As we roll into the new season, it marks a good time to consider reviewing your tailored Physio-Led Pilates program. Like with any aspect of your well-being, it is important to consistently monitor how things are progressing, and your program is no exception. As time goes on, your fitness capacity and lifestyle changes, which will influence your goals!
To get a better idea of how a review could benefit you, see some of our FAQs below:
Our reviews are conducted in a 45 min appointment with the Physiotherapist who set up your program (or the one you see most often in classes if that is preferred). Prior to the appointment we ask you to complete a short form, which asks you some questions about how your current program is going and what goals you are hoping to achieve with your exercise program. This could include increasing your strength in certain areas, reducing pain or even just maintaining your current strength and mobility, and ability to do certain tasks.
Your Physiotherapist will work with you and consider this information, together with what they have already learned from your previous assessments, treatments and class attendances to help plan what your new exercise program will look like. At your review appointment, you will have a chance to discuss all of the above and to run through some newer exercises 1:1 with your Physio. Your updated program will be ready for you when you attend your next class after the review, and will likely include a mix of the new exercises and some of the old favourites from your previous program too.
Our bodies are great at adapting to the challenges and tasks put before them. However to continue optimally promoting progress or even maintaining progress, it is important to provide new or altered challenges. This gives us the best possible ability to reach, or even exceed your goals!
Repeating the same or similar exercise program over a longer period of time is still beneficial, especially if you have been making gradual changes along the way to adapt to your changing strength, mobility or symptoms.
For many clients who have consistently attended classes for years (like many of you have), it isn’t necessary to make large changes to a program all in one go, if you are managing well. However, it is still important to be assessed by a Physiotherapist from time to time, to ensure that the current program is still appropriate to your needs, and to assess if your body is changing over time with its ability to perform the exercises well.
It might be the case that some exercises need to be made more challenging, and others might need to be modified to be less challenging, especially if you’ve had a previous injury, or a reduction in your flexibility and/or balance. Even changing the focus of a current exercise can be enough to challenge our bodies for further adaptation. Review appointments are also an excellent time to look at other aspects of your health or fitness goals and discuss these with your Physiotherapist in a private 1:1 appointment and how we can best help you achieve these, through Physiotherapy or other avenues that best match your goal.
It is also worth noting that if you are claiming a rebate from your private health insurer for the Physiotherapist supervised exercise classes, many private health insurers require you have a 1:1 assessment with a Physiotherapist at least one per year. This is to ensure that the Physiotherapist assesses and documents the purpose of the exercise program, and ensure that the program is clinically appropriate for you. From time to time, Physiotherapists are audited by the health funds to ensure we have met this requirement, so this is another reason we ask you to schedule a review.
Having run Physiotherapy supervised exercise and Pilates programs for 25 years, we have had the opportunity to see the great benefit that comes from reviewing exercise programs many times, regardless of the age or stage of life our clients are currently in.
We understand that clients can feel a little reluctant to review their program, as we all feel more comfortable doing the exercises we are confident with and feel work for us, rather than changing to newer ones that will challenge our minds and bodies more. However, resetting your goals and tweaking exercise programs to align with these and fitness capacity changes, ultimately leads to far greater outcomes than maintaining the norm.
To book in for a program review, either pop by the front desk after your next class, or give us a call at one of our locations!
