14 Reasons you should try Clinical Pilates
The benefits of Clinical Pilates are immense. Clinical pilates is a form of clinical rehabilitation where exercise based treatment is used to focus on restoring normal movement, posture and functional capacity within the body. To rehabilitate from a particular injury we usually start with a program that targets specific areas of the body to promote healing and to improve your body’s ability to offload and support the injured area. We then use more global, whole body exercises to reintegrate the area into your daily functions and to improve overall mobility and function. This is a critical step in you regaining the confidence you need to use your body freely.
What is the difference between Clinical Pilates and Pilates?
Clinical Pilates takes a more personalized approach to treatment. Exercises are prescribed by a trained health professional, like us here at MOH. Your exercises are specific to your individual health needs. This form of pilates will adapt and change to suit your level and abilities, not just when you start but at every stage of your recovery. If injuries become aggravated through exercise, medication, or otherwise, then we will adapt your program to suit. The goal of Clinical Pilates is to help activate and challenge the specific muscles and movements that will bring the biggest rewards – fast and safe recovery and a return to full physical function. Rather than giving a general exercise program that you’d receive at a gym, your Clinical Pilates therapist uses their knowledge and training to provide a tailored program which targets specific muscles and movements. A good therapist will understand exactly what your body needs and prescribe a pilates program that gets to the core of the problem.
Here are just some of the benefits of Clinical Pilates…
- Improve Core or Torso Strength
Our clinical Pilates classes are designed to exercise targeted muscles to improve core strength. Core strength is important in everyday activities like sitting or standing for extended periods of time, lifting weight, walking longer distances and playing sports.
- Tone Muscles
Tone muscles to look, move and feel your best.
- Increase Flexibility
Increase flexibility and joint mobility to help with sports performance and everyday activities, such as gardening, house work and playing with the children.
- Reduce Back and Neck Pain
If you suffer from ongoing back or neck pain clinical pilates exercises can be tailored and adapted for you! The exercises assist with segmental spinal mobility meaning we get you to move at each segment of your spine, which will decrease stiffness and improve movement, a combo that commonly decreases pain. Focus will also be on strengthen surrounding muscles to offload pressure on the spine and prevent your stiffness and pain from re-occurring.
- Reduce Pelvic Pain
If you suffer from pain anywhere in the pelvic girdle, clinical Pilates may help by targeting and reconditioning core pelvic floor and abdominal muscles. Repetitive movements can also be harnessed to soothe the nerves, helping with pelvic pain that originates from nerve entrapments and irritations.
- Prevent Injury
Clinical Pilates exercises are great for preventing injury – they help build strong muscles that are more resilient and less susceptible to tearing, tiring and dysfunction.
People who lack muscular support, have muscular imbalances, or poor posture can be more prone to injury than those that fit, active and in good condition. Clinical pilates will help improve posture, improve muscular strength, correct muscle and movement imbalances, and improve flexibility so that you are more resistant to injury.
- Improve Balance and Coordination
Doing regular clinical pilates is a great way to improve muscle and movement control to assist in balance and coordination. It can even improve your motor skills.
- Correct Posture
Clinical Pilates give your body the strength to correct postural imbalances that may contribute to daily pain or discomfort. The important thing to recognise about posture is that it’s largely a subconscious function, this means that it will only change when you build a body that’s better adapted for postural load. No one ever improved their posture by sitting up straight all day at their desk!
Your exercise physiologist will help you find better posture by stretching and lengthening tight muscles and strengthening weaker postural muscles. By doing a regular class under the supervision of a trained professional, you will be able to strengthen yourself in this position and you will soon find it carries over into everyday life.
- Improve Pelvic Floor
The strength of the pelvic floor can become compromised during and after pregnancy, after surgery or simply with age or injury. Weakness in the pelvic floor can lead to urinary incontinence, difficulty getting up from a chair and pain in the pelvic girdle. Clinical Pilates can be used to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles to improve function and reduce pain.
- Aid Rehabilitation after Injury or Surgery
Injury and surgery can weaken muscles and cause them to lose their natural patterns of movement. Clinical Pilates strengthens and re-trains the muscles to function how and when you need them.
Before surgery it is beneficial to strengthening surrounding muscles as they can assist your body during recovery. Following surgery the muscles at your incision site are weakened and you may have decreased movement through the area. Clinical pilates rehabilitation will help with restrengthening these muscles and assist in a speedy recovery.
- Improve Overall Fitness
As well as strengthening the core muscles, clinical Pilates strengthens, stretches and tones other muscles to improve overall fitness. This includes the cardio-respiratory muscles!
- Reduce your risk of falls
By training balance, coordination and postural control clinical Pilates can help you reduce your risk of falling.
- Prepare Your Body for Pregnancy
Pre- and post-natal Pilates are designed to help your body cope with the stresses of pregnancy. Building up strength in abdominal and pelvic floor muscles reduces pain and combats the risk of abdominal muscle separation.
During pregnancy there are changes in hormone levels which can contribute to musculoskeletal pain. To limit this it is important to keep active and continue with safe, gentle exercise.
For new mums clinical pilates works to strengthen lower abdominal and pelvic floor muscles which are weakened during pregnancy and birth. Abdominal diastasis (separation of the abdominal wall) is a common consequence of pregnancy. There are a number of clinical pilates exercises which may help to strengthen the lower abdominals and help manage diastasis.
- Enhance Overall Wellbeing
Regular light exercise improves overall wellbeing by keeping you fit, active and stimulating the release of endorphins to make you feel great!
At Melbourne Osteohealth, our friendly team is always here to listen and help. Simply call or book online, and start your journey to better health today.