Keep Doing What You Love. Do Pilates.

Whether it’s CrossFit, or throwing your kids in the air, adding Pilates to your life will help  you keep doing what you love.

We see it very often. People coming into the Pilates studio to address an injury or chronic musculoskeletal complaint. From Runners, Cyclists, CrossFitters, and Kettlebellers, to hikers, dancers and extreme Frisbee players. They come in for Pilates, or Physio and Pilates, to address an injury or chronic issue that is preventing them from doing what they love.  A paper that studied the injury rates in CrossFit  in the Orthopaedic journal of Sports Medicine  prompted this blog on the wider issue of why we may get injured doing exercise, and what we can do to avoid it, or come back from it.  It's something we specialize in at CoreWorks. It's what we believe Pilates is ideal for.

Many of us have less than ideal posture or muscle patterning. It can be from a trauma such as a fall or a motor vehicle accident. It can also be from poor habitual posture or behavior, perhaps too long sitting in a car, or plane; prolonged periods at a desk, facing a computer or phone. A lot of it is just part of modern life.

Be that as it may, Pilates is great for correcting the imbalances that cause injury, so people can just get on with doing what they love.

It comes down to functional movement.  Now, that paper we mentioned. The study in the Orthopaedic journal of Sports Medicine looked at the injury rate and [injury] patterns of CrossFit athletes.

"The purpose of the paper  was to establish an injury rate among CrossFit participants and to identify trends and associations between injury rates and demographic categories, gym characteristics, and athletic abilities among CrossFit participants.

A total of 486 CrossFit participants completed the survey, and 386 met the inclusion criteria. The overall injury rate was determined to be 19.4% (75/386). Across all exercises, injury rates were significantly different. Most participants did not report prior injury or discomfort in the area. Last, the injury rate was significantly decreased with trainer involvement ."

I find two parts of this very relevant. First, that there was no specific injury across the board.  This would depend on that participant's particular weaknesses or patterns as mentioned above. Second, the injury rate was significantly decreased with trainer involvement. This is key.  When someone is watching what you are doing, they are able to catch you going into your patterns of weakness or compensation and correct the pattern accordingly.

In group fitness classes, you are never going to have eyes on you all the time. If you take time to address what your weaknesses are, whether it be postural or muscular (and usually they go together) you are less likely to injure yourself and you will get better results.

At CoreWorks we have a maximum of 3 participants in each group class and everyone is doing their own personalized program. Think of it as personal training without the price tag.  Our group classes focus on exercises that we tailor to your body’s needs.

Train with us once or twice a week.  We can help you keep doing what you love.  Click here to learn more about what we do, or on the button below if you're interested in booking a free assessment.