Movement is medicine at the Arthritis and Injury Care Clinic in Halifax. One of their prescriptions: Pilates. Victoria Scully was already a personal trainer and yoga instructor when she started teaching Pilates to help her mother through her knee replacement. “I was already working as a personal trainer and yoga instructor,” Scully said. “All of a sudden she was going through this recovery and I felt like I didn’t have the tools to support her,” Scully said. “Pilates was recommended to her, so I sort of deep dove when I did my training.” Five years later and Scully says she’s “enamored and obsessed” with Pilates and teaching it as a way of managing arthritis. “We are working with lengthening muscles,” Scully said. Working muscles shorten in most training modalities, she said. By forcing length through Pilates, Scully said the muscles stabilize – which is important for aging bodies. Scully said hip, knee and shoulder replacements are up 100 per cent in the last 15 years. She said Pilates can offset or postpone surgeries and help with recovery and because it’s low impact. “If your approved to move you can do Pilates,” Scully said. “There is always a modification or adjustment for everybody.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
