An update from Melissa Mazzarino, recipient of the first PAA Research Grant, on the progress of her project:
Recruitment has commenced for the study: “Pilates exercises for low-risk pregnant women: A feasibility study.” First time pregnant women, who are low risk and between the gestation of 18-25 weeks pregnancy, are eligible to participate in this feasibility study. This randomized controlled trial, whereby the intervention is a weekly one-hour Pilates class for a 6-week period offered by Dynamic Stability Physiotherapy and Pilates in Richmond, Melbourne. Women booked to give birth at St Vincent’s Private Hospital are eligible to participate.
There has been one participant since recruitment commenced on the 23rd January. Eligibility criteria restrict participation to women that are very low risk, and this may be inhibiting enrolments. To address this issue we have applied for an amendment to our ethics application to provide opportunity to women booked in other maternity hospitals to participate in the study. We also have made an amendment so that we can recruit women residing in the western suburbs of Melbourne to participate in Pilates in a clinic situated in the north west suburbs of Melbourne. Recruitment will be carefully monitored for the next 3 months, at which time we may consider an alternate study design (e.g., single arm feasibility study, intervention only) that evaluates the safety of Pilates for women in the antenatal period.
We look forward to providing you with updates on recruitment and measurement of health outcomes in the near future.
Melissa Mazzarino
Melissa is a PAA member and Polestar Pilates Rehabilitation Practitioner, she holds a Bachelor Nursing/Midwifery and Masters in Clinical Midwifery. Melissa’s research project is being carried out though her PhD candidacy at La Trobe University.
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