Alpine Director, Sam Schmidt, MPT, offered the Balance Body University Pilates Reformer I workshop last month.

Alpine Physical Therapy has consistently built a strong presence with its integration of Pilates and Reformer use as a rehabilitation tool, especially to address low back and neck pain.Thus, it is no surprise that five of Alpine’s PTs took this Reformer Level 1 course to understand and learn how to best use the Pilates method for helping patients get better, faster.

The Reformer allows many patients, who otherwise are limited by pain, to relearn optimal and pain-free movement and build a foundation of core strength and coordination for long-term fitness and functional goals.

Alpine PT has partnered with Balanced Body University (www.Pilates.com) to become one of the nation’s leaders in rehabilitation mind body corrective movement. The success of this program is seen and heard from the many Alpine patients that have re-established optimal function and achieved a pain-free life again!
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For more information on Pilates at Alpine, visit our clinic webpage by clicking here.

The Core Studio at Alpine and Alpine physical therapist, Sam Schmidt, MPT, offered the Balance Body University Pilates Mat II workshop recently.
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Of the five students attending, all five plan on continuing through the Comprehensive Pilates Training, which includes nine weekends of trainings, over 500 hours of practical training, several written and practical tests, and Pilates work from mat to Cadillac to chair to Reformer.

Some students prefer to take only the Mat Certification, allowing them to teach mat classes in a group or private setting other students are health care professionals like many of Alpine’s PTs who will take the Reformer 1 course to learn the most effective ways to use the reformer in their practice.

Currently, Sam has four students who are pursuing their full comprehensive training.  Stay posted on their progress, and perhaps you can even attend a class they are offering in our community!
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To learn more about the BBU Pilates Certification please go to www.Pilates.com.

Out with the old, and in with the new. Although this decision wasn’t exactly a New Year’s Resolution, at Alpine Physical Therapy we did in fact resolve to equip the Pilates portion of our north PT clinic solely with Balanced Body Pilates equipment.
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To our surprise, our newly shipped Centerline Reformer, Tower and Mat Conversion table arrived in a matter of days! This new piece complements our existing Reformer/Trapeze Combination unit (seen in the background). Check it out.

Brent proudly displays the new Former/Tower Combination from Balanced Body

​My thanks to Jessa for her help putting this together today. Fantastic. Oh, and here’s a picture after we loaded all the cardboard on my truck to haul to the recycle center.

Ready to haul a box full of boxes to the recycle center 

For more information on Alpine’s vision and use of rehabilitative Pilates, click here.
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Brent Dodge
Owner
Alpine Physical Therapy
5000 Blue Mountain Rd.
Missoula, MT 59804
(406) 251-2323
www.AlpinePTmissoula.com

1. How does Pilates help you as a mom?
It keeps my body strong enough to be able to keep up with busy and growing toddler. It also keeps me strong enough to enjoy recreational activities that keep me smiling.

2. How does Pilates help you as a physical therapist?
I use pilates methods every day in my PT practice. I started using it right out of PT school. I also feel like doing Pilates in my own body because it helps me have enough awareness and strength to teach my patients how to move their own bodies. Also being a manual-based orthopedic PT can be labor intensive, and Pilates keeps me strong enough to do my job without getting hurt.

3. What is your favorite Pilates apparatus or exercise and why?
I don’t really have a favorite because it depends on what I am going after, but probably the exercise series I use the most in several variation of spinal articulation and bridging.  I find this basic foundational exercise a spring board for teaching motor control of the spine and applicable in so many ways and positions.
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For more information on Pilates at Alpine Physical Therapy, click here.

What does China,Turkey, Singapore, England, Tunisia, Brazil, Cananda, and Alpine Physical Therapy have in common? Balanced Body University (BBU) Faculty!  Yes, Alpine PT’s Sam Schmidt MPT, is in Sacramento, California, completing her BBU Faculty Training for Pilates. 

Sam has been faculty for CoreAlign for the last four years, so it was a natural fit and need for her to step up for the leadership in Pilates education in the mountain west region.  Sam is working with the industry’s top Pilates company and world’s top Pilates instructor this week to ensure the highest level of Pilates education to her instructor training program for Pilates.

Notably, Sam was fortunate to be able to room with Tatiana Trivellato of Brazil who happens to be the only other PT at this training.  Tatiana is currently living in Baltimore where her PT husband is studying at John Hopkins University.  This delightful couple may be leaving for Africa and a PhD program in the next year, unless Sam can convince them to instead head to Sam’s environs in Missoula, Montana!
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For Sam it has been a great couple of first days, learning from Education Program Director, Nora St. John,  of Balanced Body University as well as other experts in the field who are attending the course.  Sam exclaims, “We even did a factory tour and saw new cutting edge equipment to one of Joseph Pilates’ original reformers!”

Samantha “Sam” Schmidt, PT, CPI of Alpine Physical Therapy announces the first course toward comprehensive Pilates certification with Balance Body starting with Mat 1. Sam’s overriding goal is “to bring Pilates on an organized, systematic front to western Montana in the most affordable way possible.”

When: Course dates are Saturday and Sunday, February 8th and 9th.  

Where: The course will be held at The Core Studio in Alpine’s north facility at 2965 Stockyard Rd. on north Reserve, just east of Johnny Carino’s on Stockyard Rd.

Sam recommends mat certification for those who are not currently mat certified. She states, “You will benefit from understanding the principles of the mat work; plus you don’t need equipment for this so you can do it anywhere!”

Details on the BBU Pilates Certification
Balanced Body® offers a full range of Pilates instructor training programs. Whether you are interested in teaching Mat classes, Reformer classes or Pilates personal training sessions on the Reformer, Trapeze Table, Chair and Barrels, we have the resources you need to succeed. Our program, like those of other leaders in the Pilates industry, offers an assessment-based certificate of completion, not a “Pilates Certification”, based on the recommendations of the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA).

The Balanced Body Pilates instructor training program is designed to create thoughtful, creative and successful Pilates teachers. Our curriculum emphasizes the principles underlying each exercise. Our faculty members have a wide variety of Pilates backgrounds from classical to contemporary to fitness and bring their exceptional depth of experience to the training. Our manuals are considered to be some of the best in the industry and for more in depth study, we have produced an accompanying DVD for each Mat, Reformer and Apparatus module.

Our program is designed in modules so you can take your first course now and continue your training next week, next month or next year. Each module is self contained so you can take them as quickly or as slowly as your schedule and budget allow. In addition to our instructor certification program, we offer a number of additional modules as well as workshops.

For more information on Mat 1, click here.

Samantha Schmidt, PT, CPI
Alpine Physical Therapy, Downtown
150 E. Spruce St. Ste. A
Missoula, MT 59802
(406) 549-0064
www.AlpinePTmissoula.com

The PT staff at Alpine Physical Therapy are constantly seeking ways to improve their skills . . . and the results they get with their patients. Several years ago, our entire staff completed certification in Reformer Pilates. These approaches are the hallmark for our successful implementation of Pilates in our rehabilitation strategies.

Thanks to Sam Schmidt, one of our clinic leaders and a PMA certified therapist. She and Angela Listug-Vap co-presented to our PT staff a few weeks ago. Together they taught our team several new and exciting techniques and exercises.

The pictures I’ve included here are taken at our north clinic, showing instruction on the reformers and the chair.
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For more information on our use of Pilates in our approach to rehabilitation, visit our clinic web page on the topic by clicking here.

What is Pilates Day?

Pilates Day is an annual, international, community event celebrated on the first Saturday of May every year. The Pilates Day mission is to foster the public’s appreciation and awareness of the Pilates Method through a network of varied, innovative, and high quality grassroots Pilates events accessible and affordable for all. Pilates Day is a program of the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA), and Pilates Day events are produced and hosted by PMA members.

Why Does Alpine Physical Therapy Participate?

Alpine Physical Therapy is sought after for its leadership in Pilates-based rehabilitation. Our treatment philosophy is reflected in our extensive certification and use of the Pilates Method. Both of our clinics are fully equipped with Balance Body reformers and accessories.

We work with area doctors and other referral sources in designing rehabilitation programs that successfully incorporate Pilates-based approaches. Our clients comment on how much they enjoy this form of care, particularly because they often find that they can get a good workout without flaring their symptoms.

Many of our patients have responded favorably to our interventions that include the use of clinical Pilates. It’s common for many patients who are completing their rehab with Pilates to go on to do this form of exercise on an ongoing basis. Learn more about Pilates-based exercise by visiting the website of our sister company, The Core Studio at Alpine, by clicking here.

Careful when you ask a woman who recently gave birth “How ya doing?” Most likely, they’ll answer with one of the following: trashed, demolished traumatized, destroyed.   These words were used by eight new mammas to describe what their bodies felt like one to five months post parturm.

Between the actual birthing process, learning and struggling with the painful breastfeeding process, and simply trying to get back into a normal routine that might allow them to do a walk or stretching session for 15-20 minutes, it was obvious these new mammas’ bodies needed some attention, recovery, focus, and guidance.

In response, The Core Studio at Alpine has launched its New Mammas Pilates Group.  For new moms, it is difficult to focus on your own body when it has been shared and nearly taken over by another small bundle of life, but with the guidance of the professionals at The Core Studio new moms get the help to get back their bodies faster and more effectively, with support of other new moms.  An hour once a week allows new moms to have time, space, and instruction on what muscles to fire, what muscles to relax, and the importance of breath, focus, and balance.  This class provides new moms the chance to reduce back and neck pain, manage incontinience, return to enjoyable sex, appreciate their new babies, and learn life long tips to keep healthy and strong while being a mom.

Last Wednesday, The Core Studio offered a free one hour session to introduce the foundations of Pilates to the New Mammas.  Sam Schmidt, MPT instructed proper pelvic recruitment, abdominal activation, correct breathing, and spine safety to the group.  This was an opportunity for the New Mammas to understand what the classes would focus on, gain the fundamentals of the Pilates method, and get a chance to meet other new moms with similar issues and goals.

The New Mammas commit to four classes during the month ($60 total) then have eight oppornities to use these.  Classes are held on Wednesday evenings and late Friday mornings.  If they want to do more than the four classes they can pay as they go.  All New Mamma’s Pilates Group have access for a free consultation with one of the Alpine Physical Therapy’s PTs.
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If you know a new mom who is needing some support, guidance, and space to focus on her body and get healthy for her baby, The Core Studio will be offering another FREE session on the fundamentals every last Wednesday of the month at 7:30pm at Alpine Physical Therapy North. Give us a call at 541-2606, or stop by our north clinic at 2965 Stockyard Road, just behind Carino’s.