Clinical Pilates

What is Pilates?

Pilates was first developed 80 years ago by Joseph Pilates, he originally developed his training methods to help rehabilitate patients who were confined to bed and later moved on to use his techniques with injured dancers. Today Pilates is recommended by physiotherapists, G.P's, osteopaths and spinal surgeons as a way to stabilise the spine. By stabilising the spine it can significantly reduce a persons pain and unable them to move around in a more controlled way and improve day-to-day function. Pilates can also be used by athletes to enhance their performance and in fact has been used by Olympic athletes, Royal Ballet Dancers and professional rugby and tennis players.
 

Clinical Pilates versus Traditional Pilates  

Clinical Pilates is based on the original work of Joseph Pilates but applies current research into spinal pain and the positive effects of stabilising the spine.

The Science

Imagine the muscles around your spine. You could divide them into two categories, the superficial muscles and the deep muscles.

The superficial muscles are the ones just under the skin that you can see the outline of and feel. Their role is to move you so they are the muscles that will enable you to extend backwards, move side to side and rotate. The deep muscles are situated very close to the spine, run from vertebra to vertebra and their job is to stabilise your spine. They act as scaffolding around the spine supporting it as you move. Now think about the muscles around your lower abdomen, again these can be divided into superficial and deep. The deep muscle is called the transversus abdominis. The transversus abdominis then runs into the thorocolumber fascia around the back and together they form a 'corset' of support around the lumber spine.The other muscle group of significance is the pelvic floor. This is a sling of muscle that runs from the pubic bone at the front, to the tail bone at the back. When the above three areas are working together they act to support and stabilise the lumber spine. Research has suggested that in people with low back pain this system of stabilising the spine is not functioning as it should, therefore vertebra are allowed to shear around unsupported which can lead to excessive wear and tear in the spine and pain. The aim of Clinical Pilates is to enhance the function in these muscles, which will ultimately stabilise the spine allowing more efficient, pain free movement.