Contrology or Pilates is a method of physical conditioning that works the strength of the core and seeks the uniform muscular development of the whole body. With this method, you acquire total control over the body and in a progressive way. Its creator was Joseph Humbertus Pilates who not only created the Method but most of the equipment that we use today for its practice. As he said “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness”. Good physical form consists of the achievement and maintenance of a uniformly developed body, with a healthy mind capable of executing daily tasks.
“Contrology develops the body uniformly, correct wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind, and elevates the spirit” J.H. Pilates.
As a consequence of the presence of COVID-19, our day to day has been interrupted in a pause from what we have been doing, leading us to change habits and customs to protect ourselves and those around us. Work and study from home has caused many people to reduce movement and physical activity.
Pilates is a perfect option to perform that activity that the body demands to stay healthy and achieve that balance. Either in studios with personalized attention to keep your distance or from your Pilates Home Studio with the help of brands such as Pilates Equipment Fitness. Pilates adapts to people of any condition, age, routine. Someone who is not used to moving can immerse themselves in Pilates and feel comfortable with the same ease as a person used to physical exercise.
History shows us that J.H. Pilates during the epidemic of the so-called “Spanish flu” of 1918 and in which situations very similar to those we are experiencing today with COVID-19 were seen, he applied his method in a detention camp on the Isle of Man. He was being held for being a German citizen and considered an enemy of England during the First World War. According to the story, none of the people who kept exercising with Pilates got sick during that pandemic.
Pilates helps, among other benefits, to stimulate the immune system and therefore, to reduce the risk of suffering ailments and diseases. The movement of the muscles promotes blood circulation. One of the most important approaches that we find in the method is on breathing, the same creator tells you about an internal shower that cleanses your body, which helps to increase your lung capacity and reduce the risk of suffering from infections. One session a week already provides benefits, so attending classes two or three times a week will make you renew your entire body.
Pilates exercises in the rehabilitation of post-Covid patients
Covid-19, also known as Coronavirus, is an infectious disease that is transmitted through droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or exhales. The infection has a very variable affectation. Many have been asymptomatic, while others have suffered mild symptoms and serious problems that have even kept them in the ICU. This disease is characterized by the presence of pneumonia or respiratory failure, as well as symptoms such as fever, dry cough, headache, diarrhea, loss of the sense of taste and smell, and skin rashes.
Post-viral fatigue syndrome. According to the Harvard Health Blog, between 50% and 80% of COVID-19 patients continue to suffer “bothersome symptoms” for up to three months after the onset of the virus, including fatigue, body aches, shortness of breath, shortness of breath. concentrating, inability to exercise, headache, etc. Much is still unknown about the long-term effects of the virus on the health, recovery, and well-being of the patient.
How then to resume physical activity after suffering the Covid-19 infection? The specialists recommend, as a general rule, a gradual reincorporation adapted to each case. If you have respiratory failure, you will need to work your respiratory muscles; if there is muscle atrophy, a very gentle program with strength exercises should be started; if there are resistance problems, you will have to do aerobic work. Surely it will be necessary to do a combination of work based on the particular situation and its possibilities of work ”.
Pilates is a perfect option since it is a dynamic but not intense exercise. It also contributes to keeping your attention focused on the movements you are making. Practicing Pilates is being in the here and now. And being in the present minimizes fear. Our mood influences our immune system. Feeling that we take care of ourselves makes us feel in a better mood.
Due to the cardiovascular limitations we observed in some students, a safe way had to be found to challenge their strength, balance, coordination, sensation, and muscular endurance without raising their heart rate. Pilates in the Reformer has been super useful, there are different brands and models such as the Reformer Vintage, or the Cadillac Reformer Vintage from the Pilates Equipment Fitness line of equipment since it allows you to be supine at first and challenge yourself little by little. Then make progressions by taking the work to be sitting, keeling, and even standing. The Reformer lends itself to a treatment of strength, balance, coordination through full-range eccentric exercises that allow unilateral work. The reformer allows you to be more assisted and to re-familiarize yourself with the movement after a long period of inactivity.
Working with the Ped-o-pull is also recommended as it allows us to focus on increasing respiratory capacity and axial elongation at the same time.
Moving the body generates life. If we don’t exercise, we lose our muscles, our joints atrophy, and the aging process accelerates.
Inara González Torrealba
Pilates teacher trained and certified with Physicalmind Institute
Certified in the PMA as “National Pilates Certification Program” (NPCP)
Second Generation Pilates Teacher and Lolita San Miguel Pilates Master ™
