Do you feel wobbly and off-balance? Are you worried about your fall risk? You have several options for improving your balance and stability, including one that might surprise you: Pilates! Pilates and balance go hand in hand, no matter your age, condition, or physical abilities.
Why is Pilates so good for balance? The answer’s simple: it focuses on your core muscles. A strong core supports your whole body and keeps your spine stabilized. Through careful, controlled, and low-impact exercises, Pilates helps improve posture, coordination, and body awareness–all key components of good balance.
We love incorporating Pilates for balance into our physical therapy programs at The Center of Medical Arts. It helps facilitate rehabilitation by building strength and stability without putting extra stress on the body. Our Pilates-certified therapists will guide you through personalized sessions that meet your unique needs.
If you want to learn more about how Pilates can enhance your balance and support your physical therapy goals, call our Newington, CT clinic today!
Five Balance-Focused Pilates Exercises
Pilates consists of structured, core-focused exercises that gradually build in intensity. Our therapists will let you know which exercises will work best for you. However, we did want to share more about Pilates’ balance-focused movements so you know what to expect.
Single-Leg Stance
- Standing on one leg challenges your balance and strengthens your core muscles, making the single-leg stance a simple yet powerful exercise for improving your ability to stay steady, which is essential for daily activities like walking and climbing stairs.
Roll-Up
- The roll-up involves slowly lifting your upper body from lying down to sitting up. This movement strengthens your abdominal muscles and promotes spinal flexibility, enhancing support for your spine and helping improve your posture. These two factors are crucial for maintaining a good balance.
Side Leg Lifts
- Side leg lifts target the muscles on the sides of your hips and thighs, which help maintain balance during side-to-side movements. Strengthening helps enhance your ability to keep steady when moving in different directions. This exercise also helps improve your hip stability, reducing the risk of falls.
Bird-Dog
- The bird-dog exercise involves extending your opposite leg and arm from a starting position on all fours. It helps improve balance and coordination by engaging your core, back, and glutes, and it improves the stability needed for dynamic activities.
Plank
- The plank is a fundamental exercise in Pilates that greatly benefits your balance. Holding a plank position requires you to engage multiple muscle groups, including your core, shoulders, and legs. This full-body engagement helps improve your stability and strengthens your entire body, making it easier to maintain balance in everyday activities.
What To Expect During Your Appointments
At The Center of Medical Arts, we blend Pilates with more traditional physical therapy interventions like manual therapy or biomechanical assessments. During your first appointment, we’ll conduct a comprehensive assessment to help us understand the source of your balance difficulties. This assessment will include a complete health history and several movement screens that examine strength, mobility, posture, and more.
We use this information to create a customized treatment program based on your needs and goals. If your balance difficulties stem from pain or restricted mobility (for example, if you have osteoarthritis), we’ll work with you to address those symptoms so you can move more easily.
However, we’ll use Pilates movements to build core strength, improve overall posture, and challenge your current balance and stability to help improve it. These targeted exercises are crucial to addressing balance challenges and reducing fall risk.
Discover the Benefits of Pilates for Balance Today
Pilates and balance training are just two interventions we use at The Center of Medical Arts to help our patients achieve their goals. If you think you might benefit from Pilates, schedule an appointment at our Newington, CT clinic to get started with your initial consultation!
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