10 Facts About Pilates

Pilates is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named.

Pilates developed in the aftermath of the late 19th century physical culture of exercising in order to alleviate ill health.

Evidence from studies show that while Pilates improves balance, it has not been shown to be an effective treatment for any medical condition other than evidence that regular Pilates sessions can help muscle conditioning in healthy adults, when compared to doing no exercise.

Treatment of lower back pain, low quality evidence suggests that while Pilates is better than doing nothing, it is no more effective than other forms of physical exercise.

In October 2000 "Pilates" was ruled a generic term by a U S federal court, making it free for unrestricted use.

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Pilates's father was a gymnast and his mother a naturopath.

Pilates said that the inspiration for his method came to him during World War One, while he was being held at the Knockaloe internment camp on the Isle of Man.

Pilates developed his method there for four years, working on his fellow internees.

Joseph Pilates accompanied his method with a variety of equipment, for which he used the term "apparatus".

Pilates published two books related to his training method: Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising That Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education in 1934, and Return to Life Through Contrology in 1945.