PILATES: WORK OUT OR PHYSICAL THERAPY?
Essentially, something in between. At its core, Pilates is essentially kinesiotherapy. The phase of rehabilitation of musculoskeletal/neurological injuries after the completion of physical therapy sessions. It should be noted that a surgical procedure is actually an artificial injury – incisions are made, interventions are made on body tissues, stitches…all of these need to return to function. That is why physical therapy sessions follow after each operation. However, they do not last forever. In some chronic diseases, yes, physical therapy is permanent, but not in all cases. So upon completion of physical therapy, doctors or physical therapists themselves usually recommend Pilates. Why? Because with this, the body’s training continues on the models applied by physical therapy, the injured tissues are strengthened and, most importantly, they are strengthened in cooperation with the rest of the body. This is the most important contribution of kinesiotherapy – the restoration of functionality. The body is treated in its entirety kinetically. All its elements cooperate even for the simplest and most basic movement, as one element of the body affects the other. Therefore, strengthening exercises and training of neuromuscular coordination are required in order to re-integrate the injured limb into the whole body functionally. This is the role of Pilates in the restoration of the body.
However, Pilates also acts preventively. By applying the principles of physiotherapy, it teaches the body the correct kinematic models. How to walk correctly, to stand correctly and even how to breathe correctly. In this function, it is a lesson in orthosomia (correctbody). The body has its own way of learning. It is not like the intellect that if we concentrate we will “put it into our minds”. It is not like something that we have to learn by heart, for example. How long will it take us to memorize a paragraph? 1 hour? 2 hours?. We will sit quietly and we will succeed. But the body learns by experiencing. It takes several repetitions until what we “put in our mind” is imprinted in the movement of our body, in its strength and in its morphology. Many times we are faced with the brain giving the command (what we imagined and visualized) and the body not responding. It takes time to achieve the connection between mind and body, repetitions with the right stimuli. If the exercises are not randomly selected and are not performed haphazardly, as they come to us, but are targeted at what we want to achieve and performed with detail and perseverance, then the results in the body appear more quickly than an exercise that is performed without a goal and detail and without integrating the whole body into the process. Results mainly on the functionality of the body but also in its form could be spectacular! In this way, we prevent the wear and tear of the body brought about by everyday life and the passage of time.
Pilates also functions as maintenance. In musculoskeletal conditions such as the most common scoliosis, kyphosis, lordosis or the rarer ankylosing spondylitis, the non-progression of the condition constitutes treatment. We recognize that we cannot correct what has been caused to the body, at least not let it develop further. Braces and splints are not enough, regular exercise is required. In neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Pilates has a beneficial effect due to its didactic form, that it trains reflexes and promotes neuromuscular integration, keeps the nervous tissue alert!
Pilates is therefore a kinesiotherapy, an exercise based on the principles of physical therapy which can be continued in the context of rehabilitation or function as a means of preventing injuries either from our activities or from the passage of age. As a work out, functions as endurance and strength training for our daily lives.
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