What are the advantages of pilates?

Clinical Pilates is a service we offer here at Malvern East Physiotherapy which suits just about anyone who walks through our doors with aches and pains – in particular; back pain. Using reformers (a specific piece of Pilates equipment much like a moving bed with pulleys) and our Trapeze table we are able to replicate everyday movements and adjust resistance to train your body to move more effectively and efficiently. Our physiotherapist [fusion_modal_text_link name=”https://mephysio.com.au/meet-the-team/michael-scardamaglia/” class=”” id=””]Michael Scardamaglia[/fusion_modal_text_link] examines the benefits of doing pilates.

We are a huge fan of the versatility and challenging nature of reformer Pilates and how it lends itself to people of all ages and abilities, but we often find our patient’s asking us various questions about wehy it’s so good and how it helps with your physio treatment so we are going to tackle some of those questions in this blog.

The basis of our love for Pilates stems from some solid scientific research around exercise for low back pain. Being a physio clinic with a very active and busy clientele base we see many cases of back pain throughout the week which means we need to be best equipped to handle such pain to get you back moving and function as quickly as possible. Pilates has been found to be the most effective form of exercise for low back pain when measuring short term outcomes such as pain and function as compared to general cardiovascular and strength exercise. In regards to long term outcomes over 6 months, there seems to be minimal difference between Pilates and these other forms of exercise but within the initial 8 week time frame Pilates out-does the competition, which is a reason why we will encourage patients with acute pain to participate early on in the rehab process.

How many times a week should I do pilates?

To get the most out of your Pilates experience it is suggested through scientific research that to achieve meaningful and sustained improvement you need to participate in Pilates a minimum of x2 per week if you are new to Pilates. This again is supported by research conducted into resistance training which suggests that novice participants require 2-3 days per week of training in order to stimulate physiological change and thus improve their motor control and function.

Therefore, a typical Pilates road map will generally flow as follows in order to give you the best chance at managing and controlling your back pain in the short term:

If you have troubles managing your back pain and haven’t tried Pilates then please get into contact with your physiotherapist or give us a call or book online to organise an assessment to assist you with that annoying, recurring back pain that just keeps coming back!

[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]