Some 30 participants recently completed a 4-day workshop on “Pilates for Injury Prevention” organized by Institut Sukan Negara (ISN), the national sports institute, in collaboration with Pilates studio Ambasadors of Love (AOLove).
The elementary and intermediate workshop, intended for ISN’s staff, including coaches, sports medicine specialists, physiotherapists, sports masseurs, nurses and athletes, was aimed at incorporating Pilates into routine for injury treatment, rehabilitation and prevention, and posture correction for sports professionals.
Pilates is a type of exercise that focuses on improving posture, balance, strength, mobility and flexibility through controlled movements.
ISN chief executive officer Ahmad Faezal Ramly commended AOLove for the excellent workshop program and expressed an interest in continuing the program for other departments at ISN.
“I believe this is moving forward for us, as we need to be relevant, to be trusted and also to be the leading excellence centre in sports medicine in the country,” he said at the program’s closing ceremony.
He later presented certificates to participants of the program.
The event was also attended by former national bowler Shalin Zulkifli who is no stranger to sports injuries. She is currently the head of career branch at Malaysian Athlete Career and Education (MACE) and had recommended the Pilates program by AELove to ISN, after attending and benefiting from it herself.
In her speech, AOLove Pilates studio founder, managing director and principal instructor Elaine Tan Yee Lin expressed that she incorporated a scientific approach of movement healing. According to her, “Movement heals, only when we do it right.”
Tan highlighted that ISN’s physiotherapist Thomas, whohad been trained by her, applied Pilates principles to national diver Dato’ Pandelela Rinong and had managed to drastically reduce her back pain in one session without physiotherapy manipulation.
She pointed out that even knee pain can be corrected in two minutes after correction from the roots, and back pain in 20 minutes. This efficiency once saved her client about RM7K to RM8K and gave hope to the client to move again, instead of relying on surgery or pain killers.
“If your treat the roots, everything will fall in place. These are all helpful to quicken injury recovery of national athletes and improve their performance, and help them win medals for the country,” she said.
The workshop was conducted by AOLove’s certified instructors.
Tan, who has a Masters (MSc) First Class Honours Degree in Sports Science and a fully certified Stott Pilates instructor with more than 10 years of teaching experience, said it is important that Pilates routines are applied properly by certified instructors with correct knowledge and experience as improper techniques or over-exercising may cause injury to the neck, back or other parts of the body.
