Pilates and Tai Chi sit outside the seven practices Lei n.º 71/2013 formally regulates, which means no ACSS (Administração Central do Sistema de Saúde — Portugal's central health administration) licence, the cédula profissional, and no statutory insurance minimum attach to teaching either one. The exposure is nonetheless real and, in practice, often looks more like a fitness-instruction risk than a complementary-therapy one.
Two disciplines, similar underlying exposure
Pilates instruction frequently involves equipment — reformers, Cadillac frames, resistance springs — that introduces mechanical injury risk beyond what mat-based classes alone would carry, plus hands-on correction of a student's form. Tai Chi is lower-impact and rarely equipment-heavy, but still involves physical instruction, balance work that can matter for older or less mobile students, and group classes where a fall or collision is a real, if uncommon, possibility. Neither is one of the seven therapies Lei n.º 71/2013 lists, and neither carries the Article 10.º insurance obligation or the Portaria n.º 200/2014 minimum that Acupuncture, Phytotherapy, Homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Naturopathy, Osteopathy and Chiropractic do.
What actually drives the risk
- Equipment, for Pilates specifically. Reformer and apparatus-based classes carry mechanical risk that mat work does not, and studio insurance for the premises does not automatically extend to the instructor's own professional liability.
- Hands-on correction, for both. Physically adjusting a student's form or posture is a different exposure from verbal cueing alone.
- Older and less mobile students. Tai Chi in particular is often taught to older adults for balance and mobility, which raises both the standard of care expected and the consequences of a fall.
- Where you teach. A dedicated studio, a room inside a gym or wellness centre, a park or public space for Tai Chi, and private sessions each carry a different premises picture on top of the instruction risk itself.
The contractual reality
As with yoga, the absence of a legal requirement does not mean the market has stopped asking. Studios, gyms and wellness centres increasingly require instructors — Pilates and Tai Chi included — to hold their own liability cover before teaching on their premises, as a condition of the booking rather than the law.
Teaching Pilates or Tai Chi in Portugal?
Tell us what you teach, where, and with what equipment. We will tell you honestly what cover fits.
Adler & Rochefort is a commercial brand of Ownizo, Unipessoal Lda., registered with the Portuguese Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Authority (ASF) under no. 425591790/3. General information only, not personalised advice; whether a specific venue or platform requires proof of cover, and to what minimum, should be confirmed against that requirement directly.
More on this subject: Liability insurance for complementary and alternative medicine practitioners · Liability insurance for yoga instructors