Southwest Florida's Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles
By Shannon Willits, Master Pilates Educator
In the Pilates instructor’s hands, bodies are taken apart, rebuilt and strung together in ways designed to pluck just the right heartstring. Pilates instructors delive compassion, happiness and just the right joke when you really need a laugh. Pilates instructors have a solid grasp on language and with just a few well place cues can
transform everyday movement into meaningful movement that can affect a person’s life forever.
We do more than just PilatesTeacher Training. We prepare you for a meaningful and successful career with our Master Pilates Educator and apprenticeship program.
A Life with Joint Pain
As the pain pandemic continues more joints everywhere are losing their mojo. Over 500 million people are impacted by osteoarthritis (OA) worldwide. Joint pain changes the way people feel and act. Luckily there is plenty of support outside of medication.
Sometimes the thought of exercising while in pain seems counterproductive. However, “exercise plays the most important role as the first line of treatment for OA, (Professor Helen French, Inflammation Nation, S3 E2)” The widespread saying, “motion is lotion” is a mantra to be shared amongst everyone, especially those with joint pain. Exercise has proven to be just as effective as over-the-counter pain relievers and has a more positive long-term impact.
Consider the relationship between posture and OA. Both significantly impact the other. “Joint misalignment due to arthritis frequently coincides with muscle imbalance creating additional stress on involved joints,” explains occupational therapist Carole Dodge. Luckily with proper movement training programs muscular imbalances are quickly improved.
From the other end, physical therapist Dr. Kelly Ruther states, “Your arthritis isn’t what is causing your pain. Your body’s misalignment, and muscular imbalance resulting in joint compression is. Just because you have arthritis doesn’t mean you have to live with discomfort. If we can reduce compression in your joint by improving your body’s alignment and muscular balance we can reduce inflammation, and ultimately reduce pain!”
Pilates for OA
Enter the power of Pilates. Pilates is more than a method for joint pain, it is a lifestyle capable of reducing chronic pain and inflammation starting with alignment, breathing and core stability. This trio weaves a supportive path for the joints.
Easy as A, B, C
• Alignment: In the Pilates method there is a primary focus to harmonize muscles through postural stretches and resistance training. Every exercise begins, ends, and is performed with corrective alignment to balance the muscles groups. As the muscles begin to balance, joint compression naturally decreases and joints can begin to move more freely.
• Breathing: Breathwork not only facilitates better posture and stability but it can also decrease inflammation. Studies have shown that breathwork combined with a deepening of mind-body training will significantly lower inflammation (Dr. Will Cole, How Breathwork can Help Heal Trauma & Reduce Physical Inflammation, 2017). The guided breathwork performed in Pilates aims to connect awareness within the body to every movement.
• Core: The Pilates method demonstrates how stability begins with a resilient core. Meaning Pilates goes beyond improving core strength to train the core in dynamic and functional movements. Directly this reduces load on the spine and hips. A great Pilates session includes functional core challenges like rotation and lateral training.
Support that Brings Joy to Joints
Pilates goes a step further than being nurturing joints. Pilates uses equipment to support the body’s optimal movement pattern. This allows play back into movement and a chance to move like care-free kids.
Reformer – An entire warmup is masterly crafted to the lower body called footwork. Footwork on the reformer focuses on ankle, knee, and hip alignment while using resistance in a reclined position. This gently facilitates movement into the most weathered knees.
Chair – The Pilates chair is an ideal apparatus to remove load and play with rotation and side bending. The resistance springs designed within the chair provide feedback to integrate the shoulder girdle to the ribcage and spine. All of this is performed with care to even non-loading joints like the hands.
BOSU – This unstable small piece of equipment provides the additional challenge of training balance. Moves like ‘cat’ and ‘bird dog’ are amazing on the BOSU because it provides reactive control which subconsciously contracts the core while stretching the spine and gently challenging balance.
Joints Deserve Happiness Too
Pilates is thoughtfully crafted to keep joints from aches and inflammation. While exercise is the first line of defense for osteoarthritis, Pilates is the game changer that joints deserve. Joints need the Pilates method to stay happy and healthy while Pilates can shine through thoughtful and fun movement. This harmonious relationship even makes the most successful dating algorithms jealous.
Shannon is a Master Pilates Educator with 4 growing local Club Pilates studios. As a career Pilates instructor and functional movement specialist, Shannon has mastered the science and art of her craft. She shares her knowledge by certifying aspiring Pilates instructors. Shannon’s unique approach for developing an apprenticeship has grown into a recent launch for Southwest Florida Pilates Academy.
Learn more at (786) 708-7601.
In her spare time Shannon has taken a love for playing Pickleball. Combining her Pilates wisdom with Pickleball training Shannon teaches Pilates for Pickleball. Currently you can find her Pilates for Pickleballs tips with Into Pickleball Online Magazine and pilates-pickleball.com.
