Yes, If You Work in Movement—It Is Your Responsibility to Know How to Work With Injuries

Let’s stop sugarcoating it.

If you call yourself a movement professional—whether you teach yoga, Pilates, functional training, mobility, or somatic work—it is your responsibility to understand how to work with injured, recovering, or pain-sensitive bodies.

Because if we keep saying we want wellness to be taken seriously, we need to stop acting like it’s just a vibe or a sequence. This is not just a “creative” industry. It’s one of health. And health carries responsibility.

Wellness Wants Respect—But It Has to Earn It

We want movement, yoga, Pilates, and body-based work to be seen as real tools for prevention, recovery, and support. And they are. But if we don’t educate ourselves beyond aesthetics and sequencing, we’re part of the problem.

You can’t be taken seriously by the medical community if:

    •    You don’t know how to work around injuries.

    •    You don’t ask about pain, trauma, or mobility limitations.

    •    You don’t understand how to modify safely or refer out appropriately.

    •    You don’t recognize when your cue could do more harm than good.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about accountability.

Real Wellness Means Working With Real Bodies

And real bodies come with history.

    •    A student has chronic knee pain from an old tear.

    •    A new client just got cleared from a herniated disc.

    •    Someone shows up postpartum, with prolapse or instability.

    •    Someone else is hypermobile, stuck in a constant pain cycle.

If you don’t know how to work with them—or at least know what not to do—you’re not supporting their wellness. You’re risking it.

And here’s the truth: those are the people who need us most.

Not the already-fit, already-mobile, high-performers—but the ones recovering, the ones afraid to move, the ones trying to trust their body again.

We Must Become an Adjunct to Medicine, Not an Aesthetic Alternative

Movement is medicine.

But only if it’s taught by people who take the science seriously.

We are in a unique position to help bridge the gap between rehab and everyday life—if we’re willing to do the work.

That means:

    •    Studying injuries and contraindications

    •    Learning pain science and nervous system regulation

    •    Being comfortable adapting on the spot

    •    Knowing when to refer out to PTs, doctors, or trauma-informed practitioners

    •    Communicating with humility, not ego

Because if you truly want to serve your students—you can’t just be the studio star. You need to be the guide, the educator, the safe space.

The Future of Wellness Depends On This Shift

It’s not enough to know how to sequence a fun class.

It’s not enough to have a following.

It’s not enough to “move intuitively” without understanding what might be dysfunctional movement patterns in someone else.

This industry will only be seen as legitimate if we make it legitimate—through standards, education, ethics, and action.

Final Word: Step Into the Role You Chose

If you’ve chosen to guide others in movement—whether on a mat, reformer, bike, or studio floor—you’ve chosen a role that impacts the physical, emotional, and nervous system health of others.

Own it. Study for it. Keep learning.

Because if we want the world to stop treating wellness like a side hobby, we have to stop treating it that way ourselves.

This work is sacred. Let’s treat it like it is.