Background

BET PhysioPilates has its roots in another world!

It began over 20 years ago with a meeting of the minds (and muscles) of a Canadian physiotherapist and a British classical dance teacher / Pilates instructor. Rochenda (physiotherapist) and Julia, (ballet dancer) met in a Physiotherapy clinic in Hong Kong where Julia had set up a Pilates exercise studio to work with professional dancers and Rochenda had come to work as a clinic manager. The Physiotherapist clinic owner was intrigued by what was going on in the Pilates studio and directed Rochenda to that room and the rest……. is history!

Teamwork

Julia and Rochenda quickly found common ground; Rochenda frustrated with gaps in traditional rehabilitation and Julia expressing frustration with the difficulty her injured dancers had performing traditional Pilates exercise. A partnership was born!

Thus, a many year commitment to ‘filling the gap’ was born - bringing the evidence and the exercise from both the Physiotherapy and the Dance worlds together and developed into a modified Pilates - based system – with the objective to keep people moving, both dancers and…. the rest of us (less agile, older?) folks!

BET Physio Pilates

BET PhysioPilates system is a progressive, systematic therapeutic exercise system adapted from traditional Pilates.

In the BET approach, the deeper muscles of what Mr. Pilates referred to as ‘the centre’ (sometimes confused with “the core”), are encorporated systematically into controlled movement patterns utilising the Pilates apparatus.

The resistance from the apparatus and the cueing from the physiotherapist progressively help guides muscles to stabilise and rebalance the spine and enhance the efficiency of movement. The emphasis is on establishing spinal alignment, stability of the trunk, good posture and balanced, co-ordinated muscle activity.

While this system has developed from the Pilates Method, its concepts, approach and exercise selection have been significantly modified to embrace contemporary theoretical knowledge and scientific evidence.

Further, the BET system is helpful in training the healthy population to improve posture, enhancing physical performance and wellbeing.

History of Mr. Pilates

‘Pilates’ refers to an exercise technique first established by Joseph H. Pilates in the early 1900’s. Mr. Pilates studied both Eastern and Western exercise training disciplines.

Pilates believed in the promotion of both physical and mental harmony through exercise. This concept was first incorporated into a series of mat exercises and later adapted for wartime bedridden patients.

His philosophy stressed “mind-body” awareness and the development of a girdle of strength in the bodies ‘centre’. Dancers and elite athletes in their quest to perfect posture, technique and movement control first embraced such a focus.

Joseph H. Pilates

Joseph Pilates was born in 1880 near Dusseldorf, Germany and died in 1967 at 87 years of age. He was a frail and sickly child who became an all-round athlete excelling in body building, diving, skiing and gymnastics. In 1912 he went to England to become a professional boxer and circus performer and taught self-defense courses.

During WW1 Pilates was interned with other German nationals in the United Kingdom. During this time Pilates developed a series of floor exercises that he taught to fellow internees.

He was proud to note that none of these inmates developed the influenza that was endemic in the country in 1918. Pilates later moved to the Isle of Man where he worked as an orderly in the hospital.

Pilates started experimenting with his concepts by attaching springs to hospital bed frames. This rudimentary equipment formed the base for the Pilates reformer and the Trapeze table that he designed later and is still used today.

Joseph H. Pilates: The Later Years

During his career, Pilates had the opportunity to work with and to incorporate ideas from F.M. Alexander and from leading dance pioneers Rudolph von Laban, George Ballanchine and Martha Graham.

After the war Pilates returned to Germany before emigrating to New York, USA. In 1926 Pilates founded a studio with his wife Clara and established a loyal following among the professional dance community there.

His work subsequently spread to dance communities throughout America and later England and Europe.

Pilates exercise has been discovered by a wider audience including elite athletes, performing artists, fitness professionals and general fitness enthusiasts and most recently by physiotherapists and other medical professionals.

Today Pilates exercise is offered world wide in some form, more commonly in the format of floor exercise classes. Training on the Pilates apparatus in a dedicated Pilates studio is available but not as widely.