I'm currently undergoing physical therapy for chronic lower back pain from a suite of conditions which include a herniated lumbar disk (a work injury), facet joint arthritis and degenerative disk disease. Today my stars aligned in a most unusual way.
I would like to be among the first in the U.S. to praise the benefits of the CoreAlign fitness system. While Pilates aligns posture, fine-tunes one's body awareness, and strengthens core muscle groups on horizontal machines (for back patients), CoreAlign translates movement to vertical exercises on tracked foot platforms, introducing dynamic balancing and more complex movement to the therapy program. It happens that my PT provider, Alpine Physical Therapy here in Missoula, will be the first facility in the nation to offer trained and certified CoreAlign instruction. It happens that Alpine's staff includes Sam Schoeneman, one of only twelve master CoreAlign instructors in the world (seen in bottom photo, at right).
And today was my lucky day -- the entire Alpine staff is receiving basic instruction from the system'screator, Jonathan Hoffman from Tel Aviv, Israel (seen in top photo, foreground). My PT session was under Sam's astute direction on the CoreAlign equipment, plus I got to meet Jonathan. All this thanks to the suggestion and able assistance of my regular (and extremely knowledgeable) therapist, Brent Dodge.
Just as Pilates has become a standard component worldwide in therapy and exercise, so (I predict) will CoreAlign spread as a natural extension of the treatment and fitness regimen. You heard it here first, folks. (photos courtesy of Tom Bauer at the Missoulian.)
Footnote: First, indeed. Two days after this was posted, an article on CoreAlign's debut at Alpine PT appeared in the Missoulian, the local daily newspaper. Score one scoop for me ! (photos courtesy of Tom Bauer at the Missoulian.)
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