Rapid Rehab LA Pilates Based Physical Therapy Brentwood California

An interview with Lindy Royer, a professional physical therapist for the last twenty years, sheds a little light on Pilates for fitness versus Pilates for rehabilitation. She says,

“I think the big difference between Pilates for rehabilitation and Pilates for fitness is that the former focuses on getting an individual to a desired state of functional movement, whereas the latter focuses on general athletic or health goals.”

Pilates is a perfect match for those seeking rehabilitation because Pilates is very versatile. It can increase the strength and endurance of a professional football player, yet it can also bring an individual back to the world of functional living after knee surgery or a knee/hip replacement.

The Reformer, which is one of the most common pieces of equipment used in Pilates rehabilitation, can be adjusted to fit the specific needs of any rehab client. The Reformer is an active tool that physical therapists can use for clinical reasoning. They can apply a certain series of movements to a patient, and then adjust the “dose” accordingly upon recovery rate and injury improvement.

Not only does The Reformer improve and heal injuries, it acts as the ramp for those seeking whole body wellness in the long run. This is what makes The Reformer heads and shoulders above other rehabilitation equipment.

Because The Reformer has a potent power to increase overall fitness, this is happening simultaneously as the injury is gently and effectively being healed. The nature of the Reformer movements tone and incorporate all of the muscles of the body at the same time. The goal of all physical therapy is not only to heal the individual but also to reintroduce them to a life of activity much like, if not the same as their former lifestyle.

Since the focus of Pilates can be two-fold, fitness and rehabilitation, these will then become the body’s focal point and this balance of meeting becomes an inexorable force of restoration and vigor.

While moving the body parts simultaneously is a trademark movement in Pilates for fitness, it isn’t as commonly used in Pilates for rehabilitation in the beginning. In Pilates for rehabilitation the focus is on separate compartments of movement.

The body is then broken down into each area of movement that needs attention. As the body becomes more accustomed to that movement, then layers of motion are added to increase mobility within the injured joint and within the surrounding muscles.

Touching on the mind-body connection mentioned before, this is where the deep breathing patterns in Pilates act as the sewing string that binds the slow and controlled movement with the intention of focus. Pilates for rehabilitation and for fitness have many common denominators, but as the factors are separated out they can become two separate forms of Pilates training.

In time they usually can blend into one another creating an entire basis for health and injury, which becomes a cycle of rehabilitation and fitness improvement, a cycle that is not found in any other form of exercise

Pilates has a two-fold purpose. Its ability to meet a client right at the crux of their needs makes it a pliable, approachable, and effectual practice. However the pendulum of Pilates has a large range of swing, and its overarching benefits cover a huge plot of demographic terrain.

Celebrities and athletes can be found in one plain of the ever increasing Pilates interest, whereas a huge population of the injured, elderly, and even those who suffer from neuromuscular diseases such as Parkinson’s disease make up the other.

The methods of Pilates, whether it is applied to fitness or rehabilitation carry the same principles. Core stabilization, increased muscle performance, posture realignment, flexibility, and deep stretching and breathing.

These principles are not only unique to Pilates but are also found in other forms of physical rehabilitation and therapy. The question then begs to ask, what is the difference between Pilates for those seeking fitness and Pilates for those seeking rehabilitation?

Since they both integrate the same movements, and both implement the necessary control over those movements through the same series of exercises, how can it benefit such opposite audiences?

The answer can be found in an exploration of this verses that. Pilates for the fitness community uses the same equipment and standardized movements as those seeking rehabilitation, but the focus of the exercise is on increasing the length and strength of the muscles within the body to create that long, taut, lean body that Pilates is known to produce.

Increasing the worth of everyday movement is of extreme importance. Pilates for fitness encourages its students to become more aware of their everyday posture, gait, sitting and standing positions, and to use the findings as personal inventory to forge a barometer for improvement within the body.

The body desires to operate on the smooth rails of where our joints and bones are supposed to meet and collaborate. However, years of bad postural and health habits in concordance with improper purchases of movement can cause weight gain, depression, lethargy, and muscle imbalances.

This can make the relationship between bone and joint dysfunctional. When the body isn’t running the way it should it makes exercise difficult, and in some cases people abandon the idea that they can even take part. Pilates is gentle on the body and reintroduces common movement with light resistance.

It not only is a great exercise for beginners but it has such a wide range of challenge and difficulty, that it can take years to master some of the Pilates apparatus, and in most cases a lifetime.

Athletic improvement and general health progression is the main focus of Pilates for fitness. Reintroducing a state of ability and upward improvement changes the appearance of the body and marries the body to the mind making health and fitness not just a goal to achieve but a state of mind.

Focus is by and large the line in the sand that separates Pilates for fitness from Pilates for rehabilitation. This is the key we will use to unlock the entire reasoning behind Joseph Pilates staging of the Pilates mind-body connection.

The power of the mind to improve or heal the body comes from the same place of intention, whether that intention is just to look better or to heal serious injury.

Pilates is known for its multitude of benefits for professional and recreational athlete, the aging community, and for the injured seeking rehabilitation. Ballerinas, celebrities and moms have praised it’s benefits, so it may come as no surprise that Pilates has gained popularity in another sub culture of athleticism: the equestrian lifestyle.

Creating a relationship with your horse, through movement and control is what all horse lovers and professionals aspire to achieve. Moving within the saddle while maintaining a stable base with proper form is one of the major concerns of accomplished equestrians.

Based upon habits in the daily bank of movement, improper form and spinal irregularities can develop over time. What happens outside of the arena, how you move the body during the day, directly affects the health of the rider and sometimes the performance of the horse itself.

When riding a horse, common body postures such as rounded shoulders, tight hamstrings, or a tight lower back can limit opportunities for the rider to excel or improve. Pilates improves posture, flexibility, core strength, and balance. Pilates also focuses on lengthening the spine. This elongation allows for a tall and regal look in the saddle and can protect the trunk of the body from spinal compression conditions, and improves overall spinal health.

Common benefits that may be of interest to the equestrian include: hip freedom and strengthen, supple lower back muscles, abdominal strengthening, lengthens the leg, and improves body length. In order to assist a rider in creating the ultimate riding experience, the body needs to be listened to and the mind in control. Jostling, and improper form can result in injury and muscular imbalances.

A nonpartisan hip placement is necessary for a rider to follow the movement of the horse with ease and yet still own subtle command. Jumping form can also be improved through the study of Pilates, as it can help a person to absorb the horse’s movement with whole-body control. As any equestrian knows your body can easily get jostled around in the seat if not held down by a necessary “deep seat” position. Pilates can help you deepen the seat and will ease you into recovery after a certain ride may leave you sore or tender.

Above all, developing a clear line of communication with your horse and earning its trust, as a capable rider and caretaker will improve the horses’ performance as well as the quality of the rides. So much time in training is spent on form, horse and rider positions, the use of aids, and proper movements.

Pilates opens up the flow of focus into the mind, spirit, and being of the rider. Performance will follow, once the thought life is in line with the body’s movements. Jumping further, holding a position longer, and sitting deeper into the saddle will not become tasks to remember, but rather just natural progression of one single thought.

For further information on how Pilates can be specifically tailored to meet the needs of the equestrian and the horse, Betsy Steiner has written a book called, “Equilates: A Gymnastic Riding System Using Mind, Body, and Spirit Progressive Training for Rider and Horse”. With principles taken and built upon from the Pilates handbook, it even details a Pilates based workout for the horse.

Exercise in general is very beneficial to the body. It strengthens bones and regulates blood pressure, as well as keeps the body lean by enhancing the amount of calories burned daily. To maintain a level of healthy living an exercise routine is essential.

However, some sports related exercises and training methods are very hard on the body’s design. Runners can suffer from knee, joint and back pain; golfers tend to have strains in their backs or muscular imbalances due to a particular routine of movement, and professional athletes run the gamut of potential and probable injuries.

There is an endless roster of active people in which sports related injuries could affect. Most athletes that are involved in competitive sports push their bodies beyond limits of normal activity, stretching the threshold for pain and endurance beyond what it can normally bear. This can result in injuries, which lead to sports physical therapy and the road back to optimum health.

Each individual will have one –on-one attention of a physical therapist. A physical therapist is defined as an expert in “the science of healing and the art of caring”. Rehabilitation is a scary place to be for most accomplished athletes, because it defines them as different than they were before. But sports physical therapy is not characterized by the injuries that define the clients, but rater is focused on the reestablishment of their confidence in a healthy and strong able person.

Sports physical therapy is centered upon pain management, body mechanic education and physical reconditioning. Many different aspects of sports physical therapy have been developed over the years. An evaluation of each individual is considered first before any program is designed. Some program designs may revolve or involve the following treatments.

To just name a couple, heating and cooling an injury is a common form of rehabilitation, and in sports therapy methods they may use paraffin waxes, whirlpools, cyrotherapy, or hot packs. Electrical stimulation is another offshoot, which is technically called, “functional electrical stimulation”. FES is a way to “jump start” momentarily paralyzed neuromuscular systems within the body.

Sports conditioning programs are a safe way to reintroduce athletic training to an injured person. These programs slowly reinstate former levels of activity at a much lower rate and intensity. This gradual improvement will guide a client to the proper recovery that will last and enable them to once again perform at full throttle.

Sports physical therapy has been known to treat the following conditions: TMJ, Back pain, carpal tunnel, running injuries, post surgical rehabilitation, shoulder and knee pain, motor vehicle accident injuries, plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, weakness, muscular imbalance, overuse injuries, and work injuries. Internal biochemistry issues can also be improved through sports physical therapy such as: impingement syndrome, joint separation, rotator cuff tears, tendonitis, labral tears, ligament repair, and shoulder dislocation.

While sports injuries can take time to heal, there is no better environment to be in than in an atmosphere where you are encouraged to reach beyond inhibiting pain. Nothing is more disconcerting than defeat, and sports physical therapy is the key to unlocking the healthy and strong individual inside of each patient.

Swinging a golf club, squatting to line-up a put, lugging a golf bag, or simply bending down to pick up a ball, all require constant twisting of the upper and lower body. Since golf tends to be on the lower end of the more cardiovascular challenging sports, participants sometimes develop severe imbalances within their body if they ignore the need for additional conditioning.

“Focus” determines the seamlessness of a golfer’s game, and when their focus is deterred by a nagging injury or improper biomechanics, the quality of the game is compromised. Pilates centers its teachings on proper alignment, breathing, and posture, which result in a more agile and flexible athlete.

Even though Joe Pilates created Pilates nearly a century ago, its relevancy to the modern day golfer is still relevant. It doesn’t get anymore relevant than Tiger woods and Annika Sorenstam, both of whom are avid believers in the benefits of Pilates on their golf game.

One of the trademarks of a golf game is a consistent swing. Every body has a natural way in which they move, carry themselves, and exert energy. While some golfers want to improve their swing, they may be fighting against their own imbalanced routine of daily movement.

Pilates can correct those irregularities and reestablish proper biomechanics within the body. In as little as 10 sessions a new and improved power swing can begin to emerge. This swing should take half the amount of previous effort and yet be executed with twice as much intention.

Golf injuries are often a result of a muscular imbalance. Habitually bad posture or unconscious spinal irregularities are usually the culprits of such injury. However, this can be reinvented through the practice of Pilates. Instead of “spot-training” an injured area, Pilates based rehabilitation focuses on restructuring the body as a whole and its ability to move correctly.

This approach not only alleviates the pain surrounding the injury, it allows the injured to safely assimilate to a level comparable to their original abilities. This approach forgoes any substantial gap in performance.

In addition to a better swing and injury correction there is an entire laundry list of benefits Pilates offers the golfer. The spine is elongated which will provide better stability.

The abdominal muscles as well as the back muscles will be built simultaneously creating a balance within these muscle groups. The range of motion in the hip and shoulder girdle will abundantly increase. And Pilates also encourages the body to increase oxygen intake, the more oxygen in the blood the more energy will be found on the course.

Here are a couple of exercises to try that will benefit the avid golfer. On the Pilates Mat try the Saw Position. It increases mobility of the shoulders, institutes pelvis stability, and deeply stretches the upper, middle and lower back. On The Reformer try: Short Box Abdominals in Round Back and Flat Back.

The benefits of this exercise include: balance between the strength of the abdomen and the back muscles, as well as it stretches the extensor muscles.

Even though celebrities and professional athletes sing the praises of Pilates, the “aging athlete” is another sub-group of Pilates’ participants that have found Pilates to be an invaluable addition to their lives. The “aging athlete” includes those individuals between the ages of 40-60 who have either continuously been involved in sports activities or are seeking a way to incorporate everyday exercise into their schedules. After the age of 30, muscle mass is lost.

As the 40’s are surmounted, bone density is affected. Not to mention that tendons and ligaments lose elasticity as each individual ages. With these changes it makes it more and more difficult to even maintain previous workouts or activities, let alone add to them. Body preservation must be attempted in alternative ways once our bodies achieve a certain level of maturity.

This group of “aging athletes” has been broken down into 3 different groups. These 3 groups include the “older athlete”, the “prematurely mature athlete” and the “former athlete”. The “older athlete” is one who has maintained a consistent fitness schedule for most of his/her life, however a nagging injury may be preventing the continuation of those workouts.

The “former athlete” is predisposed to muscle degradation from their involvement in a low aerobic conditioning sport like golf. The “prematurely aging athlete” is one that has injuries. These injuries are oftentimes significantly serious, but are still ignored. Usually the injury is neglected on the basis of “playing through” the pain. This type of injury will result in a shorter athletic lifetime for that individual.

Pilates based rehab is the perfect addition to these types of situations. The healing components of the mind-body combination found in Pilates’ movements can begin the gentle reintroduction of strength training and rotary motion. Its kind and gentle approach can correct an injured system in an effective yet concise manner.

Instead of walking through numerous different exercises, the entire Pilates based rehab circuit can be achieved centrally and with ease. The principle behind Pilates, reinstating harmony within the body and the mind, is the crux behind why Pilates based rehab is so successful for its clients.

Whether you play sports professionally or just play softball for a local charity, Pilates can transform an average performance, recovery, or endurance threshold into that of a highly trained athlete. Nearly a dozen professional sports team have instated Pilates as a part of their training regime, not to mention that more than 10 million people worldwide are participants as well.

The strain of heavy lifting or the risk of highly elevated heart rates has no place in any Pilates studio. Pilates is considered one of the safest and worthwhile ways to produce a highly effective body in any phase of an athletic career.  rapidrehabla.com/rr-studio.html

Every athlete wants to be able to hit further, throw harder, or run faster.  Pilates has gained enormous support and popularity from the professional, as well the recreational athletic community throughout the years. From athletes in the NBA, NFL, and MLB to bicyclists, mountain climbers, tennis players, swimmers, skiers, golfers, runners, aging athletes, recovering athletes or body builders, Pilates offers optimum physical benefits, injury prevention and aids recovery.

The gentle gliding, found in most of Pilates’ poses and exercises, lengthens tight muscles and increases flexibility within the joints. It also emphasizes correct posture and stability. Proper alignment ensures better balance-control and agility. When the body begins expending the correct amount of energy, the muscles are protected from overtraining and an increase in stamina will quickly follow.

Most athletes train extremely hard to prepare and maintain their athleticism.  Heavily relying on the “no pain, no gain” theory, a typical workout may center itself on anaerobic and aerobic forms of exercise that are very high-impact.  Pilates’ holistic approach to physical exertion isn’t the usual strenuous regime in which they are used to pushing their bodies.  Some athletes are taken by surprise, because Pilates yields similar results as the “harder” forms of training but without the risk of injury.

Curt Schilling who is a Major League Baseball pitcher, currently with the Boston Red Sox, was quoted in USA Today saying,

“The first three weeks, I was really disappointed…I wasn’t sweating.  I wasn’t winded, which is what I associate with true exercise.  Then in the fourth week I started to understand the Pilates terminology, the idea of working from your center.  By the third month I was more powerful and flexible than ever before. And I’d lost 15 pounds.”

When Pilates is introduced to any athlete’s training regime, a flurry of counterbalancing affects take place. “Total body” conditioning makes Pilates exercise unique among its peers. Instead of focusing on one body part at a time, which attributes to muscular imbalance, Pilates works all parts of the body together. This process begins within the “core” of the body.

The core muscles include: the pelvic floor, the back, shoulder girdle, and the abdomen. When all of these parts work together simultaneously, a newfound functionality of the body is discovered and developed.

Pilates jumpstarts the circulatory system by enlisting blood flow to every muscle within the body. This increases alertness, speed, and energy. The USA Today article goes on to quote Jason Kidd, the Dallas Mavericks superstar point guard as saying,

“After one session I was energized.  From that point on I was convinced it was a great workout… Pilates has made me quicker, more explosive.”

It was Kidd’s wife who had encouraged him to try Pilates, but he had balked at the thought of enrolling in a class thinking it was “just for women”.  However, after trying it for him self it was obvious that Pilates had just the right blend of training that he needed.  Even one of the most competitive sports figures in basketball was persuaded by the aftereffects of Pilates.

Since most sports involve repetitive movement, muscular imbalances develop which increase the risk of injury.  Injury is by far the biggest fear for most athletes since it inhibits them for progressing in their career or it can impede their commitment to personal health and fitness.  For athletes, Pilates is essential to the recovery process and is one of the most productive forms of rehabilitation.    rapidrehabla.com/rr-studio.html