Figuring how to work with a fractured figure skater

Hello Melanie! It’s Safia from Toronto.

I have a new regular client who is a figure skater. She primarily does pairs but is currently skating solo while searching for a new partner. She is 17 and has sustained a fractured ischial tuberosity on her right side and severe tendinitis in both ankles (now healed). She lands her jumps on her right leg. We’ve worked together 3 times so far and the last time I worked with her she strained her lower right back near her SI joint during the short spine on the reformer. I asked Sally to look at her quickly and she was the one who said it felt like her SI joint and the soft tissues that were aggravated. However, she has only ever experienced strain on her left SI joint – never her right before.
I did hip release with the mini stability (flex) ball and the mermaid for the rest of the session to help relieve the pain a bit. She took a break from figure skating that day but danced that evening since she had recitals on Friday and Saturday night (she does ballet).
I know I have to strengthen all the little muscles around her joints to help her learn to stabilize. I’m just wondering if you have any advice in terms of exercises to emphasize and also exercises to avoid (besides the short spine of course!!).
I hope you have a chance to come back to Toronto soon. It’s wonderful to have you in the studio!!
Take care and best wishes,

Safia

Response from Melanie:

Hi Safia!
Thank you for writing. With your permission, we will post this on the blog so that others can also learn from your great question.
 
What comes to mind immediately is the strength and control of your clients hip extensors, particularly the relationship of the deep hip rotators, the glutes and the hamstrings. I suspect that she does not have adequate eccentric control of her glutes, which would result in less control of her SIJ/ low back, more strain on her ankles and poor landing mechanics. For this, you would do exercises including (as able): shoulder bridge (prep and full)- progressing to single legged, and with feet on an unstable surface; side lying one leg pull on reformer- straight and bent leg; supine and side lying feet in springs on the cadillac; the step up and step down series on the chair; and of course plyometrics focusing on the landing. Other balance challenges such as fencers lunges on the cadillac would be beneficial.
 
For her ankles, make sure that you do a lot of ankle lower and lift on reformer and chair. Make sure you do a variety of positions (parallel, laterally and medially rotated in second), and at a variety of paces. Also do unilateral and weight shifting. Lower and lift in the sleeper position will help with lateral stability of the ankle and hip. Other things like standing on one leg while doing side arm series at the cadillac will help with balance and the tendonitis.
 
Other great exercises for a skater include arabesque, front and back splits, knees off knee stretches, and anything for the abs in extension.
 
I have not given you specifics for her SIJ so let me know if that did not resolve immediately and needs help.
 
I hope this helps. Let us know how you progress.
sincerely
Melanie Byford-Young

Where Are All The Men?

This was emailed to us and we thought others might be interested!

Six months on I have learned a lot more about Pilates, its benefits and limitations. One thing remains consistent in that it is unpopular with men. I do hear more openness towards it and a better understanding of what it is but there remains an unfortunate reluctance to participate. I started Pilates to improve my flexibility and to engage in a new practice that would drive me to challenge myself to think differently and learn new skills. I believe I have been very successful on both fronts. I’ve found some measures of flexibility which show me how much I have been able to improve my hamstring flexibility but more important than any measure is the feeling I get after working out. I come away with a feeling of lightness in the back of my legs up through my back which is wonderful and it illustrates to me I had no idea how my inflexibility felt. This is akin to the feeling of the frog that is being slowly boiled and doesn’t recognize the gradual increasing of the water temperature.

The biggest surprise for me came the morning after I started playing indoor soccer again after a gap of several years. I expected to be extremely stiff and too my surprise I felt great with no stiffness at all. Now that doesn’t mean I am in great shape, aerobically the soccer kicked my butt, big time! I had hoped I could use jump boarding to maintain my aerobic fitness but I’ve concluded I need to do more aerobic work beyond Pilates. The other disappointment is that my left knee was unable to take the strain of twisting and turning and so that’s the end of my indoor soccer season. If I had started Pilates 10 or even 20 years ago I would have learned that the biomechanics of my knee movement puts strain on the outside of my knees and I wouldn’t have worn away the meniscus on the outside of my left knee. I did not realize Pilates focuses on proper biomechanics as well as developing strength and flexibility. I can only look back at what might have been had I started Pilates earlier!

Back to my observation that men are not engaging more actively in Pilates, given my experience above, this is disappointing as learning how to use your body more effectively could be a huge benefit to young athletes and in reality all of us. I was encouraged listening to a radio interview with one of the Portland Trailblazers staff that Brandon Roy will be focusing on Pilates and Yoga this summer. Brandon wants to develop the ability to be stronger and tougher and was looking to do more weight training and instead the Trailblazers coaches have convinced him to focus on strengthening his core and improving his agility. I expect to see an even stronger and faster Brandon Roy next season.

As for myself, I’ll keep on working on my Pilates practice and keeping my female classmates amused, I hope I’m not slowing you down too much. Maybe I’ll be successful in convincing one or two male friends but if I don’t it will be their loss and I’ll continue to enjoy my all female company.

I would love to hear your views why Pilates is not more popular with men or why you enjoy it and what you have got out of it.

Andy Robbins

Pilates for Equestrians

Happy hamstrings: What is the best way to stretch?

Having good hamstring length is important for all athletic endeavors and to comfortably do regular every day activities; to bend over to tie your shoes you will need elongated hamstrings. Without lengthened hamstrings, undue stress and strain may occur in the back, hips and knees.

Commonly, people know static stretches to build passive hamstring length. An example of static hamstring stretching would include lying your back while your instructor holds your leg in the air.

This photo illustrates a static stretch for the hamstrings using a wall to support the leg rather than a person

Static stretching will encourage the muscles to relax in order to create elongation, however, because the stretch is done passively, it may create an imbalance with the opposing muscle groups, make the muscle less sensitive to neural messages sent to the it by the brain, which diminishes its’ ability to generate force, and reduce blood flow in the stretched muscle. Therefore, static stretching is not considered a wise way to stretch prior to strenuous activity; a static stretch should only be held for 6-30 seconds, and should be done only preceding a gentle activity.

A dynamic hamstring stretch, conversely, involves actively taking the muscle in and out of a stretch. Since good flexibility is specific to body position and speed, a dynamic hamstring stretch will lengthen the muscle, but also prepare it for quick, ballistic and/or explosive activity. Consider when a soccer player kicks a ball or a martial artist kicks an opponent, he or she requires long muscles that can respond quickly in a variety of positions. In addition, since dynamic stretching increases blood flow to the muscles, it is an ideal way of stretching to prepare the muscles to be able to lengthen during a variety of situations- from playing sports and to doing other daily activities as gardening or picking up heavy objects. Training your hamstrings to stretch dynamically can greatly diminish the risk of tears and other injuries.

There are numerous exercises on the pilates reformer that can be used to dynamically lengthen the hamstrings. Here are three great exercises that can help you create long, strong and responsive hamstrings.

Feet in straps:

The back is stable against the carriage using the abdominal muscles, and all the muscles of the legs are active (gluts, hamstrings and quadriceps) to maintain the extension of the knees and to create resistance against the straps. When the legs are brought towards the body, the hamstrings are elongated, but the opposing muscle groups are active and the spine and pelvis are stable. This exercise begins slowly and can progress to a faster pace (still with control), 8-10 times.

Elephant:

During elephant, the gluts and hamstrings actively work to press the carriage out, simultaneously, the spine is supported in a neutral position. Then, the carriage is pulled in by using the hip flexor muscles. Notice that the upper body remains completely stable while the movement occurs at the hip joint, as if it were a hinge. This exercise begins slowly and may progress to a quicker pace (still with control), 8-10 times.

Front Splits standing on the floor:

In this exercise, the front leg is straightening to push the carriage out and bending to pull the carriage back in. The quadriceps are working to straighten the knee creating a hamstring stretch, then the hamstrings are working to pull the carriage back in. This exercise begins slowly and can progress to a quicker pace (still with control), 5-8 times.

All of these pilates exercises should be executed under the guidance of a certified pilates instructor.

Cross-training for female teen athletes

This question was sent and responded to through email, but we thought others might be interested!

Hi! I teach STOTT PILATES at two great studios in the Chicago suburbs…The Pilates Body and Oak Brook Racquet and Fitness Club.

My question is about female teen athletes. I would like to develop a cross-training workout for this population: One that enhances their play and also protects them from injury (including, but not limited to injuries of the ACL and knee area).

What are your suggestions?

Many thanks!

Salle Huber

Answer from Leslie Braverman:

Hi Salle:

Thanks for your note. I think Pilates will be a great cross-training program for your girls. There are many wonderful STOTT PILATES workshops that you can take that will give you exercises and specifics for training with this unique population. I would recommend:

Functional Fitness for Racquet Sports on Mat and Reformer
Jumpboard Intervals
Athletic Conditioning on the Reformer and/or on V2 Max and/or on the Stability Chair
Mini Trampoline workout (this is new and not up on STOTT PILATES site yet)
BOSU workshops

You can find descriptions about these at:
http://www.stottpilates.com/education/cont-ed/index.html

All these workshops will help you enhance your skills as a teacher for working with athletes that play racquet sports. The golf conditioning workshops may be beneficial to you as well. The jumpboard, BOSU and trampoline workshops, listed above, will help you create workshops that promote balance, endurance and power for your athletes. This way you are helping them develop all the finesse that is required to be stable around their joints and providing them with workouts that “surprise” their joints so they can adapt to a variety of situations.

Melanie’s Lower Extremity Series in the month of May might also interest you. Of course, these workshops are not specific to working with athletes only.

Our studio is offering many of these workshops listed above. You can see the schedule for 2009 here:
http://www.pacificnwpilates.com/stott/5-workshops/home.htm

I hope this information is helpful. I am forwarding your note along to Jean, Melanie and Traci in case they have other things to add.

Best of luck,

Teaching STING, the performer!!

Melanie:
Tell us about teaching STING!!

Answer from Melanie Byford-Young

I arrived at the back stage of the amphitheater around 5:15 pm, signed in and heard the rules (no autographs, no photos, no personal questions, no throwing myself on him during the workout, no pinching his bum and squealing….the regular stuff). I was told that if we were working well together, the session may be an hour; if he wasn’t liking the workout, the session may be over in 15 minutes!!!! I was told to make it a difficult advanced workout, and not to be too nit picky.

(Imagine STING doing side splits on the reformer with his guitar!!- OMG!)

So at around 6pm, STING’s assistant went to ask him IF he would like to do STOTT PILATES®. He arrived at the door, we shook hands (as he gazed into my eyes and told me that I was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen and that the reputation of Pacific Northwest Pilates proceeded my visit…oops, that is the fantasy version! Back to reality). So down to business.

I started with breathing side on the spine corrector and it was a nightmare!!! I swear I though he may stand up a walk out on me!!!! I ended up demonstrating one rep and from there on things went much better, thank goodness. I did some difficult stuff on the spine corrector and skipped over any other exercises with too many complicated steps/ cues.

From there, I went to the reformer and worked his legs really hard with footwork, sleeper and the jumpboard. From there, we continued with backrowing, long stretch and a series of advanced exercises like tendon stretch. STING does not talk much during the session, so it was funny when I asked if he was feeling the ab work and he barely squeked a “yes’ out of his mouth. When he was doing the side lying feet in straps work, he felt a huge adductor pull, let out a little yelp and said he would be hitting the high notes at the concert! He he he.

So I got to work with him for an hour, and when he said it was time to finish up, I said something like ‘ bummer’ and then got to do two more exercises! I had at least 12 more exercise planned!

STING is incredibly strong and flexible! Very focused and disciplined!

The highlight was after the session, we shook hands and he said something to the effect of ” well now I have to go and cancel the concert, and you have to go tell everyone”.

After that, I went out and met Carole, my husband Kevin, Daphna and her husband and several other friends. Needless to say, I was still flying and talking a mile a minute!!!! The concert was awesome, especially with Stings sweat on my finger tips!!! I got t touch STINGS bum!!

So there is the story! I did not get to meet any of the other band members nor his wife. I did not get a back stage pass, or an invitation to the villa in Tuscany (yet). Unfortunately, I tried to get Leslie or Daphna to be able to work with him the next night in the Gorge, but his people hired someone from Seattle who he had already worked with. Next time hopefully.

This week I am going to take my midweek madness course through the ‘Sweat like STING” workout. We are talking of posting it on our newsletter so you too can teach the STING workout.

Thanks to everyone for running with my energy and making this whole experience a reality and so much fun! You have now seen me at almost my highest energy level! Watch out if he comes back!

You guys are the best!

Wednesday group class….. watch out!
Melanie