Pilates for Parkinson's Disease

What is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Why Do We Need Them?

Accredited Exercise Physiologist’s (AEPs) work with individuals to develop a personalised exercise intervention that can help to manage injuries, acute and chronic conditions. We aim to reduce pain, slow the progression of disease and improve overall quality of life. Just like your GP can prescribe you with medications to help manage your medical conditions, we are University Qualified and up to date with all the recent research so that we can prescribe you specialised exercises!

So why see an Accredited Exercise Physiologist? Well, we want to help you complete all your desired daily activities without any barriers. Struggling to get up from your chair? We can prescribe you with targeted exercises to improve your lower limb strength and balance so that we can work towards making this task easier. AEPs are classified as Allied Health Professionals, thus, can see NDIS, DVA or private health clients.

Why Not Try It For Yourself?
Above are two videos showing an easy exercise to complete in the comfort of your own home and another on the Reformer, to give you some insight as to how we use this brilliant piece of exercise equipment!
We are a small Pilates & Exercise Physiology studio located in Brisbane and we love to help as many individuals as we can to implement safe and effective movement into their everyday lives!

Exercise for Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that effects movement. There are five stages of PD and while there is no known cure, medications along with specific forms of exercise can help to manage symptoms and slow the rate of progression to later stages. Certain types of exercise have proven to help manage those symptom’s experienced by individuals. Resistance training contributes to improving total body strength, particularly lower extremity function and gait speed. Along with weight bearing cardiovascular movement which can improve balance and coordination. Not to mention the importance of flexibility training and encouraging movements through large degrees of freedom to maintain and/or enhance rang of motion.

How can Pilates Benefit Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease?

Pilates is a method of exercise designed to strengthen, stretch and balance the body. In Pilates there is a significant emphasis on spinal health. Particularly, spinal mobility and learning how to move your spine through all desired movement planes. A major symptom of PD is rigidity and stooped posture, this is associated with spinal inflexibility and will negatively impact physical function. Pilates encompasses movements which teach spinal awareness and control to then allow people to safely exercise through all spinal ranges. In conjunction, Reformer Pilates increases strength to help maintain independence when completing tasks around the home. Improves functional balance and postural stability to prevent falls associated with gait defects and enhances range of motion to slow the progression of rigidity. The Parkinson’s Outcomes Project research has highlighted that increasing exercise to 2.5 hours per week can slow the decline in quality of life!