RSS
Home
Core Pilates on 17th teams up with MS Friends
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
MSFriends has a primary mission: to improve the quality of life for people with Multiple Sclerosis, for their families and friends. MS affects all ages and races, many are isolated and suffering in silence. MSFriends has the first and only 24 hour peer support help line for people with MS, and all the volunteers have MS themselves. 1866-MSFriends (673743637)
Amelia Davis, President of MS Friends and I met in September of 2008 when she signed up for an Introductory offer at Core Pilates on 17th, which included 3 private sessions to establish postural assessment and individual fitness goals. Amelia and I had an immediate connection and a fast friendship as well as client-instructor relationship developed.
Amelia informed me at that time that she had MS, but she had been relatively symptom free for 12 years. The only issue she was having was as a side effect of the medication she was taking caused her injection sites in her abdominal and hip area to develop scar tissue where the needle inserts. One of our main goals included overall abdominal work as well as improving strength, endurance, flexibility, and coordination. Pilates enhances so much of the core with the overall exercises we have been able to help soften the scar tissue that had built up in Amelia's midsection.
Since then Amelia has become a walking advertisement for the benefits of Pilates. "Pilates is such a great tool for people with MS to still exercise. we can not do much cardiovascular exercise, because you do not want to overheat which can cause an attack."
"With Pilates you can target specific areas and help strengthen the areas of the body that MS affects, specifically those with pelvic floor and bladder issues."
"I have found Pilates is good for people like myself who inject their medications. You can stimulate those areas with blood flow to help break up the scar tissue."
"The Cadillac Table especially is a great tool for those who have limited mobility, even if you use a scooter or a wheelchair to get around, you can still do Pilates because you are using your own body as the source of resistance. So Pilates is the perfect solution."
"Discovering Pilates has allowed me to take an active roll in my exercise regime and it has helped me feel empowered to improve my quality of life. Pilates is appropriate for any age or ability level which is helpful as MS does not discriminate who it ultimatley affects."
Last summer Amelia and I started working on developing a program MS patients to participate in a group Pilates class. The class would meet twice per week for 8 weeks, and be limited to 8 participants. Participants would fill out a questionair and the beginning, middle and end of the 8 week series in order to chart progress. These results could then be foudations for taking this program to a national level, helping people with MS all over the country. Our efforts included putting together a list of exercises that are specifically designed to help those with MS then submitting that information with a grant proposal to receive funds in order to reach out to this population who otherwise may not be able to afford Pilates in thier budgets.
So far, we have not had any luck. Drug companies are not being as generous as they have been in the past with their donations. Stay tuned for more information as we will be submitting our next round of grants in the early part of 2010 to get this program off the ground.
To learn more, volunteer, or donate to MSFriends please visit www.msfriends.org
MSFriends also hosts fundraising events called Rock for MS. The next event is December 13th 2009 at the Boom Boom Room. Come rock out and support a great cause:
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
