Pilates and Lupus
Pilates for Lupus (always talk to your doctor before engaging in an exercise program).
Systemic Lupus Erythematosis (SLE) is an auto-immune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue.
The causes of SLE are not fully known and there is no cure, but the symptoms can be managed. It is more common in women than men.
SLE can affect the brain and nervous system, digestive tract, heart, lungs and kidneys leading to kidney failure and subsequent kidney transplant.
The symptoms of SLE are arthritis-like joint pain and swelling, chest pain when taking a deep breath, fatigue, fever (with no other cause), malaise, hair loss, mouth sores, being sensitive to sunlight, skin rashes and swollen lymph nodes.
The most common complaints of SLE sufferers are extreme fatigue with muscle and joint pain. This can lead to exercise avoidance and eventual muscle weakness and atrophy to such an extent that the person can become too weak to engage in everyday activities.
Pilates can promote stress reduction, flexibility, and endurance.
Exercising releases endorphins that improve mood and reduce pain. Exercise in general helps the person with lupus gain confidence, as well as strength and stamina.
Pilates focuses on the core postural muscles, which help keep the body balanced and are essential to providing support for the spine.
Pilates can benefit someone who has lupus by enabling the person to experience greater and more expansive mobility in her joints while not exhausting her/him.
The article below is from
http://www.lupus.org/magazine/entry/body-mind-soul-the-benefits-of-yoga-tai-chi-and-pilates
Pain Relief
Lindsey Shepherd, 25, of Oxford, CT, a special-education teacher who was diagnosed with lupus in 2009, works out three to four times a week using a rotating schedule of low-impact aerobics and Pilates.
Shepherd finds that the core-strengthening- Pilates routines have allowed her to keep up with her young students. “It seems ironic that working out makes my joints feel better, but it does,” she says. “My back and hips have improved tremendously.
It relieves my pain and makes me stronger, which makes getting down on the floor and up again with a group of 5-year-olds a lot easier.”
Of course, most exercises offer physical benefits, but Pilates, tai chi, and yoga offer mental and emotional advantages, as well.
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