Why Choose Pilates For Your Body?

Our bodies, posture and our design are based on what we repetitively do and how we move. Our functional movements and activities of daily living stem from our movement habits. Pilates can optimize these habits and movement patterns in order to improve our performance and decrease the risk of injury, strain and pain.

Pilate’s exercises help you develop awareness and strength in the deep supportive stabilizing musculature that makes up our natural corset. This network of core muscles is vital to all of our movements and is the foundation to which all movement stems from. The timing, coordination and endurance of these muscles can often be disrupted as a result of poor posture, injuries, stress or poor movement habits. The good news is that Pilates can help restore better control of these muscles so that you develop good movement habits in addition to improved posture and enhanced performance in your activities.

Injury is not always the result of bad movement habits but good movement habits can heal injuries faster and can prevent injuries from recurring in the future. Rehabilitation Pilates, is one-on-one, individualized care that is offered under the supervision of a registered physiotherapist. You can be confident that this approach is safe and will deliver results so that you can recover from your injuries, aches and pains much faster. Most importantly, Rehab Pilates is a safe answer that provides sustainable, long-term results. If you are not suffering from an injury, then consider Fitness Pilates, which is also one-on-one with our certified Pilates instructors. In these individualized sessions, your Pilates instructor will help you correct muscle imbalances that you have developed over the years from bad movement habits. They will work with you on full body movements while engaging your core musculature and ensuring that proper alignment is always maintained.

Pilates is unique because it teaches you to move while coordinating and activating of all the correct muscles at the appropriate times. Simple exercises are repeated with careful attention to perfect alignment in order to train neuromuscular pathways so that good movement habits feel natural for you. After the first session, many clients make comments like: “I didn’t know that muscle existed” or “I didn’t realize that I move differently on the left or right side”. Many incorrect movement habits seem so natural that clients don’t even realize what they are doing wrong and are only made aware while they are focusing on the movements in Pilates. These faulty movements patterns need to be identified and improved because they can be very counterproductive when trying to heal from an injury.

Every movement we make is affected by our body alignment and vice versa. The flexibility and strength of our muscles and tendons around our bones is very much like the pull on a tent pole in a camping tent. If one side of the bone or tent pole is pulled harder than the other side, it doesn’t stand up right. The same can be said about the pull of muscles on bone. If we present with a weakness or shortness on one side, it affects the other side and the overall position of that bone.

Rehabilitating from an injury is the perfect time to make these imbalances and sub-optimal movement strategies right again! We are born with an immaculate design for pain-free movement. Pilates is the necessary cue that is required to re-set our original design, to facilitate ideal bone alignment and solid strength through the core/foundation of our bodies.

Contact us to book your Pilates session with Sarah Wallace and let her guide you to better health, strength and body awareness.

Written By: Sarah Wallace, STOTT Pilates Instructor at Rebalance Sports Medicine