Many of us take daily movement and getting about for granted, but can we improve the quality of our lives by taking time out to observe, feel and move?
The Government advice on physical activity is to take at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity per week.
This has benefits related to:
- improved sleep
- maintaining a healthy weight
- managing stress
- decreasing likelihood of cardiovascular disease
- managing joint and back pain
- management of type ll Diabetes
- decrease in likelihood of developing colon and breast cancer
Soft tissue therapy massage (also known as sports remedial massage) is the perfect accompaniment to practices such as yoga and Pilates. It can help us get in touch with our bodies by flagging up regions of stress and relating those regions to how were moving and positioning ourselves.
A treatment can assist activation or easing of the areas that are your focus in your practice, and can help you to achieve your goals. The movement assessment I often do before a Soft Tissue treatment mirrors the assessment in a 1-2-1 Pilates session, allowing for your treatment to sit alongside your Pilates programme.
Soft tissue injury often has its basis in movement impairment, with associated pain from not having moved or having moved too much. Soft Tissue Therapy is the management, manipulation and rehabilitation of the soft tissues of the body including muscles, tendons, ligaments and connective or fascial tissues. The treatment aims to address the region of dysfunction by considering the body as a whole.
The neurons in our body and brain comprise only 2% of our whole body, but they use 25% of all the available oxygen and glucose. Facilitating blood flow and oxygen to our nerves through soft tissue therapy and Pilates can assist:
- over or under stimulated nerve endings
- over or under active muscle tone
- circulation and lymphatic flow
- the promotion of a positive mental approach to sporting preparation and the physical aspects of our lives
Pilates and Soft Tissue Therapy can work together to help you feel and move better. Pilates exercises teach the whole body, giving us implicit knowledge of how to organise movement and support ourselves. Exercises prioritise the spine and the sense of the joints of the body. Home exercises and movement classes work with your treatment by maintaining and promoting mobility in and around the nervous system.
Phil Bishop teaches equipment Pilates at triyoga Camden, mat Pilates online and has been a soft tissue therapist of 20 years, certifying in sports and remedial massage at the London School of Sports Massage. You’ll find Phil at our Camden studios offering both equipment Pilates and treatments, as well as mat Pilates online.
