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Rehabilitative exercise |
Exercise/Brain
Power-the missing link
People
in general find it hard to believe that physical activity can help you
think. It is common to think
that more complex solutions are necessary to solve problems.
In getting past our limited thinking, we are finding out that the
common sense of needing to get out and move around can often produce the
most profound results (Hannaford, 1995). Many
brain researchers are currently examining the link between movement and
learning. “Exercise, besides shaping up bones, muscles, heart and
lungs also strengthens the basal ganglia, cerebellum and corpus collosum of
the brain. Aerobic exercise
increases the supply of blood to the brain” (Hannaford, 1995, p. 112). Inner
healing potential can be tapped by directing our breathing in core
stabilizing exercise and even utilizing the imagination in order to deepen
the exercise. When doctors
can’t supply results, we must come to have confidence in tapping into our
own healing potential. This
inner reliance is what is needed in the field of rehabilitation. As mentioned earlier, the simple processes of movement and
exercise may often produce the most profound results (Hannaford, 1995, p.
112). Pilates
Rehabilitative Exercise The
Pilates Method of exercise can be used to advance the process of
rehabilitation. Many don’t
realize it, but Joseph Pilates grew
up a sickly child suffering from rickets, asthma and rheumatic fever. He
began to study anatomy and various forms of exercise to combat his
sicknesses and improve his health and physique.
As a nurse in World War I. he used his exercise to help
wounded soldiers rehabilitate post-injury.
Today, depending on the teacher’s mode of practice, the exercise
can be used to restore vitality and develop strength and agility of mind and
body. The
aim of Pilates is to achieve a state of balance in the mind and the body.
Many athletes know how to achieve cardiac exhilaration - just go out
on the track, run a mile and let off some steam, but how many know how to
use exercise to bring a balance and state of rest to the neuromuscular
system. Pilates emphasizes breathing, lengthening the spine, freeing up the
joints, alignment and strengthening the core. The
theory that the Pilates Method of exercise is based on acknowledges that a
person that combines the activities of stretching and strengthening in an
appropriate manner, develops an internal balance that leads toward a state
of equilibrium. In Pilates mat classes, students learn to practice the
exercises at home to facilitate rehabilitation, to serve in a preventative
capacity and to burn off the stress of strainful times.
The students’ incentive for learning is that they usually feel
better after practicing the exercises than when they began Heidi Lerner’s style of teaching can be compared to
the Montessori Method. In approaching gains of new knowledge Dr. Maria Montessori
would begin with what the child is capable of doing.
She would gradually introduce things the child couldn’t do on a
very simple level. At this
point, the teacher follows the student’s lead in order to facilitate the
learning process (Lerner, 1997). It
is in this method of approach that Ms. Lerner teaches Pilates.
She starts where clients are at and teaches in the A B C method; in
taking baby steps, Heidi believes that almost everyone can benefit from
Pilates. Her technique is aptly
called “Gentle Pilates”; with this approach, Ms. Lerner is confident in
working with senior citizens and people with disabilities. Pilates & an adaptive state of mind
According to American Heritage Dictionary, to adapt is to make
suitable in order to fit for a specific use or situation.
In order to adapt to life’s circumstances after acquiring an injury
to one’s brain (i.e. or one’s entire make-up) one must obtain a certain
flexibility of mind in order to be able to compensate as may be needed. In performing
the exercises, with a certain guidance, the student is always encouraged to
seek “that certain way” that makes him or her comfortable.
In this way, can acquire
a new degree of flexibility of both body and mind.
In this way, the disciplined practice of Pilates encourages the
implementer to develop an actively adaptive state of mind.
Such an adaptive mind-set encourages the pliability of the student;
this receptivity to change serves as a boost in the field of rehabilitation,
for the student who is more receptive to the process of adapting will more
quickly go through the rehabilitative process.
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