PILATES FOR MS...click for more
...For Eorio, the award was an important milestone in her efforts to show how people with MS need to be engaged in physical activity.

“I was really honored by this,” she said. “Because of how important I think that fitness and exercise is for people with MS. And it’s really nice to have gotten the word out there.”

Eorio, who was diagnosed with MS in 1971, began to develop her own fitness routine in 1991. After being granted a Betaseron Champions of Courage grant in 2000, Eorio was able to start a fitness program. The program was a 12-session, six-week program that was free to anyone with MS. Currently, Eorio has a yoga class, an aquatics class, and is starting a Pilates class.

“That’s the one we’ve been trying to get going for over a year,” said Eorio of the Pilates class. “It’s finally happening, so it’s huge.”

Eorio’s Pilates class, called “Seated Pilates for MS”, met for the first time on Tuesday at ACAC. Eorio feels that Pilates is a program that focuses on the muscle group important for people with MS.

“I’ve been really pushing for that one because I’ve been having some weakness in my abdominal [muscles] that was maybe adding some curvature to my spine,” Eorio said. “It was clear that I needed more abdominal and core strength and that’s what Pilates stress directly.”

Eorio also wants to stress that the classes help with the day-to-day lives of people with MS; that working the muscles in class helps in every aspect of life.

“It’s helping you walk, it’s helping you sit,” she said. “In order to walk you need have good balance, even in order to sit up straight. And if you don’t sit up straight, your body is going to adjust and there’s going to be a curve in your spine. It’s helping you to remain healthy and functional.”

Eorio is continuing to work to help people with MS through her classes and by starting work on a book about the benefits of fitness for people with MS....