Physical therapy can be a vital part of healing from an injury or chronic issue. But what about after the course of therapy sessions is over? Are you permanently healed? Unfortunately, that’s unlikely.
Physical therapy will focus directly on the injury or pain area. While this is important it might not be the only thing that your body needs to make lasting benefits. Often a knee injury is related to hip tightness. Sometimes lower back issues are being made worse by tightness in the feet and ankles. Rarely does strengthening one muscle group solve a problem. And even when physical therapy is successful and the issue is resolved it will not be a lasting solution if you do not continue to practice healthy movement patterns and maintain your strength and flexibility.
Pilates is so beneficial because it works the body as a whole. While we might focus on specific areas to address specific issues we will also be working on moving the body in all the ways it can move. The strength of the method is in its movement patterns much more than its actual strength and flexibility potential. Strength and flexibility are important but don’t help when movement patterns are not focused on. The reason we need strength and flexibility is so we can move! By taking the body through movement we teach our selves functional skills that benefit us outside the studio and in our lives. Doing a “perfect” exercise on the mat is not the goal, being able to sit, stand, walk, work and play are the goals. And once those goals are reached the practice continues to be beneficial.
Our bodies are made to move and the more we move the better we can move. We might want to expand our abilities and gain new movement potential or maybe just maintain the abilities we have. Either way continuing the practice is vital. Our bodies require constant maintenance and the practice of Pilates is a wonderful system for both maintaining and increasing our bodies potential.
You might start by just wanting to get out of pain but once you reach that goal there’s no end to what you can achieve. It’s up to you and I am here to help you.
Solara Pilates 