Pilates For NBA Star

Chicago Bulls Star Been Gordon incorporates Pilates in his NBA Basketball workout to preparing himself to play an 82 games season. View some of his Pilates Mat routine in the You Tub video below. Like fellow NBA stars LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd Gordon states “It’s not so much the court stuff, it more activities off the court than on”. Gordon is one of the many sports stars who use Pilates to enhance their performance.

Who say Pilates is for the old and slow??

Case Study - Karyn 1

Background
Karyn, mother of 2, underwent C-section 4 months ago. While caring for her new born she developed moderate lower back pain during recent Chinese New Year. MRI confirmed that she suffered from L4/5 disc herniation. She does not want to take oral pain killer as she is nursing, instead she choose to manage her pain by practicing Pilates.

She has always been active. Prenatally Karyn runs regularly to build stamina and resistant trains to strengthen joints. She then switched to cross-trainer until 7th month pregnant when her weight gain induced knee pain.

She has also tried fundamental Pilates matwork & reformer at a professional Pilates studio in HK.

Medical History

• Hip injury from a fall
• Carpal tunnel symdrome on right wrist, treated with physiotherapy
• Lateral knee pain due to running
• Ankle sprains
  

Body Assessment

• Forward neck posture
• Slight thoracic scoliosis, contributing to unbalanced shoulders and raised, prominent left sacrum & leaning on right ankle
• Moderate knocked knees & foot pronation.

Fitness Assessment
Score = 2.6
Generally she has good flexibility (possibly due to the post-natal oxytocin level in her body) but lack of upper body and core strength. Her prenatal fitness level and Pilates experience may have contribute to her good body awareness.

Exercise for Today

1. Lateral Breathing - to learn efficient breathing pattern thru fully utilise intercostal space intead of purely thru accessory breathing.
   
2. Pelvic Tilt - to find neutral spine
3. Chest Curl - to learn to initiate deep transverse abdominus
4. Basic Bridging - to learn spinal articulation, strengthen hamstring
   

If President Gloria Arroyo has good posture, it's probably because of Pilates

March 16, 2008
ST.com News: Stretching his pilates skills - from the Philippines to S'pore

By Tan Dawn Wei

"IF PHILIPPINE President Gloria Arroyo has good posture, it's probably because of Ole Eugenio.

The pilates instructor used to give Mrs Arroyo lessons in the presidential palace, although he'll have you know it's not exactly the most enviable job in all of the Philippines.

Pilates is a system of mind-body exercises which many professionals like dancers use.

'It's hard teaching Mrs Arroyo because there's so much protocol. You can't touch her and correct her - her bodyguards will jump,' said Mr Eugenio, 35, a soft-spoken Manila native.

Since moving to Singapore two years ago to teach at a pilates studio, he has not had to deal with the likes of those macho minders. His clients are largely 'tai-tais and yuppies'

'People here are health-conscious. Lots of people are stressed out, so I think Singapore needs me,' he said with a laugh."

P-latte beyond 1000

I am so happy today!

Cos P-latte has been viewed over 1000 times!!

Gosh, I am such an attention seeker. ha

Research on Pilates - ACSM

It is a misconception to many that Pilates is just another fitness hype and there is no systemtic scientific study conducted on Pilates. Well, here is one presented at ACSM in March 2005:

"LAS VEGAS - Pilates is a beneficial exercise to enhance flexibility and muscular fitness and endurance, particularly for intermediate and advanced practitioners, but may have limited potential to notably increase cardiovascular fitness and reduce body weight. New researchconducted by Michele Olson, Ph.D., FACSM and presented today at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Health & Fitness Summit & Exposition supports the practice of Pilates to achieve some health benefits, and adds to the knowledge about the technique

In a recent study of the method, Olson and her team measured the metabolic and caloric cost of basic (beginner), intermediate, and advanced Pilates mat workouts to assess what the popular technique may and may not do for exercisers. Participants performed basic, intermediate and advanced workouts in random order while the research team monitored heart rate, metabolic rate and rate of perceived exertion.

Results indicated basic Pilates activity translated into low-moderate intensity, comparable to active stretching. The intermediate workout was shown to be of a moderate intensity level, similar to the energy requirement of speed walking at a rate of 4 to 4.5 mph. The advanced workout was found to be of high-moderate intensity, equivalent to basic stepping on a six-inch platform.

The team also found the most dramatic increase in caloric cost occurred when participants progressed from basic to intermediate or advanced levels of training. Additionally, the duration of the workout affected energy cost in intermediate sessions. For example, a 30-minute session at an intermediate level burned 180 calories, and continuing the workout burned an additional 90 calories each 15 minutes...

...an another phase of the study, the team measured abdominal muscle activity during key Pilates mat exercises. Participants performed five Pilates ?ab? exercises, then basic crunches for comparison. Results showed that the rectus abdominis muscle, which runs along the mid section of abdomen, was challenged similarly for most of the Pilates exercises. However, the Teaser exercise and Roll-Up challenged this abdominal muscle more than the crunch. The external obliques, the muscles on either side of the abdomen, were challenged to a greater degree by all of the Pilates exercises compared to the basic crunch. In particular, the Criss-Cross was the most effective for the external obliques....

...Olson says the practice of Pilates promises to become even more mainstream, and warns that this can potentially create a problem with a lack of quality instructors. ?A qualified Pilates instructor has studied for five or more years, and may have even traveled and taken intensive courses from masters. There are more than 500 exercises, and it takes more than a workshop or short course to learn and teach it correctly."

Ouchhhh....it's Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is a PAINFUL disease of the elderly. It involves narrowing of the bony spinal canal, commonly due to arthritis. It causes irritation to the nerve passing through the spinal canal. Thus creating paing that may radiates down the back of the legs. This pain is worsen with walking, as the patient holds his spine in an extended position, and this further decrease the size of the spinal canal. Hence patients with spinal stenosis will notice improvement of their symptoms in a flexed position, as this position "open" up the spinal canal.

An eye doctor asked if Pilates can help her cousin who is suffering from stenosis. In my opinion, if her cousin prefer to manage her condition without spinal surgery (pdf) (removing some posterior bony tissue of the spine), physical therapy including in the form of Pilates should help alleviate her pain. This is because Pilates has plenty movements that flex the spine so it will be an excellent therapy to reduce the symptoms of spinal stenosis and curb its progression.

Contrary to slipped (herniated) disc (which can be treated by physical therapists with lots of spinal extension exercises that decompress disc space), patients with spinal stenosis may benefit from flexion exercises, such as assisted roll-up, roll-up, rolling, seal, roll-over, spine stretch and so on. However instructors need to take note that the patient's range of motion will be reduced and has to avoid extension exercises such as prone press up, swan dive, single & double leg kicks which will only intensify the problem by futher decreasing the size of the spinal canal. That's why it is always essential to advise your clients who suffer from moderate to severe back pain to consult medical professionals (if they haven't done so!!) to obtain a proper diagnosis before prescribing them a suitable exercise program.

Hope you can share your teaching experience in the comment portion if you have previously trained clients with spinal stenosis. I think it would be fun to discuss and explore how we can better train clients with special conditions.

A Good Pillow for Quality Sleep

For the lucky ones we spend around one third of our lives sleeping. So it makes sense to put in effort in choosing the right "sleep-equipments".

"A bad pillow can be damaging your back, insomnia, neck pain shoulder pain, back pain and also headaches" says Marnie Douglas, a physiotherapist and a pillow expert. "Most people have the wrong pillow and they don't know what to look for when choosing a pillow."

Pillow design has become high-tech science. You can buy all sorts - for pregnancy, snoring, allergies, back and neck problems. In polyester, latex, foam, duck down, luxurious goose feathers, special NASA developed materials, even filled with water or buckwheat. They cost from just S$10 up to S$1000.

In fact, a study show that in HK, 90% people already suffer from moderate spinal misalignment due to improper sitting and standing posture, injury or simply lack of physical activity. Misalignment in the spine may cause compression to spinal nerves, thus giving pain. And if your spinal muscle cannot relax completely during sleep (probably due to a bad mattress and pillow), the misalignment problem may be worsen. (NB: click here for more info on "sleep science") So how should you choose a pillow? It was a myth that the firmer the better. In fact, one should checkout how a pillow re-bounce after compression. The stronger the pillow re-bounces, the more likely it may cause cervical misalignment.

Chiropractors use a little trick used to choose pillow, u can give it a try:
1. Lie face-up on the pillow.
2. Raise one of your arms at 90 degree (like pointing to the ceiling)
3. Ask a friend to press your arm down towards your hip, but at the same time u try to resist it.

--> if your body tremble or your head lift off the pillow while you try to resist the pressing force from your friend, it means the pillow does not provide sufficient support for your head.

Of course, if u already have a good pillow and u want to further improve your sleep, practice Pilates so that u can sleep better after de-stressing and re-connecting your mind with the body.

Anyway figure below is a good comparison (extracted from Next Magazine) of 4 common pillow fills for your reference. Click on image to enlarge. English translation follows.

	Pros	Cons	Life-Span	Price	Grading (5* being the best)
Buckwheat	Highly breathable; low re-bounce; conform to body shape regardless of sleep posture, well support the neck	Not machine washable; to be sanitized regularly with sunlight.	Up to 20 years	S$60-200	* * * * *
Foam	Soft; supportive; conforms well to head	Strong re-bounce; may turn moldy as sweat is not easily evaporated	~ 3 years	S$5-200	* * * *
Cotton	Less man-made material; Soft to touch.	The fills condensed & stiffen up with time. Not breathable and go moldy easily	1 year	S$6-10	* *
Goose Feathers	Soft	Not breathable, does not absorb sweat, may cause allergies	3-7 years. Dry-cleaned yearly	$10-100+	*