Pilates is the BEST Physical Therapy

Okay I may be slightly biased, but movement is magic, and Pilates is a method of movement that balances the systems of the body to prevent pain and rehabilitate injury.  This makes Pilates the BEST physical therapy. Is that too bold?  Well bold is the way I’m rolling today. 

Last week I talked about my recent discovery of Gray Cook’s “joint by joint” model.  And you better believe that I felt pretty lucky to have a “movement laboratory” at The Pilates Studio to try his ideas within the context of Pilates program design. That’s the thing, Pilates is the best Physical Therapy because I can learn about a new model and take a look at the Pilates equipment and the near infinite number of ways that it can be used.  Then I can meld said model with movement, and I can “try” things and see what works.

 So this past week I have been thinking about thoracic mobility and its role in shoulder stability, which in turn affects the range of motion of the shoulder girdle.  If that’s too wordy think of a golf swing, throwing a softball, or serving a tennis ball.  All of these actions require a mobile thoracic spine for the most efficient movement. 

There might be a question out there that I have skipped.  What is the thoracic spine?

The thoracic spine is the twelve vertebra of the spine that are attached to your ribs.  The cage that is made by the thoracic spine and your ribs holds and protects the heart and the lungs.  Each rib attaches to the bottom of one and the top of another vertebra, so every inhale can bring mobility to the intervertebral discs.  This part of the spine rotates, bends forward, back, and sideways.  The thoracic spine loses mobility by getting fascially stuck in certain positions.  Imagine a person sitting at a computer all day.  This person’s thoracic spine may get stuck in a flexed position and thus lose mobility in other directions.   

After reading Gray Cook’s ideas, I changed program designs.  If one of my goals was shoulder stability, I worked on the thoracic mobility in all planes of motion before ever doing a “shoulder” exercise.

Here are some exercises that I tried with people this past week.  Of course there are so many possibilities, but give these a try. They all can be found at our Pilates Exercise of the Day blog.

First we start with the breath, I've found that the chest breath is a wonderful way to begin to invite movement into the thoracic spine.

You might find it funny that I find The Hundred as a way to increase thoracic mobility, but to me this exercise is all about the breath, and the five short breaths in and the five short breaths out can really begin to loosen tissues around the ribcage for more mobility.

We've done our breath practice, now it's time to move the spine into flexion and extension

And then rotation:  Keep the ball between your shoulder blades, keep your shoulder girdle still as you use your spine to drop one elbow to the floor and then drop the other elbow to the floor.  The goal is to find this movement without moving the shoulder blades.

And finally lateral flexion:  Keep the ball between the very still shoulder blades and bend the spine from side to side.

 


Try them and tell us what you think.  Is your spine more connected?  Do you feel like the upper and lower parts of your body are communicating? Is it easier to back out of your driveway?  Do you move in some directions more than others?  How does your low back feel? What about your shoulders? 

Every one of these questions allows for more discoveries as we explore the magic of movement.  Every movement helps us find the next way to relieve pain and illustrates the final way that Pilates is the best physical therapy.  My clients and I are a team, I learn from them as much as they learn from me.  They are the people that are doing the movement, nothing is being done to them.  It is empowering and it will make the change!

Katrina Hawley, C.M.A, PMA®-CPT

Director of Instruction at The Pilates Studio