Yoga or Pilates ???

[lifestoshort]

Hi just wondering what's the difference between yoga & Pilates never done either , I have a bad back & other muscle problems but keep being told Pilates will help ?? But yoga seems to be more popular in my area

Yoga is great for flexibility, it's more spiritual and you hold poses for longer.
Pilates is fantastic for strengthening your core muscles (including your back). It can be rehabilitative if you get the right class.
Yoga tends to aggravate my back in some of the poses..

If you have back problems it is essential to get a good yoga instructor.

I have a ridiculously long list of back, neck, shoulder and pelvic injuries and problems (like my stupid immune system attacking my own nerve causing permanent loss of strength and function in a particular area).

I do yoga now and it's made a dramatic transformation in pain levels. It has vastly strengthen my whole body and helped reduce pain considerably. I have a British wheel of yoga instructor, who you sign up to a class for 12 weeks at a time with, meaning she knows everyone and their medical problems or injuries well and gives adjustments or alternatives for those who need it.

Yoga is a holistic thing really - it strengthens the whole body, including core and vastly increases controlled flexibility (i.e. ensures your muscles can cope with the degree of flexibility you have - very important for me since I've also got joint hypermobility). It has also been shown to have big health impacts, increase mental wellbeing, etc more than other forms of exercise.

Pilates is more of a physio style and focuses predominately on core strength exercises. I have done Pilates in the past and didn't find it as helpful (increased strength less than yoga has and didn't reduce pain levels much).

Yoga tends to aggravate my back in some of the poses..

Tbh that just means you didn't have a good instructor, since certain injuries/problems need certain adaptations or alternatives in various poses - yoga done the proper way (i.e. correct alignment and taking into account your own individual needs) should never aggravate anything.

Also the same can be said for Pilates - some exercises will aggravate problems in individuals, if it is done wrong or without consideration for each individuals needs.

So which ever you do make sure it's a really good teacher, who knows how, what they are teaching, can affect each individual in their class and adapt things for individuals as needed.

Definitely agree it's all about the instructor and then your personal preference.

They're much of a muchness ok. It really depends on the teacher. My yoga class is very core oriented.

I was thinking of trying yoga at home with a dvd ? How many times a week should you do yoga

I agree it's all about the instructor - if you can, sign up to a course with relatively small class numbers. Make instructor aware of any back issues (they will ask before you start the course - if they don't ask as far as I'm concerned that's a v bad sign!)

I've had quite different experience to BLUE above, in that Pilates helped massively with back pain, whereas yoga didn't so much. However this could well be due to the class style rather than the actual discipline itself.
Sorry if that doesn't help!

I think these answers have all shown it really is about the teacher.

Loveacupa as much or as little as you want to. I do a 1.5hr class once a week plus a few 20-ish minute youtube yoga videos through the week, whenever I feel like it.

Loveacupa unless you've done yoga with a teacher I would not start as a beginner with a DVD.
IMHO you can damage yourself if you don't learn how to use your breath well.

I don't think a yoga dvd would help.
Doctors and hcps mainly recommend Pilates for back and muscular problems as it is rehabilitative. Pilates focuses on strengthening the core and the back muscles and you can start at a very gentle level. You need to find a good instructor.

A yoga dvd will definitely do more harm than good

I love yoga. There are different types, some more strenuous than others and some that are gentle and make you sleepy. You need a good instructor. If something is hurting you, stop doing it.

Absolutely, there will be more difference between individual instructors than between the disciplines.

I have a weekly 1:1 lesson, initially just a few sessions to sort my back and stop me doing the things that aggravated it. It was so fabulous that i have continued and am still undoing years of abuse (sitting at a desk, not taking exercise, hunching my shoulders etc)

Delatron HCP's will recommend yoga too both as a rehabilitative strengthening exercise that also improves fitness and more and more for mental well-being. The main issue with yoga is getting a well run class, where the instructor not only ensures good alignment but has enough medical knowledge, ensures adaptations are given and knows the clients well enough to do that to a high standard - often not possible in a generic gym yoga class. You need a British Wheel of Yoga instructor who does independently run groups where you have to provide full medical history to and who you have to sign up for a block at a time or does 1-1's (the only British Wheel of Yoga instructor in this area who does 1-1's is far more expensive than the 1-1 Pilates instructors or a physio).

Pilates, at least in this region of the UK, tends to be more readily available in 1-1 sessions (if you find a Pilates teacher they will in all likelihood also offer 1-1) and people who have trained in Pilates are given the medical knowledge required to adapt things to various problems. It's also something that has crossed over into physio as a lot of the exercises can be taken and used individually rather than where yoga tends to see value in needing to follow one type of pose with another.

The more availability of British Wheel of Yoga instructors there becomes and the more western society accepts the benefits of yoga (there are lots of studies now suggesting a huge difference in overall well being from yoga), the more and more Drs and other HCP's are recommending it. Pilates has a longer foundation in western medical science because it's a western practice originally developed as a kind of physio. Where as, yoga is an ancient holistic art that originated in countries us westerners used to see as less civilised/educated, thus was treated with greater scepticism and less accepted by western science.

I came across this:
The Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs Institute is a British Wheel of Yoga Recognized Centre of Excellence in Training and Standards
www.yogaforbacks.co.uk/yoga-teacher/
there are certified teachers who do 12 week long courses

I'll find a link to certified teachers later

Yoga was bloody sore with my bad back. I did it and couldn't do all the positions and tried to 'take it easy' then my osteopath told me that she recommended Pilates rather than yoga. I found the bending and twisting really sore and thought I was going to snap doing the cobra. The child pose is one i do a lot though.

I assume that there are different types of yoga?

ffeko there are lots of different types of yoga but if you have medical problems, it's not so much the type that is important, it's the instructor - they need to understand your medical issues, know what impact various poses have and how they need to adapt them to you and be telling you. They also need to be really hot on form - you only need alignment slightly off (with both Pilates and yoga) for it to do more harm than good. Plus my teacher often explains a basic pose, then says 'and if you're feeling particularly strong/flexible (dependent on the pose - some need extra strength, others extra flexibility and some need both) today, you can try furthering the pose by.....' she also reminds us to rest if anything feels too difficult that day.
There are also chair yoga classes for those with more severe physical issues. Not only is it helpful for those who can't get down on the floor but also for those with more limited movement through upper body and back, as it helps ensure good posture/alignment through the poses and can make some poses easier to do to a lesser degree.

Antimatter that sound like a good place to find the right type of instructor and class set up.

here's list of of trained and qualified teachers which are delivering 'Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs 12-week course’
www.yogaforbacks.co.uk/qualified-teachers/

To be honest I would try both Pilates and yoga (with a good instructor) and see which you prefer. Despite what has been said up thread they are very different. I always think you're either a yoga person or a Pilates person.

I love Pilates and don't get on with yoga. Doesn't matter which instructor it is. Pilates completely healed my bad back. I have a changed body and very strong core and will do Pilates for the rest of my life. You may prefer yoga but I think it's worth trying both.

I have had back problems and both my consultant and physio recommended Pilates, not yoga. I have tried both but I much much prefer Pilates...

farfar you say that like it proves Pilates is superior . It really doesn't. 10yrs ago a consultant and a physio recommended Pilates to me - it didn't help much. This year I've had a consultant, the senior practice partner GP and physio friend all recommend yoga - it has helped massively. Medical professionals are influenced both by different personal experiences and that western medicine is starting to over come prejudices against historical practices from countries westerners used to consider less educated / sophisticated /civilised (modern scientific studies are showing lots of practices we were so prejudiced about are actually on a par with or better than our modern science).

It's horses for courses. Some people swear by chiropractors and some by osteopaths. I found physio did zilch for me. I used to go to a chiropractor for years and found osteopathy by chance.

blue I don't know where you get that from, it was a simple statement of fact.

far because you added "not yoga" on to it. A simple statement of fact would have been to say that you have had back problems and both my consultant and physio recommended Pilates. There was no reason to add not yoga to it other than to suggest a HCP wouldn't recommend it - which is totally false.

My Osteo said 'not yoga' to be. This could be because of my particular issues though.

blue but they did say to choose pilates over yoga. not to suggest one was superior, just that pilates was the better option for me.