I have so much to say about PILATES , that I don't really know where to begin. First of all, like many of you reading this,  you may be like me 10 years ago,  when I didn't even know the word "Pilates."  When I took dance, Pilates was never referred to for strength of the core, and better flexibility was never mentioned. I realized while doing the floor exercises and movements on the Pilates machine that both are very similar to many dance moves. For any athletes out there, this is a great way to prevent injury and improve your performance for golf, softball, football , tennis, and many other sports.  

The focus on the mind and the anatomy of the body, especially the back, was brought to my attention. Before finding Pilates, I enjoyed running. By the age of 60, I had run 3 Marathons, one 1/2 Marathon and endless 5k and 10k's and didn't realize the wear-and-tear it was doing to my body. Pain in my back and hip didn't seem of any importance until the magical age of 63. Suddenly I couldn't even stand 5 minutes in the grocery line.

Soon "posture" came into the picture, and the backache which I felt after being on my feet all day suddenly had an explanation. I wasn't standing correctly with the core engaged. Any time at the computer, "Pilates" seemed to be right there to keep me sitting properly and not scrunching. I started reading article after article mentioning the all-around benefits of Pilates.

When Heather opened her clinic in 2007, it was then that I made a commitment to live a full, healthy life, to prevent any unnecessary injuries and Pilates was my answer.

I take 2-3 classes each week with Heather and Ade, and it keeps my body flexible and moving. I am still running and hiking too. Because you are working with a therapist and professional athlete and dancer, you will be taught the correct positioning for every movement without the fear of injury.

The BONUS has been 2 pant sizes smaller, shoulders are back, no more scrunching and my height is still 5"4.  Oh! and the weight came off with the awareness of the body sending a message to the brain to eat lots of greens!!

 If you want to learn and experience the many benefits of Pilates, and feel young, come to Balanced.  You are not going to be sorry and the friendships you will create are priceless.

My first year out of school, I followed in the steps of a typical new grad. I accepted a position in a general outpatient orthopedic where I gained invaluable exposure to transition myself from being a proverbial "student with a license" into an independent professional with real world experience.  I also gained the healthy perspective that every person I treated didn't necessarily heal in "textbook" fashion - that we are more like a jumble of probabilities than hard-and-fast equations.  Over the course of my first year as a practicing Physical Therapist, I was blessed to gain many mentors who showed me that there is more than one way to treat a mechanical issue and that when a patient's body doesn't respond to one treatment method, it can be appropriate, useful, and necessary to use a different method.   I found myself combining facets from all of the treatment methods I had learned thus far at different phases of healing when it was clinically deemed appropriate. 

As I evolved as a clinician, I realized I needed to transition a clinic where I could practice in a way that would allow me to be in full control of my part of a patient's care.  At Balanced Physical Therapy, the private practice atmosphere is singular comparative to other national/corporate physical therapy clinic chains.  I see each of my patients one-on-one for an hour, where I am able to naturally combine my orthopedic and manual therapy training with the rehabilitative concepts of Pilates to provide the most quality care to patients.  You will not find these opportunities in "traditional" orthopedics.

- Kate Watkins