Amanda Martin

Debra GoodmanFor the fourth installment of our Pilates On Call series, we’re focusing on the topic of pregnancy. We’re sure it will be a busy and popular post, if site traffic for this topic is any indicator.

Pilates On Call is a month-long, open Q&A session with an expert, so this is your opportunity to ask about the finer points of Pilates exercise with this population. Perhaps you’d like advice for working with a newly pregnant client, or information about a particular pregnancy-related condition.

We’re thrilled to welcome Debra Goodman, MSPT, back to the site. She’s written several popular articles on Pilates and pregnancy for us, and has an extensive background treating pregnant and postpartum patients. She is one of few physical therapists trained in internal evaluation and treatment of the pelvic floor muscles. And we’re equally thrilled to introduce Amanda Martin, owner of balance in Athens, Georgia, a Pilates and wellness studio that specializes in working with pregnant and post-natal clientele, among other populations. She has been doing this kind of Pilates work since 2004.

Post your questions in the comments section below or email them to us editor@pilates-pro.com. Debra and Amanda will get to them as quickly as possible, but might need a day or two to respond.

As 2009 draws to a close and we refocus our energies on the year to come, it’s nice to reflect on the year past. Thus it’s time for our very own Pilates-Pro.com “Year in Review,” a countdown of the site’s 10 most popular articles in 2009. (This is a great place to start if you’re just discovering us!) We’d like to extend huge thanks to all of the innovative, thoughtful, dedicated and generally amazing Pilates experts who contributed to Pilates-Pro.com this year. Kudos as well to the growing number of community members who use the articles and forums as a place for lively, insightful discussion. Pilates-Pro.com continues to grow because of you. And of course, if you have topics you’d like us tackle in 2010, please drop a line and let us know!

1. Pilates for Scoliosis by Suzanne Martin, PT, DPT
2. Pilates for Feet by Madeline Black
3. Five Ways to Combine Cardio and Pilates by Nicole Rogers
4. Pilates on Call with Siri Dharma Galliano
5. Postpartum Recovery: Helping New Moms Get Their Bodies Back by Debbi Goodman, MSPT
6. 16 Fitness Wear Discounts for Pilates Instructors by Christine Binnendyk
7. Pilates DVD Review: The Jump Board Workout by Nicole Rogers
8. Pilates on Call: Core Conditioning PTs
9. Five Ways to Hook Men on Pilates by Julian Littleford
10. Five Ways to Build Successful Client-Instructor Relationships by Devra Swiger

By Lauri Stricker

The exhilaration of soaring down a mountainside over a blanket of sparkling white snow, surrounded by pristine evergreens and an endless blue sky inspires millions of people to ski every year. It’s no small reward for countless hours spent in the car, in lift lines, and on bristling cold lift rides to the top of the mountain.

In the Colorado Rockies, where I live, I have cross-trained skiers with Pilates from October to March for the past seven years. My sessions often start with snow reports, gear reviews, and tales of anticipated heli trips and back-country hut adventures. I’ve worked with all kinds of skiers, from strictly downhill resort skiers to purist tele-skiers (who make use of a style of cross country ski that leaves the heel free). Whether they prefer groomers, moguls, or powder, they all want to be in top form for skiing. Many of my skiing clients can only make time for Pilates workouts midweek because of their weekend skiing excursions. They might range in age, fitness level or ski preference, but they train with me religiously every winter for the same reasons: to get strong, stay injury free, and enjoy winter fun in the mountains. A client with a goal is a motivated client, and skiers are both. Pilates is an excellent way to keep skiers fit and coming back to your studio season after season.

Pilates and Fall Line Fitness
If you made a snow ball and let it roll down the side of a mountain, the path it rolls down is called the fall line. To ski the fall line with finesse and control requires flowing motion, rhythm, and precision. This agility on the slopes is what I call “Fall Line Fitness.” A strong core, muscle balance, and flexibility are essential elements of Fall Line Fitness. You do not have to be a ski instructor to make a direct impact on your client’s ski fitness. However, you do have to be an alignment specialist skilled at teaching high quality movement.

By Alexa Thorson

Curves, Twists and Bends: A Practical Guide to Pilates for Scoliosis is a useful introduction to the topic from Annette Wellings, a Pilates instructor with major scoliosis, and U.K. master Pilates teacher Alan Herdman. The book is a useful tool for addressing scoliosis through exercise, both for those who have the condition and for Pilates instructors with scoliotic clients. Wellings makes it clear in her introduction that the exercises in this book “are not designed to restructure the curve,” but to enable the spine to be “as healthy and supple as possible.”

Wellings and Herdman have assembled a set of 34 exercises primarily focused on stretching and lengthening, that are appropriate for people with symptoms ranging from mild to severe scoliosis, and even for the general population. I often incorporate similar exercises in my mat classes to warm people up before harder Pilates choreography. This book does not address Pilates equipment or even the classic Pilates mat choreography.

Curves, Twists and Bends is structured in three parts. The first, called  ‘Understanding and Awareness’ is a straightforward, uncomplicated overview of the condition of scoliosis, and a discussion of curve patterns, with an explanation of how to identify different types of scoliotic curves, complete with drawings. It even includes a section on “the psychology of scoliosis.”

The second, called ‘Exercises for Flexibility and Posture’ establishes a set of exercise principles that Pilates instructors will find familiar, such as pelvic stability, balancing dominant and weak sides of the body, and de-rotation of the pelvis, ribs and spine.

By Nicole Rogers

It’s surprising that there are so few books out there that directly address the anatomy of Pilates, considering the Pilates world’s enthusiasm for studying anatomy, and considering there are plenty of books out there about the anatomy of yoga. But if you’ve been wishing for a Pilates-specific anatomy text, you’re finally in luck. 

Paul Massey’s The Anatomy of Pilates, released earlier this year by North Atlantic Books, covers the basic anatomy of the classical mat series. It is a great introduction to Pilates-specific anatomy, and it is definitely intended for Pilates professionals. The book is filled with excellent illustrations that clearly show the key muscles and how they function in each exercise. The first two chapters provide an introduction to Pilates, and a guide to posture and movement assessment. Then the book provides a description of each exercise: the movement, the breathing, the possible “pitfalls,” and of course the specific muscles that are used. 

The book is a straightforward text that deals mostly with musculature.

 
In the third installment of Pilates on Call—our month-long open Q&A with Pilates experts—we’re thrilled to welcome the owners of Core Conditioning in Los Angeles: Dawn-Marie Ickes, MPT (l); Allyson Cabot, PT (m); and Gabrielle Shrier, MPT (r). The three physical therapists/Pilates instructors founded Core Conditioning, a pair of integrated wellness centers, in 2003, where they combine physical therapy with Pilates and Gyrotonic for rehabilitation, as well as offer group classes.

This month, they will be taking your questions on joint injuries and issues—hips, knees, shoulders, feet, spine, neck, etc. Chances are you have encountered clients with problems with all of the above and more. Or perhaps you have a new client with an injury you’ve never dealt with before. Here’s you chance to get the PT-Pilates perspective on how to help them. Post your questions in the comments section below or email editor@pilates-pro.com. Dawn-Marie, Allyson and Gabrielle will get to them as quickly as possible, but might need a day or two to respond.

By Suzanne Martin, PT, DPT

Scoliosis is a chronic spinal condition, not particularly a disease. It’s a hot topic in the Pilates world, and in the hands of a skilled instructor, Pilates can excel in the long-term training needed to help change the many factors involved in the distorted spine and unbalanced musculature associated with scoliosis. In this article, I’ll introduce you to scoliosis and provide some guidelines and Pilates exercises for working with these clients.

By Madeline Black
Pilates has developed a reputation for building core strength, especially once the fitness and physical therapy worlds came to Pilates in the 1990s. But my history with early Pilates, studying in New York in the late ’80s, was always about the feet. Along the way, the core became the mantra of Pilates. I strongly feel the time has come to a focus on the feet again.

In Pilates, the feet are very important to the way we engage the body, and they deserve more attention. Feet bring to mind metaphors for moving us forward in life and finding our sense of place and existence in the world. Yet in our bodies, we pay little attention to them. We squish them into shoes, stand for long periods of time, walk on cement sidewalks. I live in the country, and we still do not pay attention to our feet here. If we did, we may lessen back issues, hip and knee pain, and release our necks.

By Debbi Goodman, MSPT

The postpartum time period is very exciting for most women, but it can be very stressful as well. Women are going through the process of healing their bodies after the birth, dealing with drastic hormonal changes, and adjusting to life with a newborn. Most women are physically exhausted and may have extreme emotional swings. Regaining their prepregnancy body is often a main concern.

In order to work with postpartum clients, Pilates instructors should have knowledge about the physical transformations of pregnancy and how they impact the musculoskeletal system.* It is common knowledge that the abdominal muscles stretch a great deal over the course of the pregnancy, and it is our challenge to help women restore the proper length, strength and tone of these extremely important muscles.