and sprained ankle treatment.
Absolutely. It’s a great combo with physiotherapy.
Pilates is an ancient form of Yoga. The health benefits of pilates include
1. improved flexibility
2. increased muscle strength and tone, particularly of your abdominal muscles, lower back, hips and buttocks (the ‘core muscles’ of your body)
3. balanced muscular strength on both sides of your body
4. Enhanced muscular control of your back and limbs
5. Improved stabilization of your spine
6. Improved posture
and many more..
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