Pilates Makes You Taller

On Monday, I taught a session in which the client and I were working on spinal mobility and length.  After a series of exercises, I asked this client to walk around the room, and she was certain that she was taller.  Unfortunately, as with many anecdotal stories, we only had a feeling.  Our comparisons had no quantifiable data so beside the joy I perceived emanating from her being; there was no “proof” that this Pilates session actually made her taller.  That being said, there have been many marketing campaigns that have shouted from the rooftops, “Come to Pilates, it makes you taller!”  Is it actually true, or are they speaking metaphorically?  Does Pilates make people taller? In this blogpost, I hope to explore how one might arrive at this perception, how we might go about measuring, and well maybe speak to the fact that maybe it doesn’t matter anyway because feeling taller is the most beneficial part of the process.

The first step is to define the variable we are trying to assess, what is meant by, “Pilates Makes me Taller,” and what can we use to measure this outcome?  As we begin creating this definition, every reader hopefully can agree that no bones will grow in length during a Pilates Session (this is the first argument that skeptics state, so let me be clear. I do not think that Pilates increases the length of the individual bones or muscles.) When I define this phenomenon I think of the relationship between the bones, the muscles, and the soft tissues of the body that create posture.  I imagine that Pilates can change these relationships, and it is this change that can make someone feel taller, or even better, can make the numerical measurement of height greater.  It is the change in proprioception when tissues lengthen, which then changes a person’s posture that makes the person perceive height change. The question becomes,  ‘Is there quantifiable proof to this perception?’ 

With our definition in place, it is time to imagine how exactly this phenomenon could be measured.  One simple way to gather data is to measure height from the floor to the crown of the head before and after each Pilates Session.  For instance consider the following generalized postures, if we measure each of these generalized postures at the crown of the head, the height is varied.  Different myofascial imbalances pull the bones of the body into different relationships; this in turn affects the height of the individual.  Pilates is a practice that often improves standing posture, thus if posture affects height and Pilates improves posture then Pilates might just improve height

Notice the height from floor to the top of the head

I am imagining a sort of pseudo experiment.   In this scenario a person’s height is measured before and after a pilates session.  Even though there is no control, at the end of the day two data sets with a pilates session in between could begin the formulation of a pseudo correlation. (My use of the word Pseudo I hope is acknowledging the fact that in this post I am stepping out of my scope of practice of mover and teacher and dabbling in the thoughts of researcher or statistician, and while I am sure my dabbles may be on the amateur side, I think they lead to a discussion across practices that is valid and interesting) This correlation that may or may not exist could lead to many other questions like:  Is one Pilates session enough?  Will the height increase over time?  Will a person be able to maintain his/her height from week to week?  Will the person have to do Pilates for the rest of his/her life to maintain the change in height?  And then in turn we would have to find ways of measuring data that erupts from these questions.  (If you’ve been at the studio and noticed the dry erase marks on the mirror, I’ve been dabbling in some pseudo science with willing clients.) This is all assuming that there is a correlation, but what if at the end of our pseudo data collection period no correlation is found…What then?

In my mind, if the data that was collected found absolutely no correlation between pilates and height, my temptation would be to say, “So what!!!” The psychological benefits of standing tall, the confidence that it brings, and the grace and ease of movement that can be brought forth by a perception of greater height are all benefits of this phenomenon whether it is true or not.  I have no way of knowing if the session that I taught on Monday actually increased my client’s height, but at the same time I don’t care because the ease with which she moved and the smile on her face told me that she was taller.  And the absence of actual quantifiable data would never have changed her perception, because in her mind’s eye she was taller.  Maybe our data set needs to move away from numbers and move into the benefits of improved posture.  Maybe our research questions need to evolve in the complexities of the human spirit and perception.  If you feel taller are you taller?  I for one think, absolutely!      

Katrina Hawley C.M.A, R.S.M.E

Co-owner of The Pilates Studio