Clinical Pilates

Clinical Pilates is Pilates done with a Physiotherapist to help with rehabilitation from an injury or to help correct imbalances or to help prevent future injuries. The Physiotherapist will use an assessment to analyse where the person is to check their movements, pain levels as their general fitness to determine what an appropriate program would be for them.

If someone is in pain the the physio will analyse the movements which aggravate that person and decide whether it’s best to move away from the pain, move towards the pain or to focus on isometetric movements or muscle activations.

In a case of acute pain, the physiotherapist may even recommend treatments to help decrease the pain but restoring proper movement patterns or work on low level exercise which won’t aggravate the condition. The physiotherapist may also recommend applications such as real time ultrasound if they feel you are struggling to get all the basic core muscles firing properly. These devices give real time feedback to make it easier for you to recruit these muscles when you are doing your Pilates in the future.

Once you are at a level where you can start exercises the physio will guide you through the correct exercise sequence, to help get you stronger, more flexible and ready for more intense exercise as you are ready.

Clinical Pilates has been shown to be effective in patients with chronic low back pain (1). It is also useful for those who are recovering from an injury and need strengthening to be able to return to their work.

The reformer is a popular piece of Pilates equipment used in both in rehabilitation as well as in popular group Pilates classes. The reformer is essentially a board that slides on rails with a foot bar for you to push off from as you are lying on the board. There are also straps attached to the reformer that when you pull on these with either your hands or feet the whole board slides.

These are only two methods among a wide variety of exercises that can be performed on the reformer. You can keen on the reformer with your hands resting on the foot bar as you maintain a stable core as you slide the carriage with your knees. You could also stand on the reformer as you practice going in and out of the splits. The reformer is so useful that many Pilates studios or clinics only have reformers in their studio and are able to give you a good full body workout.

The Caddilac or Trap Table is another piece of popular Pilates equipment. The Trap Table is a firm bed with a strong supporting frame around the outside that springs and bars are able to be attached to, creating challenging resistance for your body.

The Cadillac also excels in targeting core stability and balance. Many exercises require maintaining balance while moving the limbs, which can work the core intensely. The Caddilac can also be used as a low-impact workout, making it ideal for those returning from injury or recovering from surgery.

It can be used with the patient lying down on their back, side or front. The patient can also be on their knees or standing to work a whole variety of different movements or muscles.

The Wunda Chair or Pilates Chair as it’s sometimes known is a box with a padded top and adjustable spring loaded pedals. The Wunda Chair is a useful tool for strengthening legs, hips, feet and arms. It’s also great to help with scapular control and stability.

The Wunda Chair can be used in seated and standing positions to work the legs differently, however it can also be used while lying on your side to work your obliques or on your front to work your back and scapular stabilisers.

The Wunda Chair can also be used to challenge your balance, working your leg and core stability muscles and coordination as you work against the resistance of the springs.

Contrary to common gym exercises Pilates exercises are often actually made more difficult when less resistance, in the form of springs are added to the equipment. The reason this is the case is because the springs are often supporting in nature. Because the springs support your body they allow more controlled movements to occur, by lessening the springs you have to control the weight of your body making the exercise more difficult. Don’t be fooled into thinking that because you have do a push up or hold a plank for a minute that Pilates would not be a great exercise for you as the Pilates exercises can actually be very challenging, especially if you do them correctly.

When starting a Clinical Pilates program your Wynnum Physiotherapist will go through an assessment with you to identify any issues or shortcomings that you may have. Once the assessment has taken place and any serious issues have been identified, treated or cleared your clinical Pilates experience can start.

At Advantage Healthcare & Physiotherapy our clinical Pilates classes are taken as part of our clinical rehabilitation classes. Most of the clinical rehabilitation classes start with a large component of clinical Pilates in them, however as the patient is progressed they may transition into lifting weights, cable pulls or other exercises.

While to general assumption would be that equipment Pilates is more difficult than mat Pilates, for someone who is rehabilitating an injury they will find equipment Pilates is actually much easier. As the springs provide support take load off your body so that you are able to perform movements an exercises that you would not normally be able to perform on the ground or your bed. The exercises on the equipment such as the reformer and caddilac can be made harder than mat Pilates if required, however this isn’t also the goal.