If you have or have had an injury, you know just how frustrating and painful they can be, and how they can cause pain, even after the injury itself has healed. You can help to reduce the chance of injuries occurring and also rehabilitate existing injuries with a therapy known as Pilates. Pilates can help get you back to feeling better quicker and also prevent further injuries, meaning that you'll be back to your normal life quicker than you think. Read on for more.
How Pilates Helps with Injuries
Pilates is a therapy that can be extremely useful in helping people that are suffering from injuries, especially soft tissue injuries. It can be used for things such as back and neck problems, ankle injuries, sports injuries, repetitive stress injuries, muscle strains, and so on. Pilates is safe to use as a form of rehabilitation as it uses very controlled exercises. The equipment used also helps the body to regain its functional movement after it's been injured. Pilates is excellent for increasing a patient's strength and flexibility, which is important as these are often lost following an injury of some sort. It can also improve the patient's posture and muscle symmetry. Pilates is also surprisingly gentle as it has no impact on the joints, which is important when you are trying to recover from an injury. Pilates can actually make life after the injury easier, as you instinctively try to protect an injured area, which can lead to muscles degrading and actually cause more pain. Pilates increases the flow of blood to the area, and as with other forms of exercise, it can release endorphins which are the body's natural painkillers.
Pilates is Vital for Injury Prevention
As well as helping to rehabilitate injuries, Pilates is also excellent for helping to prevent injuries from occurring in the first place. This is because it teaches the person how to hold themselves correctly so that they do not injure themselves due to poor posture, poor moving techniques, or poor lifting techniques. Strengthening the core muscles also helps to prevent injury as the core muscles are the main support for the back and other structures in the body. Improving the person's flexibility is also important as it creates more supple muscles that are capable of expanding and contracting further.
Pilates Professionals for Injuries
If you are using Pilates for injuries, you should always seek the help of a qualified professional such as a specialist in clinical Pilates, a physiotherapist, or some other form of physical therapist. As well, make sure that you get clearance from your GP or health professional before embarking on a regime that includes Pilates. A Pilates program will be drawn up for each individual, as everyone's needs are different. The program will focus on injury rehabilitation and prevention and include exercises that are most beneficial while excluding those that are likely to exacerbate a problem or cause pain.
Originally published on Jul 06, 2010
