NEXT+ WELLNESS CENTER is set to open this weekend in Tomas Morato, Quezon City (QC), offering solutions to manage body pain, encourage movement, and deal with stress.
Founded by Angela Solquillo, founder of creative advertising agency Zigzag Creatives, the center offers reformer Pilates classes and recovery treatments. Blending the two of these into one is Photobiomodulation (PBM) reformer Pilates, which is basically doing Pilates on the bed-like frame reformer machine under a red light, which stimulates the cells to help them heal.
The center will be the first in the Philippines to offer PBM reformer Pilates, which will have “medical-grade red light that heals not only the skin, but also muscles and tissues,” Ms. Solquillo told BusinessWorld in an exclusive interview in Makati.
“The goal of Pilates is to bring the body back to its center. It’s good for those with injuries, for scoliosis. Joseph Pilates invented it for soldiers, to help rehab their bodies,” she explained. “I really question why it hasn’t been done yet. Red light plus rehab or clinical Pilates is a no-brainer. You get a good workout for your body and heal on a cellular level.”
She clarified that NEXT+ Wellness Center is not a fitness studio.
“We have Pilates, we have physiotherapy treatments, and we have regenerative treatments. I don’t think I’ve seen a center here that has all three. We’re more of a health innovation hub, with programs that treat chronic illnesses and injuries,” she said.
Because they are a wellness center, NEXT+ has medical specialists on their staff, like a regenerative doctor and an orthopedic doctor.
All of the Pilates instructors are also Stott-trained, referring to the practice of Pilates that puts emphasis on establishing and strengthening a neutral spine posture. Compared to regular Pilates, the Stott variation developed by dancer Moira Merrithew in the 1980s is more ideal for those with scoliosis. On top of that, Pilates itself naturally targets muscles that are often overlooked in regular workouts.
“Stott is the gold standard of Pilates practice. We make sure that everyone is more than qualified to be doing what they’re doing. They’re all licensed physical therapists,” Ms. Solquillo said.
All Pilates classes have a uniform price: around P1,300 to P1,500 for a single group session, and P2,500 for a private session (though the prices go down if you pay for multiple sessions as part of a package).
FORMS OF THERAPYFor those who want to be proactive about their health, the center offers a suite of express treatments, like shockwave therapy and electrotherapy, which range from P5,000 to P9,000.
As for more standard physiotherapy for specific health conditions, NEXT+ has programs costing P10,000.
“If you have chronic pain in the lower back, for example, our PTs (physical therapists) are fully equipped to diagnose what you need. We can suggest Pilates; we can suggest the stem cell activation suite for overall regeneration,” said Ms. Solquillo. “It really depends on the assessment which determines what the patient needs.”
The more extreme regenerative treatment they have is autologous cell therapy, which involves harvesting cells from a patient to be cured or modified before injecting them back into their joints.
She explained that it’s for “severe cases of arthritis, to prevent having to get joint replacement surgery.”
“Everything we have is about proactive wellness, rather than reactive where you only get treated once you feel a lot of pain,” she said.
With the price of P38,000, it is the costliest on their menu, but still just one-fourth the cost of a joint replacement surgery, according to Ms. Solquillo.
Ultimately, NEXT+ Wellness Center aims to fill the gaps in healthcare, with two groups of people being the main demographic: those with chronic pain, and people 40 years old and up.
“We have gyms and fitness studios for the younger group. We have PT clinics for athletes and those who are injured. But we don’t really have a collective space that has everything in it,” she said.
FILIPINO MINDSETMs. Solquillo told BusinessWorld that the goal of NEXT+ is to “lead in transforming the mindset of Filipinos.”
“What we found is that people just get treated once they’re sick. There’s no proactive way of thinking about health,” she explained. “We want to show that we have to take care of ourselves now so we don’t suffer later.”
On a personal note, she shared about how she used to do yoga and Pilates to ground herself and stay relaxed as a business owner dealing with constant stress. A dance injury from college also took a toll on her knees.
“I used to go to different places to get a workout and also to get treatments, so I thought I should solve this problem. I wanted to create this one space which would have everything I need,” she said.
Thanks to physiotherapy, Ms. Solquillo managed to rehabilitate her knees to almost 90% back-to-normal. Though she thought of the concept for NEXT+ two years ago, it was only this year that she fully acted on it.
“So many of my friends told me about going to different places as well. That’s when I realized that we need to set it up.”
Down the line, they plan to expand to other cities, starting with Alabang, and then later in Cebu and Davao. “It’s really in the pipeline. We want to help people learn how to properly heal, how to properly recover,” she said.
NEXT+ Wellness Center is located at 4F CKB Centre, Tomas Morato, Quezon City. It officially opens on Dec. 15, with appointments available to book via their Facebook and Instagram pages. — Brontë H. Lacsamana