Continuous education in health and fitness is crucial for instructors’ ability to support a diverse breadth of clientele in a way that’s personalized, safe and aligns with individual health and fitness goals. Recently, a number of new studies from leading health organizations such as WHO have provided new information related to conditions such as Osteoporosis and Scoliosis.
As a result, we have revamped a series of workshops within our STOTT PILATES® Post Rehab program and will be debuting them at our eighth Merrithew® Mindful Movement Symposium in London, UK, taking place from November 8-11. These workshops will offer fitness professionals the most up-to-date scientific research on Osteoporosis and Scoliosis, along with clearly-mapped guides and tools that will assist instructors in making better, personalized exercise choices for clients affected by either condition.
Merrithew® Master Instructor Trainers, Kim Kraushar and Melanie Byford-Young will be explaining the science behind the new developments, teaching program principles and demonstrating safe and effective exercise programming for the first time at the UK Symposium. Kim, along with the Merrithew Programming Team, has played an important role in the development of these workshops. She explained the programming for Osteoporosis and Scoliosis offers user-friendly information and tools for instructors to make accurate, personalized choices for their clients while mitigating the risk for injury with exercise modifications—with one of the key benefits for clients being better movement throughout their daily routines.
“These programs are more in-depth and offer instructors more creative options in designing personalized programs,” she said. “We (at Merrithew) wanted to provide instructors a fresh approach to exercises they’re already familiar with and easily incorporate small props they already use such as the Mini Stability Ball™, Foam Roller™ and Toning Ball™ , and even use more of the Vertical Frame on the V2 Max Plus™ Reformer.”
Kim added this will also be the first time they’re including the FRAX Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (an online assessment system developed by World Health Organization in collaboration with The University of Sheffield) in the Osteoporosis education, and they’ve added more specific movement content to the Scoliosis workshop.
“Scoliosis is complex and designing a program can be tricky,” added program consultant Meredith Stephens. “So we wanted to make sure the information and tools were easily digestible to support instructors in helping clients optimize their alignment before they even add loads and exercise.”
She also explained that guides will give instructors a better understanding of Scoliosis and include practical sessions that explain four crucial foundation principles that are necessary for effective programming: how to pad for three and four curve Scoliosis, postural alignment for Scoliosis exercises, breathing techniques to open concavities and self-elongation to decompress the spine.
The full programs will be divided into 2-hour segments in the UK to ensure the content is easily digestible. Any trained or certified fitness instructor is welcome to attend these workshops, however a background in postural assessment and program design is strongly recommended.