Chutes and ladders

The Pilates Journal speaks with entrepreneur and Pilates leader Mariska Breland about her success in developing the Fuse Ladder and her work as co-owner at the Neuro studio.

Pilates Journal talks to Mariska Breland

On the 30th of this month, we raise awareness for World MS Day, designed to bring the

global MS community together to share stories, raise awareness and campaign for the support and care of all those affected by multiple sclerosis (MS).

So what does it mean to have a client with MS and how do you manage it? We speak with expert teacher Mariska Breland who shares her personal experience with MS and what we need to pay attention to most for those with this lifelong condition.

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by Mariska Breland

‘Disabled’ - I just hate the word. Sure there are some things I can’t do like run, but I can do most things I want to do. A lot of people have back problems or weaknesses that limit what they might want to do and they wouldn’t call themselves disabled. I prefer to just say ‘my left leg is disagreeable’ or ‘that is a thing I can’t do’ or that I need a modification to be able to do it.

In 2002 I was diagnosed with MS and realised that my running days were over. So I decided to get into yoga and Pilates because I had always been such an active person.

The toughest thing I discovered across my journey with MS is that it's unpredictable. Some days I have a lot of energy - some days, I could lay on the couch doing nothing and still not feel rested. When it comes to movement, my left leg has spasticity, which means that the muscles get really tight (and no - stretching doesn’t work, as I explain in my workshops). I also have a joint contracture of my left ankle, so I can’t dorsiflex my left foot enough to not catch the ball of my foot/toes when I’m walking. It’s a side effect of a common neurological symptom called foot drop.

If it’s hot or humid, I feel really weak and dizzy. If it’s cold, I feel extra stiff. Basically, I prefer my weather to be perfect, which only happens for a short period of time each year.

I work on strength, balance and mobility regularly. These are three things that are commonly problematic for those with MS. But my left ankle being “stuck” has been my main MS complaint for about 14 years.

As a teacher who helps others with MS, every case of MS is different - like many conditions. This means any program should be individualised. Depending on the person, it might look like a Pilates workout I would give someone who doesn’t have MS, but I would likely spend more time focusing on the sensory system, foot-to-hip connection, and standing exercises than I might for someone who doesn’t have it. Meghann, my partner at the Neuro Studio, has developed a great system called the four-quadrant stability model, which addresses the body based on finding stability in the shoulders and hip cuffs, which can translate to better and easier movement for anyone.

In any session with a person with MS, regardless of their level, I would include dynamic range-of-motion exercises. Lots of leg exercises when possible - standing when possible, and this might come as a surprise, but that’s possible for most people with MS, regardless of whether they use mobility devices – the variable is how much support they need. Since people with MS don’t get as much sensory feedback from the environment, I include integration of sensory information (like adding proprioceptive or visual cues to exercises), ideally tailored to the person. This could look like gaze stabilisation and things like moving around a point that you see or using mats that stimulate proprioceptors.

A lot of teachers want to stretch tight muscles. In MS, muscles are tight because the brain and the joint can’t communicate. It’s a protective reflex, so if you overstretch, you become weaker, and your brain thinks the joint is even more at risk. The brain is always trying to protect the body, and it does the best it can.

I think there’s an overemphasis on trying to fix someone’s compensations, which are developed subconsciously. The brain can’t integrate a movement pattern that you might teach it - if the brain doesn’t feel the movement is safe. So overcorrecting is another problem.

Teachers often pay too much attention to the parts of the body that are considered ‘the problem’. They need to look at the body as a whole.

It’s one of many reasons why Meghann and I developed The Neuro Studio to teach teachers how to effectively work with people with MS and other neurological illnesses and injuries. Through that company, I run my Pilates for Neurological Conditions course. To date, 1500 Pilates teachers and physical therapists around the world have completed the course. There are also introductory workshops and an advanced course run by my business partner Meghann Duffy. Together, she and I run a mentorship for teachers.

On the patient side, The Neuro Studio has an affordable subscription workout site, as well as the project I did during Covid – The MS Master Plan, which is basically a video encyclopedia for people with MS. That includes interviews and videos from over 50 people, more than half of whom are patients. The rest are doctors, PTs, lawyers, etc. Its goal is to answer any question a person with MS might have. It’s 27 hours of total content, but it’s divided into hundreds of chapters that each cover a specific area of interest, like ‘how to understand your MRI results’ and ‘rare symptoms.’ It covers diagnosis, symptoms, treatments (alternative and medicinal), insurance considerations, employment, family and more.

One of the main reasons I developed the Fuse Ladder was to make up for the fact that there aren’t enough standing exercises in traditional Pilates and in rehab exercises - and yet in my experience the neuro population and everyone else really needs to do standing exercises. But its initial introduction was at a studio I was opening with my studio partner in Washington D.C., Roxanna Hakimi, because we wanted to offer a class and exercise that no one else had. Turning that into an equipment company was almost accidental.

If a Pilates tower, Pilates springboard, stall bars, ballet barre, pull-up bars, suspension trainer, and weight machine had a love child, the Fuse Ladder would be it. Some people use it for group classes. Some people use it exclusively for rehabilitation. We have Pilates teacher owners, studios, physical therapy clinics, and home users.

The Fuse Ladder is infinitely adjustable. You can use the rungs alone, or you can add springs for support or for greater challenge. You can climb, hang, push and pull. You can do a classical Pilates tower workout on it or you can do callisthenics. You can do strength training, suspension work, balance training and flexibility. There’s an overhang like a Cadillac, so you can put springs high for support or use it like a Ped-o-pull. There isn’t a lot you can’t do with it.

I think once Pilates teachers experience it - they get it. They get an idea of how much you can do with it, as well as start experimenting with different uses.

I think people expect a Pilates tower, but I rarely do traditional tower exercises. You can - I just use the rungs in combination with the springs often. There’s a backboard that can be used hanging on the Fuse Ladder or angled, which offers a lot of variability. We added a push-through bar option (which is the widest one on the market). We also have soft accessories, like a sling you would normally use on a yoga wall as well as circus straps (think fuzzies that are adjustable and not as big).

We had someone who wanted to franchise Fuse Pilates (our studio which we sold in 2020 to focus on Fuse Ladder). Because of that, we needed to figure out how to mass-produce Fuse Ladders and in doing so, we made some changes and added some features, like the sliding eyelets and the double pull-up bars. Over the years, we’ve made other changes, like making it height adjustable because it didn’t fit in some studios because of lower ceilings.

But ultimately, Fuse Ladder is available because our franchisee backed out and moved to Spain after we had already begun the process of production. Was it nerve-racking? Yes but has it been for the better absolutely.

Getting a new product to market in the Pilates industry naturally came with its challenges.

I had originally approached Balanced Body and they weren’t interested. So, I reached out to an equipment manufacturer in England, whom I knew through a mutual business acquaintance who had been bringing me over to Europe for years to teach my ‘Pilates for Neurological Conditions’ courses. One night in Brighton in England, he introduced me to Align Pilates’ owner who helped us tweak our design and start manufacturing.

At first, I promoted the product through my personal Instagram page and people started to visit Fuse Pilates. Our first owner was Tara Gordon of 212 Pilates in New York City. She had come to D.C. on a trip and took a Fuse Ladder class. When she opened her studio, she put Fuse Ladders in there. We were later at a couple of PMA Conferences (pre-Covid) and that’s when we started to see some traction. Most of our owners are people who have tried Fuse Ladder at a studio somewhere.

There are still times when I feel like we’re still getting into the swing of things - but we believe in the product and know it helps our clients greatly. The benefits need to be seen to be truly appreciated.

Mariska is BASI trained and completed a two-year mentorship with Julian LIttleford before his death. She studied neuroscience and has taken hundreds of hours of continuing education.

She lives in Washington DC with my husband and two Alaskan Klee Kai - Remy and Sophie. You can find out more about Mariska’s work at theneurostudio.com or fuseladder.com