A Second Pilates Certification Course Completed!
Hello, again! I plead guilty - I have not updated my blog in quite some time. My excuse? I have been super busy finishing the requirements and coursework for my second Pilates certification from Polestar Pilates.
My first certification from Stott Pilates was developed by an ex-ballerina/exercise physiologist, Moira Merrithew, and her background has certainly influenced how the courses were structured and how she believed Pilates should be taught. The Polestar Pilates certification courses were developed by Brent Anderson, a physical therapist from Miami, Florida, and his physical therapy background is infused throughout the program. The Polestar courses gave me the tools necessary to break down all components of the Pilates movements to benefit those who don’t move like an athlete or ballerina, or to benefit those athletes or ballerinas who in spite of years of physical effort still need work on their movement patterns.
While my current certification will say that I am trained in “studio” Pilates, anyone who graduated from the same program before me would have been issued a “rehabilitation” certificate for the same training. But for liability purposes, they decided that any current grads should be licensed medical professionals if they were going to have the “rehabilitation” title on their certifcate.
While I am not a licensed medical professional (massage therapists are not licensed in Michigan) and therefore do not do rehabilitation, I can say that I do “prehabilitation.” That is, I focus my efforts on helping clients to develop biomechanically safe and proper movement patterns using Pilates and other exercise and movement techniques so that they will hopefully not become injured and need rehabilitation. And I have also worked as a “post-rehabilitation” professional for those who were injured and have been through physical therapy. Due to managed care health systems and the “cookie cutter” protocols that the insurance companies dicate, physical therapists often do not feel that a client receives all the care that they need before their insurance coverage ends. That is where I come in, as a non-medical professional, who can work in conjunction with the physician and physical therapist to target exercises that will continue to help the client make improvements.
Other recent training? A classical Pilates review course taught by Celine Dion’s full-time trainer, and a cranial and somatic fasica release course with Earle Timberlake. The learning continues. Isn’t that what life is about?
Hope you are all surviving the pre-holiday rush. I’ll write more later this week.
Yours in good health,
Tina