Rehab Pilates

Planning for or recovering from surgery? Pilates rehabilitation programs are designed to help you feel better in no time! From abdominal to spine surgery and hip to knee replacement, Pilates is an ideal way to rehabilitate your body and yourself.

1.     Pain Management and Control

Following surgery, it’s important to control pain in order to:

1. Regain strength,
2. improve flexibility,
3. and aid mobility.

Rehab Pilates provides the specific guidance and training to learn the necessary stretches and basic, gentle movements that will decrease post-surgery pain.

With Pilates, you’ll learn the correct alignment and muscle movement that helps to reduce both direct and referred pain, which is where different areas of the body attempt to compensate for surgical pain.

2.     Expert, Knowledgeable Instruction

At Firehaus Pilates, our instructors understand the many different kinds of surgeries and injuries that affect the body. More importantly, instructors are experienced in creating rehab programs that work with the prescribed recovery and rehab guidelines.

Our rehab Pilates programs increase resilience and recovery while restoring strength and balance to avoid discomfort or further injury. Several of our Pilates instructors have experienced extensive surgeries and used Pilates as part of their rehabilitation programs.

3.     Education and Insight

We find the most successful rehab Pilates programs result when a client has a thorough understanding of their condition, the surgical procedure, and how the anatomy may have been affected. Our rehab Pilates programs educate clients to better understand how particular situations and injuries are affecting the whole body.

Learning about why a particular rehab Pilates program is prescribed helps you become more confident in the movements while increasing patience as your body adapts to new workouts and recovery.

4.     Get Your Life Back!

The goal of all rehabilitation is to help you restore function, increase strength, improve flexibility, and develop healthy movement patterns. Pilates will not only allow you to move pain-free, it will introduce a new way of wellness that will get you back to living your life!

You can expect our rehab Pilates programs to help you work through recovery at the right pace for your body. We are with you every step of the rehab way!

If you, or someone you care about, are considering rehabilitation options, consider Firehaus Pilates! We are experts in care that can prepare you for an upcoming surgery or guide you through a complete rehabilitation program. Contact us for more information!

Tearing of the labrum cartilage, whether in the shoulder or hip, causes pain, discomfort, and joint instability. If you’re suffering from a labral tear, consider Pilates!

Pilates rehabilitation has been shown to offer tremendous benefit in restoring pain-free movement after a labral tear.

What is a labral tear?

The labrum is a band of cartilage that surrounds a joint, either in the shoulder joint or the hip joint. This ring of soft tissue helps keep the ball, or head, of the joint in place. While normally smooth and strong, the labral tissue can be torn by a direct injury.

What causes a labral tear?

Labral tears in the shoulder often result from falling and landing on an outstretched hand. Baseball pitchers are prone to tear as, when they forcefully throw the ball, the bicep tendon pulls hard against the front of the shoulder joint and labrum. Labral tears at the hip joint are commonly a result of slipping and falling, an awkward twist of the hip or being tackled in sports. Some labral tears are due to an unusual shape of the hip bones that lead to abnormal wear and tear of the cartilage over time.

What does a labral tear feel like?

Whether a labral tear is at the shoulder or hip, symptoms include a sharp pop, catching sensation or pain. Often these joints will ache and cause instability.

How does Pilates help with labral tear rehabilitation?

Pilates rehabilitation offers safe exercise that avoids further injury while improving joint stability for easier, pain-free movement. If your labral tear requires surgery, joint replacement, or other intervention, Pilates rehabilitation can help you achieve full function of the affected joint with custom exercises and trained instruction to get you pain-free and back to the activities you love!

When can I start Pilates rehabilitation?

Following surgery, you will enter a physical therapy program (usually for 4-8 weeks, depending on your recovery) that will help you to feel more confident about the injured area. Once this is completed, you should have improved range of motion restored. Only at this point should you talk to your doctor about undertaking a Pilates rehabilitation program at Firehaus Pilates.

What can I expect with Pilates rehabilitation?

At Firehaus Pilates, we will develop a safe program targeted at your condition, overall health, and rehabilitation goals. Our trained instructors will use our extensive array of equipment and props to guide you through Pilates exercise aimed at improving the affected area. We will focus on helping you regain stability of the joint and then begin to strengthen the larger muscles around the joint.

The shoulder and hip joints should “seat” in the center of the joint socket but, often, the labral tear that is healing does not “seat” correctly. The result can be discomfort, abnormal movement, and increased risk of reinjury. At Firehaus Pilates we use an innovative prop called the Oov, along with free weights, to help isolate and strengthen the muscles of the shoulder or hip. This improved strength allows the joint head to sit centered in the socket where it is most efficient and safe. Strength exercises are only increased when this joint is correctly seated in the socket.

Have you experienced a labral tear in your shoulder or hip? With extensive experience in rehabilitation, Firehaus Pilates instructors offer safe and effective programs to help improve strength, flexibility, and mobility in these crucial joints.

Contact us to see how Pilates rehabilitation can help you achieve faster recovery. We help people every day improve their strength, flexibility, and quality of life!

Motor control is our ability to initiate and direct muscle function and movement. Gross motor control allows us to wave our arms while fine motor control creates precise movement, like handwriting. A voluntary process of
muscle movement, our brain coordinates which muscles should move and which should rest. Neurological disorders, with various causes and complications, often affect motor control.

At Firehaus Pilates, we work with clients affected by neurological disorders to help maximize their functional abilities and improve their overall quality of life. By applying a Polestar Pilates rehabilitation approach of integrated movement, we work to aid individuals to reprogram motor control through a 4-stage process.

How Pilates Increases Mobility

Polestar Pilates aims to maximize the efficiency of movement. Our Pilates approach uses equipment and props to assist clients as they move in a controlled way. Individuals are able to regain the ability to initiate movement, no matter how small, and increase mobility.

A Hallmark of Pilates: Stability

As mobility increases, it is important to strengthen balance and attain stability. With Polestar Pilates we aid individuals in being able to hold a static position and control gravity. Our rehabilitation approach centers on strengthening the transverse abdominis, as we do with any Pilates program, which is a powerhouse muscle that helps everyone with stability and control.

Next Up: Control Mobility

Once balance improves, Pilates exercise focuses on developing movement with control. With directed practice, Polestar Pilates can help clients develop the ability to manage their movement. The key is to relearn both how to achieve a certain position and how to remain stable in that position (for example, control in sitting down and control in a seated position).

Mastering Everyday Skills

As a therapy for neurological disorder rehabilitation, Polestar Pilates can help individuals use increased strength and stability to master skills in movement and motion. Through deliberate exercise, with or without specialized Pilates equipment, clients are able to apply improved motor control to normal movement and everyday positions.

The skilled and qualified trainers at Firehaus Pilates can help individuals improve the smoothness and accuracy of their motor skills and movement. For those dealing with neurological conditions, this new learning and practice can develop simple or more complicated movements.

If you, or someone you care about, is suffering from a neurological condition or is in need of rehabilitation, contact Firehaus Pilates. Individual rehabilitation programs and one-on-one exercise training are available as you work through this journey.

Skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, and skating are just a few of the winter sports we love in Colorado! Unfortunately, there may be a time (often at the end of the day when the body is tired and the mind not as focused) when an injury occurs as you glide down the slopes or across the ice. Pilates is ideal for snow sports injury rehabilitation to help you recover quicker and stronger.

Increased Core Stability to Get You Back on the Slopes

Pilates rehabilitation will help your recovery by focusing on core stability and balance. Such an important area for all activities in life, strengthening the core will help you heal, improve how you move, and get you on the slopes again with increased strength and power.

Almost all snow sports activities require maintained balance as you change directions in movement. One of the primary focus areas of Pilates is the building of strong core muscles that will provide a platform for strength and agility. Rehabilitation focuses on building core muscles that provide the needed pelvic stability and proper alignment for hips and legs. A stronger core will help you recover quicker and provide a stable base as you transfer the weight of your body going downhill or across the ice this winter.

Rehab Your Joint Mobility and Motion

Snow sports injuries often affect the joints, tendons, and supporting muscles around the knees, ankles, and hips. Pilates rehabilitation focuses on healing and improving mobility in a controlled and safe manner. Rehab can correct alignment issues caused by injury or from poor posture habits.

Pilates helps improve flexibility of all joints and tendons to prevent overuse and imbalance. While Pilates rehabilitation programs are designed to target injured areas, the approach also provides additional focus on all surrounding and supporting systems. Effective rehabilitation embraces the whole body as it works to stabilize movement. Strengthening the deep muscles that support your core and joints, Pilates also provides ancillary benefits such as improved breathing and lowered stress.

Incorporating stretching and myofascial release techniques as part of rehab can give tremendous benefit and help accelerate recovery. Considered a holistic rehabilitation approach to injury, Pilates and supporting techniques address all areas – hamstrings, shoulders, lower back – to develop stamina and power.

Mind and Body Connection so You Can Enjoy Colorado!

Many rehabilitation clients must also rebuild confidence after a winter (or any) sports injury. We understand that sustaining an injury can spook athletes and make them hesitant to get back out there and have fun! Pilates is one of the few rehabilitation techniques that can build both a healthy body and focused mind.

Pilates is an integrated method of exercise and strength training. But, in addition to the physical exercise, the mind is also engaged to focus conscious attention on the breath and movement. By understanding how your unique body works, you can train your thoughts, improve your concentration, and hone your focus.

For all sports enthusiasts, Pilates rehabilitation centers on consciously engaging the neuromuscular system to produce speed and force for more efficient motion. By increasing your mind-body connection, your mental state provides insight into both your physical and psychological performance. A trained mind-body connection results in quicker physical reactions and improved confidence in your abilities!

Are you suffering from a snow sports injury or looking to improve strength so that you can enjoy winter activities? Contact us! We are trained to help you increase your strength and confidence with Pilates!