Dr. Danny Masters, Pilates Physical Therapist in Westlake | Austin

[S] Hey guys. What's up? It's Stephen Dunn, Pilates Physical Therapist with CORE Therapy and Pilates. Today I want to interview Dr. Danny Masters on his most recent education since he's been with us at CORE. So first of all, Dr. Danny thanks for joining us today...

[D] Sure…

[S] He’s been working with us now for about six months. During that time working with us, there has been a lot of educational opportunities that he's already taken advantage of. One of the things I like to do is get together and have a bio update. We can update the bio on the website but I like to have a discussion and talk about it in person. This allows us to dive deeper into it.

First of all, Danny let's talk a little bit about the pilates training. 

Dr. Danny Masters had been exposed to Pilates when he had volunteered with us and shadowed us before Physical Therapy school. He was able to see the things that I was doing with patients at that time which were including hands-on myofascial release, joint, and soft tissue mobilization type stuff, and then followed up with Pilates and Gyrotonic work. 

With that said, when he came to work with us one of the first questions that I had for him was "are you interested in getting trained in Pilates?" He said yes, that's something I want to be a part of. When he showed up to work, on day one, he was signed up with our Pilates Teacher Training program.

So Danny, tell us a little bit about that experience.

Tell us about the pilates training and then I want to know a little bit about some of the patients for that you've utilized the Pilates equipment and concepts…

[D] Sure… like Stephen was saying, I'd been exposed to Pilates just a little bit but hadn't had any formal training or anything. When I started here at CORE, I realized that I had a bunch of different resources. There are the Pilates teachers, there's Cheryl who knows a whole lot, who runs the Pilates Teacher Training course. 

The program consists of different videos and meetings in person to review and practice different exercises. It's been a great experience because it's been helpful and especially for my Physical Therapy patients.

A lot of it focuses on core stabilization and improving strength and mobility and flexibility. But not just the core muscles, it's also in your hips which I feel like a lot of people don’t think about or kind of miss with some of the traditional exercises and even the traditional Physical Therapy.

It's been great to learn a bunch of different things on the Pilates reformer and be able to control your core and properly activate things...

[S] Now tell me a little bit about some of the patients, the types of conditions and things that you're working with using the Pilates reformer and different Pilates concepts with...

[D] Sure, so pretty much I've been utilizing it with any kind of patient that comes in the door. People with low back pain, whether it be a bulging disc, sciatica, or spinal stenosis. I've used it a lot for shoulder patients, knee patients, and people with pain in their hips. I've used it with people who have had foot or ankle issues. It's a very versatile machine and there are a lot of different things that you can utilize it for. I found a use for it with pretty much everybody that comes in the door...

[S] That’s pretty much the way I would have answered it too. Most people think you're going to say back pain but it's everybody. I've learned if someone has a shoulder problem and we're teaching them Pilates, we're starting with breathing and proper placement of their low back and their pelvis.

Some would say that doesn't have anything to do with their shoulder but if you strengthen your core it helps your shoulder placement, your scapula placement. 

Finding your shoulder and scapula placement while maintaining awareness of your low back is a challenge. Lots of folks will arch their lower back by squeezing the shoulder blades together. They’re not controlling their shoulder blades. Most have no idea that they are doing that but it is a very common thing we see with our patients.

Pilates is one of the things that taught me to look at the whole body.

It helped me with my holistic approach to therapy because with the neck patient or shoulder patient we were starting at their abdominals, pelvic floor, and diaphragm. From there we worked up to their shoulders or whatever their problem is but I think that's a great answer.

It can be applied to pretty much any type of injury, whether it's an ACL injury and you're getting back to playing sports or you have back pain, spinal stenosis, ankle problems, shoulder problems, whatever. It's a fantastic tool. The Pilates machine, the reformer is a tool, it's a piece of equipment that has hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of exercises that you can do on it.

We can stick to the same 15 to 20 exercises with a lot of people or we can dip into four or five hundred different exercises to pull from to help people with what they individually need. To me, that's what's pretty fun about Pilates in Physical Therapy.

So with that said, thanks a lot for your commitment to getting better and serving the people of Westlake and Austin, and if you haven't been around and seen Dr. Danny Masters then give us a call at 512-215-4227 to get on his book.

He's got some great Google reviews so far. We'll post those at the end of this video. Thanks for watching, and thank you Dr Danny! We'll see you all around the studio.

Check out my blog answering the question, What is Physical Therapy. 

See what pubmed has to say about Pilates vs Physical Therapy for improved walking and balance in people with Multiple Sclerosis.

Thanks for reading about our Pilates Physical Therapist at CORE Therapy & Pilates and how we can help you get out of pain and back to living your best life.