Here is yet ANOTHER article about pain management, this time in the New York Times.

Alternatives to Drugs for Treating Pain

Particularly as the reach of opioid addiction comes to light, it seems like every day there is new research and more guidelines about how to deal with chronic pain WITHOUT hardcore pain killers.

We think this is great news!

What we find interesting about this article however, is NOT ONCE DO THEY MENTION PILATES OR QIGONG as a way to manage pain! In fact, we’ve noticed a trend lately with some of our new and prospective clients, whose doctors recommended Yoga and/or Tai Chi to bounce back from their injuries. While we fully support efforts to get the body moving again after an injury, all of us at LightSpace agree that Pilates would be a better place to start.

Why? For so many reasons! Here are just a few:

• Pilates strengthens those smaller, less dominate muscles that are particularly difficult to access, but that are SO important. They provide stability, support, and flexibility for more efficient movement patterns. That means you can build STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY at the same time!!
• Pilates helps you achieve better body mechanics and alignment so that you don’t hurt yourself again!
• Pilates helps you correct that compensation pattern your body developed to cope from a painful injury!
• Pilates not only helps you rehab from current injuries, but it reduces the likelihood of future injury!

And let’s talk about Qigong….in our experience the practice of Qigong (movement-based meditation) helps you cultivate a deeper internal focus….that “mindfulness” that everyone is talking about these days. Or getting “in touch with their bodies and their lives” as this article states. Not to mention the practice of Qigong is very relaxing, so it can help you relax and melt away that tension you’re holding on to because of your pain.

Pilates and Qigong complement each other! As we said above, Qigong movements and meditation help release physical tension that create imbalances in posture and alignment, often leading to injury. Once this tension is released, it is much easier to activate the deeper core muscles that support optimal posture and body mechanics.

The result? An awesome workout for the physical body combined with improved energetic flow. And the amazing feeling of having meditated for an hour.

And here we are, right around the corner offering these two pain-management options!