HOW STOTT PILATES® CAN HELP YOU

“Keep yourself strong today and avoid injuries tomorrow.” STOTT PILATES® is gentle on the joints, so there is little worry of over stressing an already stressed body. STOTT PILATES® also develops the smaller muscle groups that work to support joints and bony structures.

STOTT PILATES® for Injuries and Rehabilitation

While the human body has an amazing ability for dynamic movement, it is also highly susceptible to injury and dysfunction. Injury most often occurs due to accidental trauma, overuse of the body in sports, or poor work habits. Whether you are suffering from lower back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, or knee pain, injuries can disrupt your life and lead to chronic conditions if they are not properly cared for. The physical stress placed upon the body through extended work hours in unnatural postures and a sedentary lifestyle is creating all new forms of repetitive stress injuries. Increased psychological stress is causing additional tension in the mind manifesting as contracted muscles in the body. Prevention and rehabilitation of these unbalanced states are important for overall health and wellness.

Why is Rehabilitation Important?

Rehabilitation is an important aspect of maintaining your body. When chronic injuries are ignored, they can lead to more serious problems over time. Your body is designed to maintain a proper alignment and structure to facilitate its optimal functioning. Eventually, structural problems develop altering movement and posture and leading to muscular imbalances.
The resulting over compensation by stronger muscles further weakens these injured muscles, pushing the body further out of balance.
When the body functions below an optimum level, it is more susceptible to injury in everyday activities. As you carry the groceries, pick up your child, or even walking across town running errands, imbalances in your strength and flexibility can lead to injuries and chronic pain.
Weak core muscles and muscle imbalances are often the primary causes of these common injuries.
Pilates for rehabilitation of the body can be an important component in recovering from injury and maintaining your health. It can speed recovery from surgery, strokes and other neurological problems, and even help you avoid serious injury from accidents.

When you are injured is important to:

1. To have a qualified and experienced STOTT PILATES® instructor. The fitness Pilates industry is populated by instructors and core stability teachers with varying levels and standards of training. Many of them have little or no advanced education or training in injury process, pathomechanics, movement dysfunction or rehabilitation management. Many genuine practitioners of fitness Pilates have a strong sense that they are offering their clients something with incredible potential, yet because they have little understanding of the inner workings of the mechanical body, these well-intentioned teachers suffer some confusion about why certain clients get a great result from their instruction while others break down with injury, despite every effort to teach them correctly and specifically.

2. It is important to incorporate some lifestyle changes to support your healing and help avoid future injuries. As your body awareness increases from STOTT PILATES® training, you will learn to focus more on your muscular movements, maintain a neutral spine, avoid over training an opposing muscle, and over-stressing your joints. Use these abilities in your everyday activities to avoid creating new muscular imbalances.

BENEFITS FOR SPECIAL POPULATION

STOTT PILATES® for rehabilitation not only develops strength, but it increases flexibility in muscles and joints. This is a particularly important note for people suffering from arthritis. These clients need to keep their joints “oiled” up. They do that by using them.

Use it or lose it! Keeping a full or near full range of motion in the joints is immensely important to all people, but to arthritis sufferers in particular. We all have weak links in our muscular skeletal makeup. STOTT PILATES® rehabilitation programs is a great way to balance out our weaknesses and get us, and keep us, on our feet.

STOTT PILATES® rehabilitation can benefit people with:

•             Chronic neck and back pain
•             Sciatica
•             Shoulder impingement/tendonitis
•             Hip bursitis
•             Ankle injuries
•             Total knee/hip replacements
•             Multiple Sclerosis
•             Parkinson’s Disease
•             Fibromyalgia
•             Scoliosis
•             Performance & sports injuries
•             Repetitive Stress Injuries
•             Muscle strains

Many health professionals recommend STOTT PILATES® to aid recovery and as a way of re-educating and re-aligning the body to prevent imbalances. STOTT PILATES® is used to provide rehabilitation that goes beyond conservative orthopedic physical therapy. Many physical therapists have found that STOTT PILATES® can increase strength and flexibility, as well as muscular and postural symmetry, for their physician referred rehabilitation patients. It provides total conditioning that exceeds standard callisthenic, isometric or isokinetic exercises.

Additionally, STOTT PILATES® emphasizes motor training, as opposed to motor strength. It provides a form of neuromuscular conditioning, with the emphasis on precision and quality of movement, rather than strength. While the benefits of STOTT PILATES® may lie in improved function without a high risk of injury for athletes, for rehabilitation, the benefits lie in the focus on core stabilization, balance and flexibility, and neuromuscular components.

STOTT PILATES® is more popular than ever but you must be sure you are getting the right advice and appropriate exercises. With expert advice and instruction, STOTT PILATES® is perfect for:
•             Chronic pain—back, neck, shoulders, hips and knees
•             Postural and biomechanical weaknesses
•             Sports conditioning and injury prevention
•             Post-natal exercise- specialised sessions available

Some of the other benefits of STOTT PILATES® based rehabilitation include:
•             Improved postural problems
•             No impact – easy on the joints
•             Enhanced functional fitness, ease of everyday movement
•             Improved balance, coordination and circulation
•             Heightened body awareness

Programs are individually structured to the patient’s needs, rather than simply following a textbook protocol. Because the benefits of STOTT PILATES® are so profound, many patients continue using STOTT PILATES® for total conditioning after they have completed their physical therapy and
are able to move on to a mainstream fitness program.