Pilates for Breast Cancer Survivors
Two experts in breast cancer rehabilitation share their insight into the benefit of this safe, effective form of exercise.
By Naomi Aaronson, MA, OTR/L, CHT, CPI, CET, and Ann Marie Turo, OTR/L
Why Pilates For Breast Cancer?
Pilates is a gentle form of exercise that engages the mind, body, and spirit. The various Pilates exercises help develop muscular flexibility and strength while increasing metabolism and promoting lymphatic, respiratory, and circulatory function.
They improve balance and coordination and also help you relax and “get centered.” Pilates is able to meet you where you are, and it can be done throughout your life and wherever you are, even while seated. For these reasons it is an excellent approach to healing for breast cancer survivors.
The Pilates method was first developed by Joseph Pilates to strengthen muscles, increase flexibility, and improve overall health. It is a mixture of yoga, martial arts, and gymnastics.
He first taught his method as “Contrology,” a mash-up of Eastern and Western philosophies and techniques, to a small group of devoted teachers and students in the United States after emigrating from Germany following World War I.
Years later, in the 1950s, Pilates used his techniques to rehabilitate dancers at his studio in New York City without receiving much recognition for his method.
One of Pilates’s first protégés was Eve Gentry, whom he rehabilitated after a radical mastectomy. Eve was able to regain full use of her arm and torso, which is remarkable because all of her lymph nodes and chest muscles, as well as breast tissue, had been removed. Doctors could not believe the success that she had obtained with Pilates’s method. He was a man ahead of the times. Research is now being conducted that documents the benefits of the Pilates method for breast cancer recovery.
What Are The Benefits Of Pilates?
Beth Mast, an occupational therapist and Pilates practitioner, used Pilates to recover from breast cancer and is now using the method on her journey through living with metastatic cancer. She says that Pilates has always been available to her, even on really bad days. It was the only exercise she could tolerate after going through chemotherapy and becoming increasingly anaemic, unable to stand even to brush her teeth. Here are the specific benefits Beth has found with her Pilates practice.
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You can do Pilates in many different positions: supine (on the back), prone (on the stomach), side-lying, standing, and seated.
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The exercises and equipment can be modified for any level.
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You will be able to use the affected arm(s) more easily and naturally because Pilates is a whole-body exercise system that includes the arms and legs in the movements.
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The principles help you live in the moment by keeping you focused on moving properly, with control and without momentum.
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Deep rib cage breathing and the multidimensional breathing patterns help ease tension, encourage lymphatic drainage, and stretch tight areas affected by scars.
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Pilates provides a gentle introduction or reintroduction to exercise.
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Pilates increases muscle strength, especially in the back of the shoulders and the middle back, where you need it after breast cancer surgery.
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Pilates increases your ability to perform activities of daily living as you build core strength, allowing you to more easily roll over and move from different positions.
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Pilates improves muscle proprioception (the reception of stimuli) and kinesthesia (awareness of the position and movement of the parts of the body by means of sensory organs) in the muscles and joints; these sensations are often lost after surgery, when nerves and muscles may have been inadvertently cut.
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Pilates strengthens the transverse abdominis, a muscle that is very important for back stability and strength after a TRAM (transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous) flap or DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) flap breast reconstruction procedure.
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Pilates can help with bladder control problems such as stress incontinence, a common complication of menopause.
Many treatments for breast cancer can induce menopause in women who are not yet menopausal. Pilates helps by strengthening the pelvic floor muscles, which are responsible for bladder control.
Pilates takes the focus off the damaged areas of your body and what you cannot do and reinforces what you can do. You will appreciate all the movement your body is capable of, no matter how small or limited at first, and its capacity to heal.
The ACS Guidelines on Nutrition and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention1 recommend that breast cancer survivors avoid inactivity and return as soon as possible to normal activities after surgery and during radiation and adjuvant treatment (chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and/or targeted therapy). The guidelines recommend regular physical activity and strength training at least twice a week, aiming for 150 minutes of exercise per week.
Physical activity offers additional benefits for breast cancer survivors:
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Boosts positive mood
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Improves physical condition and movement
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Improves body image
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Increases sexuality
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Decreases depression
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Decreases fatigue
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Maintains bone health
We know that exercise is good for us. We just need to start somewhere and feel safe. Pilates is a gentle, safe place to begin.
The above article is from
http://awomanshealth.com/pilates-for-breast-cancer-survivors/
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