Pain Free Performance — Posture Alignment Therapy

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Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler

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This weekend marked Charlottesville’s largest annual all-female event: The Women’s Four Miler.

Here is a great article that we had circulating as all the women arrived on Friday night.

Enjoy!

Running should be PAIN FREE!   More than 24 million people run in the United States alone, but 65% will have to stop at least once this year because of injury.  Others will choose to run through the pain. Why the injuries?   Why the pain…POOR POSTURE and POOR ALIGNMENT! 
We know that muscles pull bones in order to move.  When a body is imbalanced, some muscles are working overtime pulling the bone or joints out of alignment.  Other muscles become weak because they are not able to work the way they were designed to.  If you run with the body in poor alignment, stress or friction occurs in the joints and very often pain develops.  Pain is the bodies warning signal that something is wrong! 
At PAIN FREE PERFORMANCE, we believe that good posture is the cornerstone of proper running technique.  When your postural alignment is correct, the body moves efficiently in much the same way that water will flow through a straight pipe more easily than a bent one. Running with your body out of alignment can create tension, fatigue, discomfort, and even PAIN.
The therapists at Pain Free Performance utilize the EGOSCUE METHOD to restore postural alignment.  We do not focus on symptoms; instead, we look at the entire body and determine the SOURCE of your dysfunction.   We take photos; analyze your gait and perform functional tests to determine which muscles are dysfunctional and which muscles are compensating for the improper alignment.  An individual program is designed to include passive positions and gentle exercises which will unlock restrictions and guide the body back to optimal alignment and function.  This program   provides “tools” for you to take care of your body for a lifetime.          
  *Results of the Egoscue Method:
·         95% success rate
·         Dramatically reduces your potential for injury
·         Helps to make knee pain, foot pain or shin splints a thing of the past
·         Helps make running any distance enjoyable whether you’re a beginning runner or seasoned competitor
  Learn how it can help you abolish pain and restore your body to its proper design.  
CALL PAIN FREE PEFORMANCE:  434-296-0600 or go to www.painfreeperformance.com

Client Spotlight – Betty Haas

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In 2008, I heard about Pain Free Performance which was started by Susy Russell and Cindy Meyers, who I knew were in Physical Therapy. I had been to numerous spine specialists and to numerous alternative medicine practioners. The medications that were prescribed helped to a degree, but none had been bale to make me free of my severe sciatic pain or my very severe pain caused by Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) also referred to as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). In effect, my caregivers were telling me that I would have to learn to manage and/or “live with” the pain. For me, managing the pain meant planning each day’s activities carefully, so that I would not end up bed for a day or two — literally writhing in pain. I decided to the Egoscue method a try. Each day, I faithfully do the ecises that Susy prescribes me; and I AM MORE THAN THRILLED WITH THE RESULTS. Before Egoscue, I would have to leave UVA football games at half-time because of unbearable sciatic and or RSD pain. Not anymore! For the past two years I have been able to stay and enjoy the games with minimal discomfort. At basketball games, because of the narrow space between the rows at the JPJ Arena, my pain would start up and my foot would swell since I could not stretch my leg out to a comfortable length. I wouldn’t leave the game early, but by the time I go home I was a wreck and my next day would be spent in severe pain. Because Egoscue has helped me get my pain under control, that is all changed. I can once again enjoy the basketball games. I still can’t stretch out my left leg, but the pain does’nt overwhelm me and I’m fine the next day. In fact, I still have some level of pain each day – but it is bearable. I have very few “down days” and I can’t remember when I last spent a day in bed because of pain. Not to be trite, but, Egoscue and Susy have given me “a new lease on life.”

Discover Egoscue. December Client Spotlight

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      Before starting Egoscue I knew my mobility was spiraling downward at a rapid rate.  It was becoming increasingly more painful to walk and stand.  In fact, so much so that when I saw someone in a wheel chair I wondered if that might be me in five years.  Since joining the program I’ve overcome one problem after another and what were once large issues have now become subtle annoyances.  One easy measure: I used to carry and frequently use aspirin.  Now I only rarely take one.  With success has also come the peace of mind and confidence knowing I have the power and ability to influence and control my mobility as I age.

      When I started my program I couldn’t decide which was more painful my feet or knees.  There was only one pair of shoes I could wear with any comfort and even then I could only stand or walk for a maximum of 10 to 30 minutes before the pain got the best of me.  I dreaded standing after sitting for any length of time because of the sharp pains in my feet.  Walking and balance was made more difficult by my toes grabbing the ground like claws.  As for my knees, I would experience periodic concussion like incidents which caused debilitating pain and swelling keeping me immobile for several days while guzzling aspirin. 

      Now after three years I no longer worry about walking, I have several pairs of comfortable shoes, and my toes no longer are curled. My knees aren’t perfect and I still have joint pains. But I’ve had no immobilizing incidences requiring massivce doses of aspirin. In fact, now I rarely take an aspirin at all.

      The services provided at Pain Free are excellent. The entire staff is knowlegeable and well trained. More than that, they genuinely care about their client’s well being and comfort. You know that if you have a problem they will address it with the expertise and time it takes to diagnose the source and correct it or direct you to the resources that will. I not only have complete confidence and respect for each and every one of them, I also consider them to be my friends.