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Pilates is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates in Germany, the UK and the USA. As of 2005, there were 11 million people who practice the discipline regularly and 14,000 instructors in the United States.

Pilates called his method Contrology (from control and Greek -λογία, -logia), because he believed his method uses the mind to control the muscles. The Pilates method seeks to increase the strength, flexibility and control of the body.

History of Pilates
Pilates is an exercise method created by Joseph Pilates, a physical-culturist born in Germany in 1883. He developed a system of exercises during the first half of the 20th century which were intended to strengthen the human mind and body. He had been a sickly child and had practiced many of the physical training regimes which were available in Germany in his youth, and it was out of this context that he developed his own work, which has clear connections with the physical culture of the late C19 such as the use of specially invented apparatuses, and the claim that the exercises could cure illness. His system is also related to the C19 tradition of "corrective exercise" or "medical gymnastics" which may be said to originate with Pehr Henrik Ling.

Joseph Pilates published two books in his lifetime related to his training method: Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising That Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education (1934) and Return to Life through Contrology (1945). The former of these is similar to the genre of early C20 physical culture books such as Eugen Sandow´s The Gospel of Strength According to Sandow (1902) while the latter is similar to the same author´s ''The Construction and Reconstruction of the Human Body. A Manual of the Therapeutics of Exercise'' (1907). Also in common with early C20 physical culture, Pilates had an extremely high regard for the Greeks and their physical prowess, see Gymnasium (ancient Greece)

The first generation of students, many of them dancers, who studied with Joseph Pilates and went on to open studios and teach the method are collectively known as The Elders and the most prominent include: Romana Kryzanowska, Kathy Grant, Jay Grimes, Ron Fletcher, Mary Bowen, Carola Treir, Bob Seed, Eve Gentry, Bruce King, Lolita San Miguel and Mary Pilates (the niece of Joseph and Clara). Modern day pilates styles, both "traditional" and "contemporary", are derived from the teaching of these first generation students.

The method was originally confined to the few and normally practiced in a specialized studio, but with time this has changed and pilates can now be found in community centres, gyms and physiotherapy rooms as well as in hybrid practice such as yogilates. The “traditional” form still survives and there are also a variety of “contemporary” schools, such as Stott Pilates, which have adapted the system in different ways.

The Pilates Method and Apparatus
The Pilates method seeks to develop controlled movement from a strong core and it does this using a range of apparatuses to guide and train the body. Joe Pilates originally developed his method as mat exercises (his 1945 "Return to Life" teaches 34 of these), but, in common with many other physical culture systems from the first part of the twentieth century, he used several pieces of apparatus to help people "get the method in their bodies". Each piece of apparatus has its own repertoire of exercises and most of the exercises done on the various pieces of Pilates apparatus are resistance training since they make use of springs to provide additional resistance. Using springs results in "progressive resistance", meaning the resistance increases as the spring is stretched. The most widely used piece of apparatus, and probably the most important, is the Reformer, but other apparatus used in a traditional Pilates studio include the Cadillac (also called the Trapeze Table), the high (or electric) chair, the Wunda Chair, the baby Chair, and the Ladder Barrel, the Spine Corrector (Step Barrel) and small barrel. Lesser used apparatus includes the Magic Circle, Guillotine Tower, the Pedi-Pole, and the Foot Corrector.

In contemporary Pilates other props are used, including small weighted balls, foam rollers, large exercise balls, rotating disks, and resistance bands. Some of the traditional apparatuses have been adapted for use in contemporary pilates (e.g splitting the pedal on the wunda chair). Some contemporary schools, such as the British Body Control Pilates, work primarily on the mat with these smaller props, with the aim of enabling people to study the method without a full studio.

Principles
Philip Friedman and Gail Eisen, two students of Romana Kryzanowska, published the first modern book on pilates, The Pilates Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning, in 1980 and in it they outlined six "principles of Pilates". These have been widely adopted - and adapted - by the wider community. The original six principles were: concentration, control, center, precision, breathing and flow.

Concentration
Pilates demands intense focus: "You have to concentrate on what you´re doing. All the time. And you must concentrate on your entire body". This is not easy, but in Pilates the way that exercises are done is more important than the exercises themselves. In 2006, at the Parkinson Center of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, the concentration factor of the Pilates method was being studied in providing relief from the degenerative symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Control
"Contrology" was Joseph Pilates preferred name for his method and it is based on the idea of muscle control. "Nothing about the Pilates Method is haphazard. The reason you need to concentrate so thoroughly is so you can be in control of every aspect of every moment" All exercises are done with control with the muscles working to lift against gravity and the resistance of the springs and thereby control the movement of the body and the apparatus. "The Pilates Method teaches you to be in control of your body and not at its mercy".

Centering
In order to attain control of your body you must have a starting place: the center. The center is the focal point of the Pilates Method. Many Pilates teachers refer to the group of muscles in the center of the body – encompassing the abdomen, lower and upper back, hips, buttocks and inner thighs – the “powerhouse." All movement in Pilates should begin from the powerhouse and flow outward to the limbs.

Flow or efficiency of movement
Pilates aims for elegant sufficiency of movement, creating flow through the use of appropriate transitions. Once precision has been achieved, the exercises are intended to flow within and into each other in order to build strength and stamina. In other words, the Pilates technique asserts that physical energy exerted from the center should coordinate movements of the extremities: Pilates is flowing movement outward from a strong core.

Precision
Precision is essential to correct pilates: "concentrate on the correct movements each time you exercise, lest you do them improperly and thus lose all the vital benefits of their value". The focus is on doing one precise and perfect movement, rather than many halfhearted ones. Pilates is here reflecting common physical culture wisdom: "You will gain more strength from a few energetic, concentrated efforts that from a thousand listless, sluggish movements". The goal is for this precision to eventually become second nature, and carry over into everyday life as grace and economy of movement.

Breathing
Breathing is important in the Pilates method. In Return to Life, Pilates devotes a section of his introduction specifically to breathing "Bodily house-cleaning with blood circulation" He saw considerable value in increasing the intake of oxygen and the circulation of this oxygenated blood to every part of the body. This he saw as cleansing and invigorating. Proper full inhalation and complete exhalation were key to this. "Pilates saw forced exhalation as the key to full inhalation." He advised people to squeeze out the lungs as you would wring a wet towel dry. In Pilates exercises, you breathe in with the effort and out on the return.

Precautions
Pilates during pregnancy has been claimed to be a highly valuable and beneficial form of exercise, but the use of Pilates in pregnancy should only be undertaken under guidance of a fully trained expert.

Modern Pilates
Within the modern pilates scene there are two main groups of practitioners which we might call "traditional" and "contemporary". The least controversial definition is probably that the traditional forms consciously seek to retain the entirety of the system that Joe Pilates developed and the contemporary forms seek to improve the system in the light of modern knowledge from physiotherapy and other related fields.

Peter Fiasca "marks of trad pilates"

Traditional Styles
those who try to preserve the original system without change. Fiasca´s marks?

Contemporary Styles
Stott etc... neutral spine scapular stabilization.

Legal action
In recent years the term “Pilates” has entered the mainstream. Following an unsuccessful intellectual property lawsuit, a US federal court ruled the term “Pilates” generic and free for unrestricted use. As a result, anyone, trained or untrained, can offer “Pilates” as a service to the public. Consequently, people may face extensive and conflicting information about what Pilates really is, how it works, and what credentials they should seek in an instructor.

Shiatsu is Japanese for "finger pressure;" it is a type of alternative medicine consisting of finger and palm pressure, stretches, and other massage techniques. There are two main Shiatsu schools: one incorporating elements of western anatomical and physiological theory, and the other based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Shiatsu is traditionally performed on a futon mat, with clients fully clothed.

Definition
According to the Japanese medical department of the Ministry of Welfare (current Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare):

"Shiatsu technique refers to the use of fingers and palm of one's hand to apply pressure to particular sections on the surface of the body for the purpose of correcting the imbalances of the body, and for maintaining and promoting health. It is also a method contributing to the healing of specific illnesses."

- December

The characteristic of shiatsu as defined by Namikoshi is to apply pressure using only the fingers, palms and especially the thumbs on points that have been related to the central and autonomic nervous systems. Masanuga, who identified reflections of the acupuncture channels in the arms and legs, considered that shiatsu should a) involve the whole body, b) require a focused practitioner sensitive to the energy distributions of the body, and c) provide an extra dimension of connection and support (using both hands where one 'listens' and the other acts). In both styles, however, the essence of shiatsu is "Diagnosis and Therapy combined."

"Diagnosis and Therapy combined" is the claimed ability of the shiatsu "practitioners" to use their sensory organs (palms, fingers, and thumbs) to detect disharmonies in the energetic components of the body, (such as stiffness or slackness at or within its surface), and to perform routines to correct these problems. This blurring of the boundaries between diagnosis and treatment is a defining difference between shiatsu and Kampo medicine (also known as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), such as acupuncture and moxibustion).

In Zen Shiatsu, the diagnosis proceeds through several stages. The practitioner first looks for signs in the subject's superficial appearance and odor, in the sounds he or she makes and in the sensations felt by touch. The practitioner also examines the principal pulses in the wrists (there are others in the body) and the appearance of the tongue, and interprets how the subject answers questions about his or her health and particular problem. The practitioner will also feel for "energy imbalances" related to the internal organs in and around the abdomen and view signs of these in the back. In TCM, illness is believed to be caused by an invasion of external factors and/or from emotional disharmonies within. External factors may eventually penetrate to the interior of the body and cause serious illness, just as internal factors move to the exterior and cause problems at the surface of the body and in the subject's behavior. Thus similar symptoms may have different causes.

History
Shiatsu ( (指圧) Japanese from shi, meaning finger, and atsu, meaning pressure), as well as Teate (手当て) originated in Japan. There were many hands-on therapies called Teate before traditional Chinese therapies such as Acupuncture and Tuina (called Anma in Japan) were introduced to Japan around 1000AD. The practice of this massage was a semi-mystical activity performed by women and the blind. The term shiatsu may have been first cited in a 1915 book, Tenpaku Tamai's Shiatsu Ryoho.

Tokujiro Namikoshi founded the Japan Shiatsu College in 1940 and systematised a form of shiatsu therapy based on Western anatomy and physiology. In Japan, Namikoshi's system enjoys special legal status, and its adherents often credit him with the development of shiatsu; the story is told that at age seven, Tokujiro Namikoshi developed a technique of pressing with his thumbs and palms as he tried to nurse his mother who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. Shizuto Masunaga, originally a student and then teacher at the school, and professor of psychology at the Tokyo University, opened his own school (Iokai Center of Shiatsu) and taught what has become known as the Zen style of Shiatsu based on Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Other styles of shiatsu exist; adherents of the Namikoshi school generally contend that these are derived from the work of Namikoshi and refer to them as Derivative Shiatsu. However, Namikoshi's school was (and continues to be) devoted to reconciling the ancient massage arts of Japan with Western medicine in line with the efforts Japan made since the turn of the 20th century to 'westernise' certain elements of its culture, and it ignores traditional Chinese medicine and its systems of channels. Masanuga, on the other hand, was intent on reconciling the massage arts with traditional Chinese medicine, and went back to early texts (such as the Huang-Di Nei Jing - The Yellow Emperor's Essentials of Medicine, a compilation of Taoist theory and a text book of acupuncture) which influence most Shiatsu styles today. Some of the various styles are listed as follows:


 * Tadashi Izawa established Meridian Shiatsu, incorporating Meridian Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) into his shiatsu therapy.
 * Shizuto Masunaga’s book, called Zen Shiatsu in English, popularised Zen (or Masunaga) Shiatsu in North America and Europe.
 * Kiyoshi Ikenaga, in his book Tsubo Shiatsu, elucidates from an anatomical and physiological point of view, how meridian points (or tsubo) are useful in shiatsu therapy.
 * Bill Palmer and David Ventura have developed Movement Shiatsu, which specialises in working with chronic conditions through specific experiments and exercises.
 * Yuichi Kawada's Yoseido shiatsu puts much importance on stretching eight imaginary "meridians" through exercise and also on exercising the eight regulating points of these meridians.
 * Zen-Touch Shiatsu incorporates unique methods that address assessment, recommendations and shiatsu techniques for Body  Mind Spirit are included in this form.

Mention should also be made of Tansu, a shiatsu style using Indian Tantric practices, and of those who combine the principles of Feng Shui with the energy field studies of Semyon Kirlian, Robert Beck, John Zimmerman and others in their practice of Shiatsu.

Timeline

 * 1912: Tokujiro Namikoshi found his own therapy by treating his mother with only his thumbs and palms. He first named this therapy Appaku then later changed it to shiatsu.
 * 1919: Tenpeki Tamai published his book The Shiatsu Method (???). This is believed to be the first use of the term shiatsu.
 * 1925: Namikoshi opened his first clinic for shiatsu therapy.
 * 1940: Namikoshi opened the first school of shiatsu therapy in Tokyo. (Now this school is known as the Japan Shiatsu College.)
 * 1940: Namikoshi established first association for shiatsu therapy. (Now this association is known as the Japan Shiatsu Association.)
 * 1945: After World War II, traditional Japanese forms of medicine were outlawed by the MacArthur occupation government, after returning POWs told stories about being stuck with needles and burned with moxa when they fell ill. The ban caused much protest. Because there were still many blind shiatsu/Anma practitioners, Helen Keller interceded with the American government. The ban was rescinded.
 * 1950: Toshiko Phipps becomes the first qualified shiatsu therapist to teach in the U.S.
 * 1953: Namikoshi and his son Toru invited to the Palmer College of Chiropractic to introduce shiatsu to the U.S.
 * 1955: Shiatsu therapy first recognised by Japanese government but only in conjunction with Anma and massage.
 * 1956: In a famous incident that greatly increased the reputation of shiatsu and of Namikoshi Tokujiro, Namikoshi treated Marilyn Monroe after she fell gravely ill while visiting Japan and failed to respond to conventional treatment.
 * 1957: Shiatsu officially recognised by Japan as a separate and distinct therapy.
 * 1964: Shiatsu officially defined by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan.
 * 1980: Shizuto Masunaga's students teaching in the U.S. and Britain, most notably Pauline Sasaki and Wataru Ohashi.
 * 2005: The Group Namikoshi Shiatsu Europe was formed with the aim of unify, manage and spread the Namikoshi Shiatsu style in Europe. Since then the Group has organized seminars and congress in some European cities as the one celebrated in Rome on November 2007, in which Namikoshi and Masunaga styles were compared.
 * 2009: In the Congreso Internacional de Shiatsu, held in Madrid in May 2009, organized by the Asociación Internacional de Shiatsu with the presence of Matsuko and Takashi Namikoshi Namikoshi, grandson of Tokujiro Namikoshi, establishing the European Alliance Shiatsu School for dissemination, education and the creation of unified international qualifications of shiatsu.

Evidence base
There is no scientific evidence proving that shiatsu is effective at treating any disease.

In 2006 a large scale systematic review was carried out by the Shiatsu Society UK in association with Thames Valley University. The review found that studies generally lacked controls or blinding, and concludes that "there was insufficient evidence both in quantity and quality on Shiatsu".

The European Shiatsu Federation funded a report in 2007 which highlighted that the sampled clients viewed their practitioners as being listening and being accepting of the client. The practitioner was also perceived as trustworthy, skillful and warm. Clients also reported feeling relaxed, calm and better able to cope with things. A statistically significant improvement in self-reported symptoms was reported across a large number of participants, with stress levels and muscular/joint problems showing the most improvement.

Regulation
Shiatsu originated in Japan. Certification in some parts of the world is a basic 3 year course, with clinical practice and both written and live examinations, and which may include elements of evidence-based medicine as well as TCM. In other areas a two year degree is standard, and still other areas where vocational certification is accepted.

In Japan, anyone who practices shiatsu therapy must be licensed with the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Shiatsupractors are required to study at least three years/2200-hour educational programme of shiatsu therapy in the universities or colleges in Japan, which are authorised by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and pass the national exam to be licensed.

While shiatsu therapy is recognised in Japan, and where the words "healing" and "illness" are included in its description, it is not readily accepted by other health authorities. In some European countries, it is illegal for ineffective treatments like Shiatsu to use words implying healing, curing or treatment. While Shiatsu was one of the eight disciplines named in the Collins Report adopted by the European Parliament in 1997 (European Parliament 1997) which called for steps to regulate complementary therapy practice, the same report also called for more research into their efficacy.

"Shiatsupractor" is the name given to a recently proposed international standardized shiatsu license. By the end of 2003, some regions of North America (United States, and Canada), Europe (member nations of the EU), and Japan, the use of Shiatsupractor was officially protected as a registered trademark. In Japan, the educational standard for Shiatsupractor approval corresponds to that of the licenses for Anma, Massage, and shiatsu practitioners.

In Canada, shiatsu has not been regulated as of yet and the name "Shiatsupractor" is only used to explain the style and hours of training received. Some specific schools in British Columbia, Canada teaching the Tokujiro Namikoshi style of shiatsu have adopted this term as their graduate standard. However, other schools may differ in the styles of training (i.e. Tokujiro Namikoshi style, Zen Shiatsu style and Shinso Shiatsu, etc..).