You are currently viewing Pilates – What Is It And How Can It Improve Your Fitness?

Pilates – What Is It And How Can It Improve Your Fitness?

  • Post comments:0 Comments

Pilates has grown in popularity among rehabilitation professionals and physiotherapists in recent years. Most rehabilitation experts and physiotherapists, as well as doctors, are now familiar with the term, although many of them know little about Pilates. Joseph Humbertus Pilates was born in Germany in 1880 and grew up suffering from rickets.

Joseph Pilates was raised in Germany, where he studied gymnastics and other types of training before developing his own methods known as the Contrology method. Joseph Pilates practiced his ideas not only on himself. After emigrating to England at the age of thirty, he was taken prisoner during World War I and served as a nurse in an internment.

In America, Pilates took the original equipment he created during the war and modified it to create a unique form of pilates. He arrived in New York City in 1926 with his first pilates studio, complete with modifications of the equipment he designed during World War II (and which are still used today).

On October 20, 2012, the U.S. Southern District court in Manhattan ruled that Pilates may not be trademarked and is a generic word such as Yoga (2). This has prompted many variations of Pilates exercise, making it difficult to determine the program’s and instructor’s quality and integrity.

Principles

The 5 Keys principles, as defined by Stott Pilates and referred to as the fundamental elements by The Australian Physiotherapy & Pilates Institute (APPI), are:

  • Breathing
  • Pelvic Placement (Centering)
  • Ribcage Placement
  • Scapular Stability (shoulder blade placement)
  • Head and neck placement

These elements are focused on during the execution of each exercise.

What are the benefits of Pilates?

Pilates may be applied in a wide range of situations. There are, however, certain drawbacks associated with using Pilates in simple applications. Many Pilates sessions are taught without clinical reasoning abilities, resulting in movement pathology mismatches and slowing down the recovery process.

The main issue has been a lack of Pilates study.

  • Increases core strength and stability
  • Improves balance, co-ordination, circulation, strength & flexibility
  • Improves Flexibility
  • Improves posture
  • Improves Obesity
  • Improves Low Back Pain (LBP)
  • Improves performance in sports

What does the Research Say?

Many of the claims are difficult to verify with an exercise-based therapy, so I’ll provide some literature and remarks that may assist.

Increases Core Strength and Stability

The idea of stability is based on research from Australia, where it originated. Such research has shown that the transversus abdominis, multifidus, diaphragm, and abdominal oblique muscles are essential movement-organization muscles in healthy persons with previous low-back discomfort.

Improves Flexibiliy.

According to Segal (2004), finger tip to floor dimensions improved by up to 4.3cm after more study.

Improves Posture

A Czech researcher named Vladimir Janda has contributed to the understanding of muscle function in patterns [6]. He explains how posture is affected by postural type 1 muscles, which contract slowly and efficiently burn oxygen, and phasic type 2 muscles, which allow them to work more rapidly but less consistently.

This is a clinically significant difference in tonic muscle response to stress. With this in mind, Pilates theoretically might help posture improvement by providing the right program design. However, this may be controversial in a class with a variety of postures and varying needs.

Impoves Obesity

Russell and colleagues conducted a study that examined the impact of 4 weeks of Pilates on body composition. The study group had a 3.1 percent decrease in BMI, compared to 0.8% for the control group, according to Russell et al.’s research (2005). The researchers warn that it should not be used as a substitute for regular exercise

Improves Low Back Pain.

Although exercise is one of the few evidence-based treatments for persistent LBP, the experts are still unsure how to utilize it most effectively. Various studies have shown that various sorts of exergame and varying dosages are beneficial. According to McGill (1998), greater spinal mobility has been linked with LBP.

In a case study of a Scoliosis patient, Blum (2002) stated that Pilates-style exercises were essential in the treatment process. Graves and coworkers (2005) discovered that Pilates-based matwork workouts were effective in decreasing LBP only in specific regions of the spine, with small sample sizes.

Improves performance in sports.

Despite the fact that sceptics may deride the notion that Pilates can enhance athletic performance, there is at least some evidence to back it up; Sewright et al (2004) discovered significant increases in both tennis serve velocity and muscular endurance after six weeks of Pilate’s Mat training, while Sanders (2005) found that The Pilates training group.

Conclusion

Pilates is now the target of several types of study, and it is likely to become widespread among rehabilitation specialists all around the world. Many are not waiting for proof before incorporating Pilates-evolved exercises into their practices.

Many of you may be practicing Pilates exercises without even realizing it. The effects will undoubtedly be dependent on the instructor and programme they have used. It is suggested that experts conduct research on the Modified Pilates Method, which best fits rehabilitation needs and the training that is required, to make an educated selection.

Leave a Reply