How Pilates Works?"Pilates develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind and elevates the spirit." - Joseph Pilates.



By strengthening both your large muscles and the deep, smaller endurance muscles that are responsible for your strength, they take the strain off the larger muscles and give them added support.

How Pilates Helps to Improve Walking Posture, Balance, and Gait Speed?What does Pilates have to do with walking? Well, let's first look at how we walk. We stand upright with; hopefully, good posture and then we balance ourselves as we reach out with one leg to take a step shifting our weight onto the forward leg.

With Pilates the "Core" or the center of your body is your focus. This is the place from which all motion originates and then proceeds to the extremities, all working in unison not as separate parts. Ultimately every movement, especially walking, should be initiated by first stabilizing the core of the body which involves contracting the deep abdominal muscles.

Form is your body's plumb line: head over shoulders, over hips, over knees, over ankles. It is an aligned body. The goal is to organize the body so that the spine is stable and the abdominal muscles are engaged, the limbs are active and supported, the feet are mobile and the breath is conscious, even and regular. This form will help contribute to an improved, relaxed, and more fluid gait speed while walking.

Without width in the sacral area, our movement is narrow and becomes constricted; it compresses the sacrum by over engaging the gluteal muscles. This is why most people walk with very narrow constricted steps instead of stretching and reaching forward as they walk.

Pilates Exercises Can and Should be Modified for the Older Adult.

Modifications such as using pillows for the head when lying on the back, or using pillows under the pelvis when lying on the stomach can alleviate neck and back pain and tension. If the student has a hard time sitting on the floor they can do the exercises on a raised table or platform.