Have you been recommended to use Clinical Pilates in your rehabilitation plan and want to learn more? You may have seen others optimise their healing and recovery and reduce their recovery downtime using Clinical Pilates and wonder if it can help you, too? You’re in the right place. Our experienced physiotherapists and certified Pilates instructors are leading Hong Kong with their knowledge, expertise and dedication to helping every client achieve their movement, exercise and fitness goals. Here’s what you need to know about Clinical Pilates and how you can benefit from your first session.
What Is Clinical Pilates?
Clinical pilates uses precise, purposeful movements and exercises to help restore (or develop) strong, healthy and painless movement. At the heart of Clinical Pilates is the focus on your core stability, strength, posture, balance, and control in a way that is relevant and indicated for you in light of your circumstances and any challenges or deficiencies present. This is why Clinical Pilates forms a key part of many rehabilitation plans after sporting injuries, surgery, pregnancy and childbirth, age-related degeneration, and other events.
Think of the effects of Clinical Pilates like re-establishing or laying down solid and steady foundations in your body so that your body can then support you in achieving your movement and exercise-related goals across your lifetime. As your Clinical Pilates sessions are entirely customised and prescribed for you, they suit all ages, strength, and activity levels.
When trying to understand how Clinical Pilates can significantly improve the function and strength of our clients, it’s important to remember that even after pain disappears or tendons heal, the body is often left in a dysfunctional state with muscle imbalances, weakness, areas of tightness, and other effects that change how our body moves and is loaded. Over time, this can have adverse effects, with underlying dysfunction being a cause of many injuries that we see and treat.
How Is Clinical Pilates Performed? What Does A Session Look Like?
There is nothing ‘ad hoc’ about a Clinical Pilates session. It is completely led by your physiotherapist, following a rehabilitation plan that has been created after a thorough assessment to identify areas of dysfunction or deficiency in your body that are either causing symptoms or preventing you from progressing towards your function or mobility goals.
Your session may look like a combination of matwork with spring-loaded Pilates equipment to gently yet effectively challenge your body and help you progress in the identified problem areas. We have reformer machines, trapeze tables, Wunda chairs - everything needed to set you up for success. Your session will likely involve working on your core, given that the core muscles help add stability to support our torso, spine, and pelvis - and hence everything you do. The exercises your physiotherapist will guide you through will also consider your overall posture (helping to optimise this), your current strength and flexibility, balance and breathing, and how these factors influence your body and movement.
Can I Just Do Regular Pilates?
We get it - it’s almost the same name! However, clinical Pilates and regular studio or home-based Pilates sessions are quite different. Most people complete standard Pilates classes for fitness and general strength and flexibility building. It is not specific to you, nor does it consider the dysfunction or injury in your body, your goals, and what you need to bridge the gaps. Clinical Pilates is physio-developed and led, meaning you’re carefully guided through each technique, piece of equipment, and every breath. It’s not about powering through and completing the class but about moving slowly, carefully, and very intentionally through each movement because of how it will benefit your body at a deep, foundational level. If you’re injured or are recovering following an incident, you may also be unable to do general Pilates until you recover properly, as you may be risking putting your body in an unsafe situation and causing more damage (relative to any underlying weakness and limitations).
Clinical Pilates Benefits
So what are the benefits of Clinical Pilates that you’ll start experiencing from your first session?
Posture Improvement And Awareness
Clinical Pilates places a strong emphasis on body alignment and posture. From the first session, you’ll grow your awareness and understanding of your body’s positioning and movement patterns. If you have postural imbalances, these will start being addressed through strengthening the core muscles, including the deep abdominal muscles, pelvic floor, and back muscles. An improved posture helps reduce excess loading on the spine and other joints (which helps with injury prevention), as well as enhancing your appearance. Living with a better posture also means greater relief from tension and discomfort, particularly in the neck, shoulders, and lower back.
Enhanced Core Strength
One of the primary goals of Clinical Pilates is to build a strong and stable core. From your first session, we’ll include exercises that target the deep stabilising muscles of the abdomen and lower back. These help grow a solid foundation for all movements and activities and improve balance and stability. A strong core also supports better performance in other physical activities, from everyday tasks to athletic endeavours. As you continue with Clinical Pilates, you may notice an improvement in your ability to control your movement and maintain your balance, helping reduce your risk of falls.
Increased Flexibility
From your first session, the exercises you perform will help gently lengthen and stretch your muscles, promoting a greater range of motion in the joints. This is particularly beneficial for those experiencing stiffness or tightness. Better flexibility means reduced muscle tension and better movement, given that the joints can move more freely and efficiently.
Better Body Awareness
One of the things you’ll likely notice after starting Clinical Pilates is a deeper connection between the mind and body due to the way you focus on your breathing, muscle engagement, and movement patterns (and the relationship between the three). This heightened awareness can go a long way in helping recognise and correct inefficient or harmful movement habits.
Want to learn more about Clinical Pilates and how it can help with specific problems you’re experiencing? See here:
- Clinical Pilates for injury prevention
- Clinical Pilates for low back pain
- Clinical Pilates for posture and bad postural habits