Pilates, Exercise, and Osteoporosis (Part 1)
Posted: Sunday, November 20, 2005
by Lynda Lippin
Lynda Lippin Pilates, Fitness, Reiki
I. The Problem of Osteoporosis
An osteoporosis website opens with t
Even with all the media discussion about osteoporosis and the fact that one in two women over the age of 50 will experience an osteoporosis related spinal fracture people still don't take the problem to heart. Not only am I at high risk for osteoporosis due to early surgically induced menopause, I do a lot of Pilates (at least 2-5 sessions per week) in addition to teaching and teacher training. And there are a lot of Pilates exercises that I will need to stop doing or radically modify if my bones are weak.
The issue of osteoporosis comes up a lot at my Pilates studio. My clients are mostly caucasian women over 50, many of whom are breast cancer survivors. On the whole, these beautiful active women all look pretty healthy. They have decent posture, play tennis and golf, walk a lot, and really try to eat well. They have access to the best doctors, the latest medical treatments, and the most cutting edge gyms, personal trainers, and Pilates studios. Even so, most of them have low bone density--osteopenia and osteoporosis (more on the difference in a minute) and the majority move on a daily basis in ways that put them at greater risk of fracture--EVEN THOSE WHO HAVE GONE TO CERTIFIED PILATES TEACHERS AND PERSONAL TRAINERS. My purpose here is to educate you about osteoporosis so that you will know what to do and not do for yourselves and those you care about.
This Article has been viewed 4,681 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Yes, it was helpful as a beginning. But how does someone with osteoporosis of the spine strengthen the core stomach muscles? What parts of Pilates can be done?Thank you for your comment! There is not a lot to do in the traditional Pilates mat unless it is greatly modified (anything on stomach, on side, or in neutral spine with head down is fine). More on equipment since you can add standing, sitting, kneeling. The two best sources for Pilates exercises that are safe for osteoporosis are the books OsteoPilates and Standing Pilates. You can strengthen your core without forward flexion and rolling on your spine!
Thank you for your information. I am a Pilates Instructor taking on a new client with osteoporosis and was looking for some information to guide me.If you come back to this article I would love to hear how your osteoporotic client is doing!
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.