When everything else failed, learning how to move was a large part of the answer
Pilates gave me my health back. Three times. In 2005, during my second year at university aged 19 my whole world as I knew it collapsed. I was suddenly crippled by fatigue and unable to both run (my hobby since I was 8) and to think clearly to study.
It led me on a path to discover what was going on with my body which was a long and fascinating one. It was extremely difficult too but I wouldn’t change the vast knowledge and perspective I gained along the way for anything. Strange how illnesses do that to people.
Frustration with herds of unhelpful doctors stabbing in the dark led me to become my own medical researcher. Part of the puzzle became clear when I was finally diagnosed with hypothyroidism which I came to suspect when I saw my blood tests were slightly off, and then continued to worsen over months as I insisted for more follow up. But this only solved half of the problem. I was much better. But not well.
At this point I was living in Chiclana in Cádiz during my year abroad from university aged 22. I came to know Chiclana CAP like the back of my hand. I would go to the local pool and swim 2 lengths and go to the sauna. I couldn’t do more and I felt like I was slowly rotting. Absolutely no chance of running.
Still struggling to exist like everyone around me in the world of work four years later in London, I continued to look for answers. One day, I came across a long comment made by a lady in response to a British Medical Journal article. Her name was Jane Barratt and her post still grips me today. In sum, she had experienced great benefit from a physio and Pilates combination at a clinic now called Six Physio in London.
I contacted her and we had coffee. I listened intently to her story and it felt right to try her approach, and so I threw my savings into intensive physio and one-to-one Pilates. It was emotional. They gradually taught me how to breathe again (I had a completely dysfunctional breathing pattern probably from years of academic stress and the effects of a viral infection plus hypothyroidism — the actual medical findings).
Fiona Troup at Six Physio, London, also taught me how to move again. I was completely out of touch with the subtle movements of my body. I went three times a week initially. My fatigue lifted after about 2 weeks, and continued to improve for the next two years as I gradually lessened the frequency of my visits but kept it consistent and went to group classes weekly. The physio I had worked on my sympathetic nervous system. I am now able to reproduce the effects of treatment myself. It took me a lot of sessions and feeling my bodily response. In a way I was relearning what healthy felt like.
In the years to come, I was to discover that Pilates exercises were also a very powerful toolbox for overcoming “untreatable” chronic cystitis (treatable if seen from the angle of having a hypertonic pelvic floor) and running injuries (almost always caused in my case by hypermobility of the hips).
One stubborn running injury, however, was not fully resolved until I came across a treatment called Redcord, which is complimentary to Pilates and often used alongside it by physios and rehabilitation specialists. After running the London Marathon in 2012, I had chronic knee pain I couldn’t shake and which after about 4 years, another great physio who has helped the GB team and little old me over the years, Mark Buckingham, came up with the theory it was secondary to a rotated pelvis and irritated femoral nerve. Nothing wrong with my feet, actual knee or ITB which had been the focus for years.
I managed to improve with a fine balance of massage, manipulations and strength work. But the pain never stayed away for longer than a couple of weeks. Usually just a couple of days.
It was a blessing to come across physio and teacher trainer extraordinaire who happens to also love running, Rosa Cortijo, when I was doing my training in Pilates in Barcelona in 2018. We spoke of my situation and she couldn’t wait to treat me with Redcord to activate my anterior kinetic chain which was the missing link in my vicious cycle of knee pain. It’s pretty logical that if you’re not activating the right muscles you can do even Pilates exercises until you’re blue in the face and you won’t move optimally. And sites of pain will likely persist.
Fifteen years after my first Pilates class, I am today trained as a STOTT Pilates instructor and in Redcord Active. Together with wellness and running/triathlon, it is one of my great passions and I am continually amazed at the effect it has on my body and mind. Always drag yourself to Pilates even if you don’t want to go. That was advice from Jane in 2004 and it still serves me well. In fact the days I don’t want to move are the days I most need to.
I teach both general Pilates classes and specialised classes for athletes and triathletes. When I work privately with a client, I can help on a more technical level with illness or injury. Nevertheless, I try to make my group classes as personalised as possible. A Pilates instructor can never look at a person “normally” again. My eyes go straight to shoulder, pelvis and foot alignment! At clients’ first group class I look at their range of movement and alignment. Working with a client one-to-one I can take this to another level and get into the nitty gritty of kinetic chains and breathing patterns.
Pilates is a progressive art. I’ve met enough Pilates one-timers to realise that one session doesn’t always make a convert. Either people can’t walk the next day because they didn’t do the exercises properly (Pilates shouldn’t cripple you!) or they didn’t feel anything because they weren’t taught to engage their muscles correctly. I was that person in her first class once and fell into the latter category. I only continued as I had someone else encouraging me to keep going back. After a few weeks I started feeling muscles I didn’t know existed. Hence my 6-week programmes, designed to encouraged people to really give it a go. After all, there’s that famous quote from our guru:
"In 10 sessions you'll feel the difference, in 20 sessions you'll see the difference, and in 30 sessions you'll have a whole new body" Joseph Pilates
Exercises to practice at home are included in each group and individual session, allowing the client to add regularity to their practice, bearing in mind that Joseph Pilates said “In 10 sessions, you feel better, 20 sessions you look better, 30 sessions you have a completely new body.” Why waste time?! I incorporate Redcord in both private and group classes for athletes,
I know firsthand that these tools can be the difference between living either a passive or an active life for injured athletes, and those suffering with chronic pain disorders of a varied nature.
You can read my blog posts on the technicalities behind how Pilates and Redcord can help different groups of people here.
Going into more technical details, I have been trained in the following:
