San Juan Capistrano Seniors Practice Pilates, Increase Mobility

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA — San Juan Capistrano seniors are testing their mobility and building their resilience for years to come as they participate in a University of California Irvine study centering pilates, strength building and stability.

Senior living community Reata Glen hosted an eight-week long course of traditional pilates classes for all the seniors living there, a UCI news release said. At the classes, seniors tested and built on their stability and muscle strength through simple pilates exercises.

Maya Hatch, full-time UCI researcher, said the classes were brought to the community to assess the theory that core stability is "essential" to perform any number of daily tasks, especially for seniors.

“In recent years, there’s been a common misconception that Pilates couldn’t be done with the senior population," Hatch said in a news release. "We’re hoping to discover that this nontraditional approach to exercise can lead to improvements in senior stability that could possibly decrease falls.”