“Fitness is a crystal ball in medicine today. If we look at health outcomes and prognosis, how people do over the long term, invariably it’s the fit person who does the best with respect to any given medical condition, whether your a cancer or heart disease survivor, overweight, diabetic or live with Fibromyalgia. There’s a vital role for physical activity and structured exercise in improving your outcome.”Barry Franklin, Ph.D.
Pilates is an exercise that can be used with fibromyalgia, it allows us to improve body awareness, range of motion, balance, flexibility and musclular strength. Pilates exercises emphasis movement and low to no impact on the joints, but still allow the muscles to be worked through a full range of motion.
Gentle Pilates is movement done in a slow and controlled manner with quality verses quantity, reducing the possibility of over working and causing pain. The emphasis on a full breath will benefit a fibromyalgia patient by reducing their stress level. Gentle Pilates allows the client to reap the benefits of exercise without the exhaustion of a typical strength routine.
Pilates also improves proprioception, the body’s awareness of its place and movement in space. On a practical level, for an individual limited by fibromyalgia symptoms, this means training the body to better and more efficiently respond to changes, such as regaining or maintaining balance on uneven ground to reduce falls. Increased adaptability and coordination can help decrease the chance of injury from accidents or improper overuse in a particular body movement.
Overall, Pilates can be a complementary approach to a holistic treatment plan involving medications, cognitive or other psychological therapy, lifestyle modifications (stress reduction, adequate sleep, regular exercise, healthy diet), and other alternative practices (biofeedback, acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic, and osteopathic care).
Article is by Sharon Ostalecki
Pilates by Trish 