Home > What Others Say > TC Article Feb. 6, 2004 What is Pilates? F.A.Q. What Others Say Classes & Prices Schedule At Your Service Contact Us Privacy Pilates - One Exercise Doesn't Fit All Victoria Times Colonist, February 6, 2004 By Katherine Dedyna Times Colonist Staff (excerpts with permission) Since she injured her hip in a bus accident six years ago, government employee Barbara Clough had gone through chiropractic, massage therapy and physiotherapy looking for pain relief and a return to full mobility. When her physiotherapist suggested Pilates might be the next step in helping stabilize her core, she hoped to attend a mat class as an inexpensive method of working out. But Clough quickly found out from Pilates expert Charlotte van Bassen that she was in no condition to be down on the floor in a large group setting. "If I had gone to another place and done mat, I probably would have just continued my injury pattern," she says today. Instead, she required rehabilitative Pilates, in small groups or individual sessions on equipment, both of which are considerably more expensive than a mat class. But at least she won't be hurting herself. Pilates body movement work packs considerable force as a fitness and rehabilitative exercise but beware one-size-fits all referrals to hit the mats, says van Bassen, the education chair of the Canadian Pilates Association and operator of V.I. Pilates. She says Pilates can be damaging rather than beneficial for people with chronic ailments and injuries. Popular mat classes in Pilates offered at rec centres and studios are definitely not for people suffering from neck and disc problems or chronic pain. "I've had people referred to my studio to do mat work when they really shouldn't be doing mat work. Mat work is meant for healthy bodies. It's not meant as a form of rehabilitation." But with the "skyrocketing popularity" of Pilates in the last few years, well-meaning doctors, physiotherapists and massage therapists increasingly suggest that their patients take up the movement discipline in the interests of better health. The trouble is that they do not differentiate between exercising on a thin mat on the floor and specific exercises on equipment with one-on-one assistance. People with really bad neck and disc problems should definitely not be doing mat work, she says. Mat work involves a lot of forward flexion which can exacerbate disc problems rather than improve them. All the Pilates practitioners she knows are getting such referrals. Mat work classes often involve 12 or more people, making it "impossible to get around to all the people and give them the appropriate modifications and attention if you have somebody in that class who has problems." Pilates can be gentle or rigorous, both as a form of "incredibly wonderful rehabilitation" or "incredibly hard work" for elite athletes, she says.  © 2007 V.I. Pilates Page Last Updated: 2007-01-01