Managing Your Chronic Pain With Pilates

 As the world is opening up again and travel is back on the agenda, many of my clients are heading off on overseas adventures. Whether it's visiting family and friends, immersing themselves in a new culture or studying the art & architecture of a foreign land, travel is a high priority for most of my clients during their retirement years. How can they possibly enjoy travelling if they have chronic pain?  Let's take a look at how I help people to firstly, become pain-free with Pilates and then learn how to manage their condition by using their Pilates skills to stay pain free.

What is Chronic Pain Exactly?

Chronic pain is defined as pain that continues 3 to 6 months or more after the recovery period of the initial onset of pain due to injury, illness, surgey or a diagnosis of a health condition.  According to the Australian Insitute of Health & Welfare  "Chronic pain is common in Australia. One in 5 Australians aged 45 and over are living with persistent, ongoing pain. This pain can be disabling and stressful, making it hard for a person to work and do the things they enjoy."

How Can Pilates Help With Chronic Pain?

Joseph Pilateoss said "Change happens through movement and movement heals."
Often people in pain avoid movement and "rest" their painful back or shoulder for example but movement is actually what they should be doing to heal and recover from their pain just as Joseph Pilates said. It's important that the exercises are targeted and appropriate for your individual condition so it's best to avoid large group Pilates classes.  In fact, some exercises are contraindicated for certain conditions and could cause further injury and increase your pain so it's vital to have an experienced teacher who understands this and can work closely with you to acheive your goals.  My online Pilates studio caters to recovery from pain and injury and new clients begin with a 1 on 1 Initial Assessment with me via Skype. In this in depth 1 hour session I look at your past medical history, do a postural assessment and look at your movement patterns.  I also teach you how to connect your abdominal muscles using the breath and we then discuss your goals for Pilates.  After the session, I design an exercise program tailored to your individual needs and a combination of 1 on 1 Skype sessions and my library of on demand videos are used to work towards this goal. Once you reach the exciting milestone of becoming pain-free, what happens then?

Managing Your Pain Long-Term With Pilates

Becoming pain-free is very liberating and your first reaction could be to quit Pilates and pick up where you left off in life. This will work for a very small number of people but the majority will need to continue Pilates to manage their condition in the long-term as there will pain flare ups due to various life circumstances.  A client who is usually great at successfully managing her lower back pain with Pilates recently accompanied her young son on an interstate swimming tour. She hadn't considered the impact on her back condition with the long hours sitting on a concrete step watching her son compete at the pool in cold weather. She was also rostered on to the group providing meals for the team 3 times per day. She found it exhausting and stressful and to top it all off she was staying in a tiny motel room with no floor space to do any Pilates exercises to help support her back. She knew it was a perfect storm and sure enough by the end of the week she was in agony with a level of back pain she hadn't experienced since she started Pilates many years ago.  When she arrived home we worked together to get her moving again and she reinforced what we did each day for a week and by her next session with me she was almost back to being pain-free and steadily improving all the time.  Being able to manage these flare ups under both normal or extraordinary conditions that occur when life gets hectic is vital for staying pain-free as you age. My online Pilates studio provides all the tools you need to do this.

Joyce's Story - A Client Case Study

Two weeks ago Joyce headed off excitedly to the UK for a month long holiday that had already been postponed once due to Covid lockdowns.  She was spending time with her sister and brother in law, her nieces and great nieces & nephews, one of whom she was meeting for the first time.  Joyce came to me almost 10 years ago at age 58 with back pain caused by sacroiliitis and knee pain after a fall.  She was quite despondent as her pain was limiting her life and preventing her from doing what she loved most - travelling and bushwalking.  A friend had referred her to me for Pilates and she worked hard to strengthen her core, glutes, back and foot muscles. She learned all about the VMO, the muscles that stabilise the knee joints and how to activate and strengthen these muscles to support her knee joints.  Her confidence and body awareness grew and her posture and balance were greatly improved.  A few months later her back pain and knee pain were under control and she was overjoyed to be pain-free and finally moving with ease again.
She began short bushwalks and weekends away and gradually eased back into the activities that brought her so much joy in life.  She continued to strengthen with Pilates and before long was back enjoying hiking adventures both in Australia and overseas . Once Joyce was pain-free her attention turned to managing these conditions to control any pain flare-ups in the future.  Being able to do this with the Pilates skills she is equipped with is not only convenient but also a very empowering feeling.
Before Joyce left for her vacation we discussed what she would need to take with her to maintain her back and knee health during the long haul flight and also for the long walks she was planning to do.  She packed a theraband for hamstring and ITB stretches, a small ball for glute and foot massage and a 1 kilo ankle weight for VMO and Glute Strengthening.  Not too much of a load to carry for peace of mind that if she does have a flare up,combined with her knowledge of which exercises to do to, she can get herself back on track and become pain-free very quickly.  She also knows what she needs to do to prevent a flare up but sometimes it may just be unavoidable. Joyce also has my online Pilates studio as an app on her phone so she can can access my on-demand videos at any time that are designed to help you recover from and then manage chronic pain.  I'm sure Joyce will have the trip of a lifetime as she reconnects with her family and she can rest easy knowing her chronic pain of the past is under control and manageable.

If you are ready to start your Pilates journey to pain-free living contact me at [email protected] to get started.  Alternatively, you can book an Initial Assessment  and take the free 10 day trial of JS Mind Body Pilates, my online studio and start straight away.  It would be my pleasure to assist you on your Pilates journey!