Starting Reformer Pilates After Injury: A San Ramon PT’s Guide

When you’ve had to sit on the sidelines for a while because of an injury or surgery, it’s natural to feel like your body is moving forward while you are stuck in one place. You want to be active again. You want to feel strong. But what do you do when you’re scared to push yourself? What if there was a tool that supported you as you rebuilt your strength and took the pressure off your vulnerable areas while giving you a whole new way to challenge yourself? There is: It’s called the Pilates Reformer. If you have been looking for a safe way to begin exercising again as part of your rehab after injury, then you owe it to yourself to explore the benefits of reformer Pilates for recovery.

Think of the Pilates Reformer as a piece of medical equipment. It’s a total-body workout designed to strengthen and retrain your system in the most efficient way possible. People are often intimidated by the machine, but it’s less about building general conditioning and more about rehabilitating your body from the inside out.

For every person we work with who can no longer play the sport they love or do the activity that was a huge part of their identity, there is another who just wants to move through their day without pain. For years we have watched people come into our San Ramon clinic with tears in their eyes, unsure if they will ever get back to where they were before. A runner sidelined by a knee injury who can’t imagine ever running on pavement again. A new mom who has never experienced back pain until she picked up her child and was suddenly unable to put them down. And we have seen them all make a full recovery, with the Reformer being an integral part of that process.

How the Reformer Works for Rehab

The way a Reformer is constructed is the key to its success with rehab after injury. The machine itself is a frame with a sliding carriage. A set of springs of variable resistance attach the carriage to the frame. These springs are where the magic is.

Springs can be used to either assist or resist a movement. So, for example, we can set the Reformer to a light spring that will help move your leg through its full range of motion, if you have recently regained your motion after an injury or surgery. But, as you get stronger, we can adjust the springs to increase the tension and so the machine will actually resist your movement, requiring more strength to complete the movement. This means the Reformer can be part of your program from the first day you start exercising again after an injury or surgery right through until you have made a full recovery.

You will also notice the Reformer is really good at allowing you to work through ranges of motion without taking weightbearing forces through your joints. Many of the exercises are done while lying down or sitting in the carriage, with your hands or feet pushing against a bar. This is called a closed kinetic chain because your limbs are anchored by the carriage or the footbar. The anchored position provides a deep sense of stability and feedback, which allows you to build the muscles around the joint without exposing it to the repetitive impact of jumping or running.

Advantages of Reformer Pilates for Rehab After Injury

The low-impact nature of the Reformer is just the beginning. The exercises performed on the machine are also ideal for facilitating a full return to health. They use specific types of muscle contractions and require you to master key elements of stability along the way.

One of the most important benefits of reformer Pilates for recovery is the eccentric strengthening that occurs on the machine. An eccentric contraction is where your muscle is working to lengthen under tension. The classic example is lowering a heavy box to the floor. Your bicep is contracting and lengthening at the same time to control the weight. Eccentric work is key to training control and resilience in both muscles and tendons, which help to prevent future injury. The resistance system on a Reformer is perfect for training this type of muscle action, since the springs provide a constant and smooth opposing force that you have to manage.

The most overlooked benefit is the development of deep core stability. Every movement on the Reformer requires the deep abdominals and back muscles to stabilize the torso while the limbs are in motion. This stable core is the foundation of all healthy movement. It protects your spine and also allows force to be transferred and absorbed evenly throughout the body, rather than loading on a weak or injured area. It’s the cornerstone of using Reformer Pilates for rehab after injury.

Similar Topics:

• Reformer Pilates: Transforming The Body And Mind
• Pilates For Rehab
• What Does Pilates Do For Your Body

Can I Safely Start Reformer Pilates After Injury?

The key here is who is leading you through the process. With proper clinical guidance, there is absolutely nothing to fear when starting reformer Pilates after injury. In fact, it is one of the safest and most effective ways to transition back into exercise. However, only a properly trained physical therapist can ensure you are using the equipment to its full potential for recovery.

The difference between a group class and an individualized session with a physical therapist could not be more stark. In the clinic, everything is tailored to meet your needs and goals. A group instructor has 15 or 20 other participants to think about. They are focused on making the workout as good as possible for the average person. A physical therapist has only you and your recovery in mind. We have a deep understanding of the human body, its injuries, and what it needs to heal. We also know what movements to modify or avoid in order to get the full benefit of the exercises without putting you at risk. We take the tools that make Reformer Pilates so powerful and use them as precision medical instruments.

A few of our common clinical modifications include:

• Low Back Pain: A patient with a disc herniation in the lower back will need to avoid forward flexion of the spine. A common mistake is for people to come to a group class and attempt to do a modified version of “The Hundred,” which still requires flexion of the spine to complete. We modify it by keeping the head down, the knees bent, and using a lighter spring setting, so the deep core muscles are still activated, but the lumbar spine is not compromised.
• ACL Reconstruction Rehab: After ACL surgery, patients need to regain quad strength and full extension at the knee. But the new graft is very vulnerable. We would use the Reformer to do exercises like footwork while lying on your back and pushing the footbar. This will activate and strengthen the quad muscle in a non-weightbearing position without creating any stress on the knee and new graft. This is a great example of the type of safe protocol for Reformer Pilates after injury.

The protocols we use are rigid. We know which movements are safe and which are not. We track your range of motion, strength, and pain with every session. If something isn’t working for you, we don’t push it. Our entire approach to using Reformer Pilates for rehab after injury is based on these subtle but important changes.

The most empowering part of the recovery process is becoming an active participant in your own care. The Reformer is a great tool for helping you on that journey.

Make A Session at Ironhorse to learn the benefits of Reformer Pilates for Recovery in San Ramon.