Classic vs Contemporary Pilates
Contemporary/Fitness Pilates is offered in many gyms and by level I and level II instructors.
Clinical Pilates is preformed precise and controlled and with the correct muscle recruitment and firing order. This form of Pilates is scientifically proven to re-balance and realign the body and assist in rehabilitation of injury. This is the form of pilates I offer in private sessions and in classes.
There have been many questions raised regarding those involved in the vast and organic fitness industry, about their responsibility in assuring the quality and effectiveness of the Pilates discipline. More recently, the scientific community has taken an interest in Pilates and its application for injury rehabilitation, leading to the development of a separate stream called ‘clinical pilates’.
Clinical Pilates is evidence based – aim efficient
Fitness Pilates is not as effective
The fitness Pilates industry is populated by instructors and core stability teachers with varying levels and standards of training. Many of them have little or no advanced education or training in injury process, pathomechanics, movement dysfunction or rehabilitation management. Many genuine practitioners of fitness Pilates have a strong sense that they are offering their clients something with incredible potential, yet because they have little understanding of the inner workings of the mechanical body, these well-intentioned teachers suffer some confusion about why certain clients get a result from their instruction while others break down with injury, despite every effort to teach them correctly and specifically.
This is why clinical Pilates started. In the early 1990’s, rehabilitation specialists such as physiotherapists (especially in Australia) began to incorporate Pilates exercises and equipment into their protocols, but found that some aspects of what they were importing did not sit well with the best evidence from sports therapy and rehabilitation research. By infusing Pilates exercises with well established physiotherapy concepts and thereby scientific validity, clinical Pilates was born.
