How Pilates Can Help With Neurological Conditions
There are many different conditions, from mild to severe, which are considered to have a neurological cause. This means, that the reason for the condition and its main symptoms are caused either within the central nervous system (the brain or the spinal cord), or the peripheral nervous system (the nerve branches within the rest of the body.
According to www.england.nhs.uk neurological conditions are generally devided into the following types:
- Sudden Onset Conditions – This, for example, would be a brain, spinal cord or peripheral nerve injury through an accident.
- Intermitted and Unpredictable Conditions – As for example epilepsy, early stages of multiple sclerosis, also ME and certain types of headaches.
- Progressive Conditions – Such as later stages of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and motor neuron disease.
- Stable neurological conditions – Such as cerebral palsy in adults.
Many of the above conditions, though varying in severity, are non-reversible and often progressive. Patients suffering from these conditions are often treated with medication to lower symptoms, may need a wheelchair or support with walking and other daily routine tasks. Sometimes physiotherapy is also offered to patients in an effort to lower muscular and soft tissue pain and to keep the body as fit, strong, flexible and active as possible, especially as physical ability declines.
Pilates is a body and mind oriented movement practice, which is often used in combination with injury rehabilitation or as an athlete’s maintenance program. It can also just be an enjoyable physical activity to maintain physical health and fitness.
However it is not necessarily well known that Pilates really offers itself to those suffering with neurological conditions. What makes Pilates different from other forms of exercise is that it concerns itself less with how many repetitions of a basic strength exercise we can force our muscles to perform. It rather values and promotes the ease, quality and precision of our movements. Exercises range from very small and minimal to large and complex. Starting with small and relatively simple movement, we seek to really explore how our body as a whole can most safely and most effortlessly perform the task at hand. As a nice side effect our muscles and soft tissue get to move in a relaxed, functional and efficient way, mobilising and easing stiffness and pain. As we progress we get to connect to our body and the subtle changes we can make, in order to make more complex and bigger movements feel as easy, stable and balanced. Coordination and motor control is a nice side effect of this too, as we also start building strength and flexibility almost without noticing.
Pilates practice works heavily with our interoception and proprioception to achieve this. Interoception is our experience within our body. Our nervous system constantly measures and feeds back to us about our internal sensations, such as tension, pain, comfort and connectivity. Propriopetion is our nervous systems sensory system for movement within our surroundings. It helps us maneuver ourselves in a good relationship with gravity, the ground we walk on and the objects and other people we interact with.
Both interroception and proprioception are often impaired when our nervous system is injured and affected by disease. Our peripheral nerves branch out and network through our body like roots of a plant in the ground. There are many tiny nerve endings that communicate with individual muscle cells all through our body. We stimulate the fine tuning and efficiency of this communication by exploring different movement experiences consciously, challenging our balance and motor skills, and exploring many subtly different ways of how to perform a movement in context with gravity and our surroundings. In fact, every time we do this the nervous system forms new nerve endings to communicate with more muscles cells, in order to meet the demand for more balance and more movement efficiency. We sometimes simply believe our muscles must have gotten stronger. However this is not an issue of strength. The improvement we feel comes from a more efficient, fine tuned nervous system, which has increased it’s number of connections to the movement creating muscles in a way that gives us better precision and control.
Of course neurological conditions interfere with movement control and efficiency in many different ways. In some cases the peripheral nervous system might be healthy, but the command centre in the brain or spinal cord is not working as it should, and therefore the peripheral nerves are not able to perform their function properly. In the case of multiple sclerosis on the other hand, it is the coating of the peripheral nerves that is degrading and causing problems with the functioning of this area of the nervous system. So of course all conditions need a somewhat individual approach, just like any person with a different ability level or goal would need. However no matter where the issue within the nervous system lies, as long as there is still some capacity for movement, regardless now small, we can work with that and improve and fine tune the communication of the nervous system with the muscular system to get the best possible physical performance from our body.
The nice side effect is that we will also feel more comfortable, relaxed and stronger, as moving in a healthy way helps us break down tension, stiffness and increase strength and a sense of connection to our body. Our nervous system of course also has a whole other branch to it, namely the autonomic nervous system, which communicates with our glands and organs and also has huge impact on our mental health. Working with our body and movement in the way we do in Pilates, and with it’s focus on interroception, we can also hugely improve our sense of well being and happiness, which most of us, who struggle with our health can only benefit from.
If you suffer from a neurological condition and would like to try Pilates to see if it can help you, I recommend that you seek private 1-1 lessons to begin with. You also want to make sure you seek a well qualified Pilates Practitioner, ideally with multiple qualifications and an understanding of how the nervous system relates to physical activity.
If you would like to speak to Kristin at The Body Matters about your neurological condition and how Pilates may be able to help you, or you are seeking advice on behalf of a friend or family member please call 01702 714968.
Please also note that Kristin offers 1-1 sessions for those with neurological conditions for £25 per session until the end of August.
- The Thing About Mixed Feelings Is… - 4th June 2023
- Overthinkers – Here Is What You Really Need To Know - 28th April 2023
- Why Emotions Can Be Overwhelming - 13th December 2022
