How To Get Healthy Feet
Pilates Teacher Tiffany Clayton uses the foot corrector to help a client improve mobility and stability.
How often do you think about the musculature of your feet? If you're like most people, the answer would probably be “not a lot.”
At Holly's Pilates Village, we think about feet all day long. The feet are the foundation for our bodies. And if our feet are unbalanced, we won't be able to load the body properly when we stand, walk, and move.
Joe Pilates was so concerned about the proper alignment of the feet that in 1923 he took out a patent for the creation of an assistive device in his native Germany. The Pilates Foot Corrector was to be a “device for eliminating or improving leg and foot defects or the like." Years later, when Pilates moved to the United States, his foot corrector became one of his go-to gadgets when working with clients in his New York City studio.
Teachers at Holly's Pilates Village use a version of the foot corrector to help clients strengthen their foot muscles, lift their arches and release trigger points brought on by faulty movement patterns such as pronation and supination. Many people develop preferential “wear” patterns on their feet. Repetitive stresses in certain parts of the foot and neglected muscle development in other parts of the foot can lead to hot spots of tension and pain. Working through the foot corrector exercises can enable you to find more equal distribution of the foot as you strike the ground. One of the best results is better balance for preventing falls.
“The Pilates Foot Corrector is one of my favorite apparatuses,” says Pilates Teacher Dawn Adcock. “It helps to refine foot control and alignment for better posture and stability. In my sessions, I almost always address the feet first, ensuring a strong foundation for everything that flows. The feet tell me so much about what the client’s body is experiencing that day.”
If you have not yet experienced the wonders of the foot corrector, ask your Pilates Teacher for a demonstration next time you're at the studio.
Studio Prices Will Increase in June
New prices will take effect starting June 1 for all private, semiprivate, and group classes. Please be assured that we did make this decision easily. We recognize that you make a substantial investment in Pilates and your health when you visit our studio, and we greatly appreciate your support.
The new prices represent the studio's first increase in two and a half years. We maintained our current fees during a period in which U.S. inflation rose 18 percent and our business absorbed double-digit increases in rent, utilities, insurance, and taxes. We can no longer do so. However, you'll discover that our price increases are significantly less than the inflation rate over this time span.
For the first time, we are offering a discount and our lowest rate for auto-renew packages paid for with cash or check. Essentially, we will be passing on to you the savings from our high monthly credit card processing fees. If you are interested in this option, please email – but don't call/text – Business Manager Barry Holland at barry.pilatesvillage@gmail.com.
Please note that all current package prices will be honored until you have used up your sessions within the six-month expiration date. For more information about the new prices, click on the link below.
We're very excited to welcome Sheila Heller to our Pilates teaching team. Sheila recently completed the requirements for comprehensive Pilates certification under the direction of Master Teacher Trainers Teresa Willis and Holly Holland.
While completing the rigorous requirements of the Pilates Teacher Training program at Holly's Pilates Village, Sheila simultaneously pursued certification with The Neuro Studio's Pilates for Neurological Conditions program. During the past year, she continually observed Holly at our studio as she guided clients with identified neurological disorders, and then Sheila led weekly sessions with the same clients to give them more opportunities to practice Pilates.
Before pursuing Pilates as a career, Sheila previously worked as a paramedic in both Jefferson and Bullitt counties and as one of the few female licensed home and radon inspectors in Kentucky. She also offered personal training programs for older adults. Sheila and her husband Joe have three grown daughters and a dog.
Pilates Teacher Jenny Pritchett has earned distinction as an Advanced Buff Bones® instructor who can help clients use targeted exercise to improve bone health. She joins Teresa Willis and Jessica Goldstein who previously qualified to lead the advanced Buff Bones® Stepping Stones series, which focuses on progressive overload, assessments, and strength training techniques.
“A significant portion of our clients at the studio have osteopenia/osteoporosis,” Jenny explains. “Not only have I been able to use my Buff Bones training for my clients with bone loss, but the four key skills in Buff Bones that are practiced in every class (mobility, strength, balance, and coordination) are also elements that I can incorporate in programming for all of my clients and classes.”
Jenny says the Buff Bones Stepping Stones program enables teachers to assess and measure progress using the four key skills as they translate to daily life and make other activities easier to perform.
“Specifically, the advanced Buff Bones training has taught me how to progress a client, build strength and endurance, and increase balance challenge opportunities. And what about posture? Almost every new client cites improved posture as a goal. Posture is not a skill, but an outcome that we can improve that relates to the four skills, along with fall prevention. Stepping Stones has not only guided my clients' progression, but my own, as well!”
Studio Owner Holly Holland recently conducted a video interview with Dr. Christopher Shuhart to enlighten members of her Bone Strong for Osteoporosis Facebook Group, an international community of people who want to improve their bone health. Shuhart is one of the nation's leaders in research and practice for clients with osteoporosis. He is the Founder and Director of the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Center
at Swedish Medical Group in Seattle, Washington. He is also Past-President of the International Society for Clinical Densitometry and a co-author on the organization's publication of “Best Practices” in the Journal of Clinical
Densitometry.
To watch a replay of the webinar, click here.
