The first session sets everything. What you find out before someone moves shapes every programming decision you’ll make for that client. And yet, screening is one of the areas where new teachers feel most underprepared.
This post covers what to ask, what to watch for, and what to do when you’re not sure. It’s practical, not exhaustive. Think of it as a starting framework.
The Questions That Actually Tell You Something
A good intake conversation is a conversation with a purpose. These questions give you the information you need to make smart decisions from the first session.
What Brings You Here?
This sounds simple. It’s not. The answer tells you whether this person is coming with a specific pain or injury, a general desire to move more, a referral from a physio, or a goal they haven’t fully articulated yet. Listen to what they say and what they don’t.
Have You Done Pilates Before?
Don’t assume the answer changes what you teach. Someone who has done ten years of choreography-based Pilates elsewhere may have deeply ingrained patterns that need unravelling. Someone who has never done Pilates has no habits to undo. Both need assessment, not assumption.
Do You Have Any Injuries, Surgeries, or Conditions I Should Know About?
Ask this openly. People often don’t mention things they think are irrelevant: a hip replacement from eight years ago, a disc bulge that “doesn’t bother them anymore,” a pelvic floor issue they’re embarrassed to raise. Give them space to share. The Sports Medicine Australia pre-exercise screening guide provides a solid framework for understanding what needs to be flagged and when.
Are You Currently Seeing Any Health Professionals?
This tells you whether there’s a treatment plan in place, whether you should be communicating with another practitioner, and whether the client is in an active or post-acute phase of recovery. It also opens the door to building referral relationships that serve your clients well over time.
What Does a Good Session Feel Like for You?
This is underused. It tells you how the client measures progress, what they value in a teacher, and what their previous experiences have been. Someone who says “I just want to feel like I’ve worked hard” needs a different conversation than someone who says “I want to understand what I’m doing and why.”
Red Flags Worth Knowing
Not everything that walks through the door needs a physio referral. But some things do, and recognising the difference is a foundational skill for any Pilates teacher.
Pain That Doesn’t Follow a Mechanical Pattern
If a client describes pain that doesn’t change with position, movement, or rest, that’s worth noting. Mechanical pain tends to improve in some positions and worse in others. Pain that is constant, progressive, or accompanies systemic symptoms like unexplained weight loss or fatigue warrants referral to a medical professional before proceeding. Healthdirect is a reliable first reference for understanding when symptoms need professional attention.
Recent Surgery or Acute Injury
A client who has had surgery in the last six to twelve weeks, or who is in the acute phase of an injury, needs medical clearance before starting a Pilates programme. Clearance from a GP is a starting point. Input from the treating physio is more useful. If neither is available, err on the side of caution and refer before you begin.
Unexplained or Undiagnosed Symptoms
If a client describes symptoms they haven’t had assessed, including pelvic floor issues, persistent joint pain, or neurological symptoms like numbness or tingling, that conversation belongs with a health professional before it belongs in your session notes. Your job is to notice and refer, not diagnose.
The PAR-Q+ screening tool is a useful resource for identifying when a client needs medical clearance before starting exercise.
Movement Readiness Checkpoints
Before you design a session, you need a rough picture of how this person moves. You don’t need a formal assessment in the first session, but a few simple observations go a long way.
How Do They Get On and off the Mat?
Watch how a client transitions from standing to lying down and back again. You’ll see hip mobility, spinal articulation, loading patterns, and confidence in movement. All before you’ve given a single cue.
Can They Find a Neutral Spine?
Ask them to lie on their back and find a comfortable position for their pelvis. Don’t coach it yet. Just observe. This tells you a great deal about their proprioception, their habitual patterns, and where you’ll need to spend time in early sessions.
How Do They Breathe at Rest?
Watch for breath-holding, shallow chest breathing, or a ribcage that barely moves. These patterns affect every exercise you’ll programme and every cue you’ll give. Noticing them early means you can address them systematically rather than discovering them mid-session when something isn’t working. For more on how breath connects to movement quality, the how anatomy knowledge enhances Pilates instruction article covers this in detail.
Documentation Basics
You don’t need a complex system. You need a consistent one.
What to Record After the First Session
At minimum: the client’s goals, any injuries or conditions they disclosed, any red flags you noticed, your initial movement observations, and what you decided to focus on and why. That last part matters. Notes that record only what happened don’t help you track progress or justify your programming decisions. Notes that include your reasoning do.
Keep It Simple Enough to Actually Use
A one-page intake form and a brief post-session note are enough for most studio contexts. If you’re working in a rehab setting or with more complex presentations, your documentation needs will increase. The principle stays the same: write it down in a way that your future self, or a colleague covering your client, can understand. For more on working with clients in recovery, the pilates rehab expert’s tips for teaching clients in recovery are worth reading alongside this.
What to Do When You Are Not Sure
This is the question new teachers rarely ask out loud, and it’s one of the most important ones.
When to Refer Before You Start
If a client presents with symptoms you don’t recognise, a condition you haven’t worked with before, or a situation where you’re genuinely unsure whether movement is appropriate, refer first. There is no shame in saying, “I want to make sure we approach this well. Can I connect you with a physio who can give us a clearer picture before we get started?” That conversation builds trust, not doubt.
When to Modify and Proceed
If you have enough information to work safely within a limited range, and the client has appropriate clearance, you can proceed with a conservative programme while continuing to gather information over subsequent sessions. Document what you’re observing and why you made the choices you did.
When to Ask a Colleague
This is underused and undervalued. If your studio has senior instructors, physios, or other health professionals, use them. A five-minute conversation with a colleague who has worked with a similar presentation can save you hours of uncertainty and serve your client far more effectively. Building that habit early is one of the things that separates teachers who grow quickly from those who plateau. The Polestar Studio Rehab Series is specifically designed to build this kind of reasoning, not just knowledge of exercises, but the judgment to apply it.
FAQs
Do I need a formal intake form, or is a conversation enough?
Both. A conversation builds rapport and surfaces things a form won’t. A form creates a record and ensures you don’t miss anything under the pressure of a first session. Use both. Keep the form short enough that clients actually complete it.
What if a client doesn’t disclose a condition and I find out later?
It happens. The most useful response is to revisit your intake process, update your notes, reassess whether your current programme is still appropriate, and consider whether referral is now warranted. You can’t screen for what you don’t know. You can build a process that makes disclosure feel safe and normal from the first contact.
How much anatomy do I need to know to screen effectively?
Enough to understand what a client is describing and to make basic decisions about whether something needs referral. You don’t need to diagnose. You need to recognise, ask good follow-up questions, and know when to bring in another professional. A working knowledge of the musculoskeletal system and common conditions your clients are likely to present with is the foundation. The Polestar Anatomy and Physiology online course builds exactly that.
A working knowledge of the musculoskeletal system and common conditions your clients are likely to present with is the foundation. If you do not already have that baseline, the Polestar Anatomy and Physiology online course covers the essentials. From there, the screening and assessment skills themselves are developed through the Polestar course units, starting with Polestar Principles of Movement and continuing through the Studio/Rehab Comprehensive Series, where clinical reasoning is applied in practice.
Is screening different for group classes versus studio sessions?
Yes, in practice if not in principle. In a studio session, you have the time and context to ask detailed questions and observe movement carefully. In a group class, you’re working with limited information about each person. That’s why group class screening tends to focus on flagging contraindications and ensuring clients with complex presentations are directed toward studio sessions or physio assessment rather than trying to individualise within a group format.
What’s the difference between screening and assessment?
Screening identifies risk and determines whether it’s appropriate for someone to participate in exercise. Assessment evaluates how someone moves so you can design an appropriate programme. Both matter. Screening comes first. Assessment is ongoing. Most teachers conflate them or skip one. Doing both well is what allows you to make sound decisions at every stage of a client’s journey.
Good Teaching Starts Before the First Exercise
Screening isn’t paperwork. It’s the first teaching decision you make with every client. The questions you ask, the patterns you notice, and the judgements you make before anyone gets on the mat are what distinguish a teacher who manages sessions from one who genuinely guides people through movement over time.
If you want to build that reasoning framework properly, the Polestar Studio Rehab Series covers screening, postural assessment, programme design, and referral pathways as part of a structured, nationally recognised qualification. It’s available across all states, delivered as a combination of face-to-face and online learning. For 30 years, we’ve been helping instructors develop the kind of judgment that holds up when it counts.
Not sure which pathway fits where you are right now? Get in touch, and we’ll help you work it out.
