Pain Free Performance — Posture Alignment Therapy

Posture Alignment Therapists, Graduates of Egoscue University

Arthritis

How long does it take to create pain relief using posture alignment therapy?

by

Most of the clients we see are in pain. These clients come to us for relief with their knee pain, back pain, hip pain, and shoulder pain. Oftentimes, our clients have been to chiropractors, physical therapists, doctors, massage therapists, and acupuncturists that have been unable to create a lasting change with their muscle and joint pain. This can be challenging for our clients because their journey for pain relief has already taken weeks and months before we meet our clients for the first time. 

 

In order to create lasting pain relief, as Postural Alignment Specialists that practice The Egoscue Method, we assess the muscular imbalances in their bodies. This begins through a complete health assessment and history to understand the patterns of movement (or lack of movement) that led to pain. We complete postural photos to see how their joint position aligns against a grid to understand how their joints are loading. This can reveal if an elevated shoulder and hip are leading to the back pain or if a forward head position is causing the shoulder pain. Finally, we complete a series of functional testing and gait analysis to determine what muscles are active or inactive that are resulting in muscular compensation and pain. 

 

When our clients leave their first postural alignment session, they can expect to feel a change in their body. This often results in a decrease in pain. If a client’s body has compensated for years, they might notice feeling “lighter” or “straighter” after doing their Egoscue therapy exercises. This is a sign that their body is becoming more functional and balanced. 

 

The work towards alignment and health takes time and effort. Our muscle memory begins to take effect in 90 days and is often the time our clients begin to notice less pain due to their enhanced alignment. Change is not always linear and might result in peaks and valleys. We encourage clients to remain focused on what is changing. Our cells and tissues are constantly adapting and we will continue to adapt new exercises and stimuli to create a change in the muscle structure. One of the great benefits of our bodies is that they are dynamic and constantly in motion. This is why the method works! Now, let’s get moving!

A look into Knee Pain

by

As postural alignment specialists and graduates of Egoscue University, our focus is on the position of the client’s load bearing joints. Our shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles bear the weight of our body when standing and moving upright. When we look at our client’s joint position, many of our client’s are surprised by their knee position. 

The load bearing joints of the shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles should align.

Try this:
Stand in front of the mirror
Look at the middle of your thigh bone that is named the femur. Then look at the middle of your knee cap.
Draw an imaginary line from the center of the thigh bone to the middle of the knee cap.
Does the knee turn to the outside of the body or does the knee roll toward the middle of the body?

If the center of your thigh and center of your knee cap are not in line, the rest of your load bearing joints are picking up the work for the uneven load. This uneven load leads to knee pain, arthritis in the knee joint, bursitis, and torn ligaments!

When knees turn out or roll toward the middle of the body, there is significant wear and tear on the knee joint. Imagine going up and down the stairs with the knee cap pointing outward. The friction and demand on the uneven knee joint will lead to knee pain. Over time to avoid the knee pain we begin to sell our house to live on one level or we take the escalator to avoid the movement that leads to pain. This avoidance of triggers will decrease the feeling of the knee pain, but does not address the cause of the knee pain.

Oftentimes the exercise we do to be healthy and support our heart, aggravates our knees and we begin to wonder why. If your knees turn outwards and you cycle or run for 30 minutes, that is 30 minutes that your knee joint is impacted and inflamed. Frequent wear and tear from a misaligned knee exercising on the elliptical, bike, or treadmill will lead to arthritis of the knee and the need for a knee replacement. The exercise is not the enemy, but the position of the knee cap in relation to the thigh bone and pelvis. 

How do we avoid knee replacements, ligament tears, and arthritis? We must consider the muscles that support the thigh bone (femur) and knee cap (patella). Through a postural alignment assessment, we will identify what is off in your body and which muscles need to be activated to bring your body into alignment. By correcting and supporting the position of the lower legs, you will continue to be able to tackle stairs and maintain your heart healthy cardio!

Painful Hip Flexors

by

It’s not uncommon for us to hear our clients mention waking up with tight, sore hip flexors. Hip tightness can occur for many reasons. Excessive sitting can cause the muscles to relax and deactivate becoming progressively weaker and shorter, creating pain.

Poor posture habits can create a structural imbalance which will cause an uneven pulling of muscles.  No matter the reason, tightness in the hip flexors will lead to decreased movement in the hip and change the way we walk, stand and sit. Our pelvic position will be out of line because the hip flexors are pulling the pelvis forward. This changes the load of our body and creates instability in our gait. Over time, the uneven load and misalignment leads to inflammation, arthritis and other degenerative changes causing pain.  What to do?

At Pain Free we will evaluate you individually to see what is going on with your body that’s creating the issue.  Part of the prescribed plan will retrain those hip flexors to let go, get back to their intended length and tension to eventually re-establish the entire body’s alignment restoring proper gait.  All of that equals being pain free!

Try this and see if you are able to notice a release:

Stand with your back against the wall. When your hips are touching the wall, your thighs and kneecaps will begin to release. If your thighs want to engage, stay in this position for 2-5 minutes until your thighs release and the backs of your legs begin to work.

Arthritis and Aging

by

Many of us assume that as we age, there will be a certain amount of pain to endure. We think arthritis is a sure thing.  Or, is it?  And if so, is age really the only culprit?

First of all, what is arthritis?     It means “Inflammation, etiology unknown”.  Where does the inflammation come from?  There is the implied theory that we’ve just worn out our joints because we’ve lived so long!  If that were true, then everyone over a certain age would have arthritis or worn joints.  We know that knee pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, back pain comes from wear and tear.

Well, most often patients present with one side or the other hurting –I hear it all the time “thank goodness my other knee feels great!” This phenomenon alone debunks the theory that time on earth is dictating joint wear and pain.  While joint compression from age can be a factor would we really only have knee pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, and back pain on one side if pain was caused just by longevity?  No, both sides would have arthritis pain.

As Posture Alignment Specialists certified by Egoscue University, we evaluate bodies in pain all day every day– young and old, all sizes, shapes, injuries, surgeries, abilities and disabilities and condition levels. Most people come to us because they want pain relief – with knee pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, back pain, and ankle pain.  The simple and amazing thing is that they all have the same problem – their bodies are not properly aligned.  What your body needs is not youth but alignment… the way it was intended.  The earlier one understands the importance of alignment, the less arthritis has a chance!

joint alignment

Notice the alignment showing the ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders vertically and horizontally aligned, the pelvis is neutral, the spine has an s-curve, and the knees and feet point straight ahead. When this isn’t what is happening in our bodies – for whatever reason (accident, surgery, work posture) – some muscles begin doing too much and some not enough.  That is when bones are pulled out of alignment because of the compensation and then joints begin to wear unevenly.  This is true no matter what your age, however, the more years it goes uncorrected the more work one must do to unravel the compensations.

We need alignment so that our joints are properly “loaded” while we participate in as much weight bearing movement as we can handle, keep our range of motion in all joints full and active!  It’s not age, its alignment.  No matter what your age, we can help you retrain your body to be straighter and more functional without all the pain!

 

ARTHRITIS

by

Perhaps you’ve visited your physician lately because of joint pain, and she tells you that you have arthritis.  Maybe she mentioned “degenerative joint disease” – which sounds even worse!  Well, these two things are basically the same thing – inflammation of the joint.  Many people think that the arthritis diagnosis is inevitable especially as we get older, not realizing that there is something to do to correct it, not just mask the symptoms with pain relievers. 

There are several different kinds of arthritis but we are talking about Osteoarthritis (OA).  This is the most common form of arthritis.  It is often called “wear and tear” arthritis and happens when cartilage in the joint breaks down creating the painful symptoms and joint swelling.

Sometimes OA presents on just one side of the body and not the other.  You might wonder why since both sides of the body are the same age! It all has to do with joint position.  When we are out of alignment (perhaps due to an injury) then we “load” one side of the body differently than the other, favoring the injured side.  When this happens, then that side will “wear” differently and faster which begins the arthritic process.  Sometimes people with osteoarthritis experience pain in all of their joints.  When joints are not lined up, the surfaces of the joints wear unevenly creating friction.  This friction causes inflammation, pain, and stiffness ….arthritis

One of my clients has arthritis in her hands…stiff sore inflamed joints-ouch!  But it’s not really about her hands at all.  Her shoulders are rounded forward, causing her elbow and wrist to be out of alignment.  All the joints are not moving well together and there is friction in every text and email she sends.  So, we’ve got to get her shoulders back into proper alignment, which will get her elbows in place and on down to her wrists and fingers. 

At Pain Free, we teach people how to get their bodies back to the original design – joints back in an equal bilateral position and the rest of the body aligned in strait lines, at 90 degree angles to the line of gravity.   So, don’t despair if you are experiencing arthritis pain – the healing power of your body is amazing!  You just need to know what to do and we’re here to help.

 

 

CHRONIC INFLAMMATION – WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

by

 

Chronic Inflammation – What Does It Mean?

We tend to think of inflammation as redness, swelling, stiffness and heat. We experience it when we twist our ankle, bump our head, cut or burn ourselves. This type of inflammation is known as acute inflammation. When trauma occurs to the body, our immune system dispatches cells, chemicals, blood and other fluids to protect and heal the damaged tissue. This biological reaction is a brilliant immune response.

However, there is a different type of inflammation that might be damaging your joints and organs without you realizing it. This low level or low-grade inflammation is called chronic inflammation. Unlike acute inflammation, the swelling, stiffness and heat are so subtle that it is almost undetectable. Again, the body is providing this immune response to protect, but when the stimulus is so constant the inflammation begins to work against us.

Chronic inflammation is one of the telltale signs that joints are misaligned. Misaligned joints lose space and their ability to absorb shock, making them susceptible to excess compression, friction and tension. The misaligned joint does not allow the connective tissue in an around the joints to do their job to rehydrate or repair. Eventually chronic inflammation and joint compression escalate and cause stiffness, tenderness, swelling and pain.

By the time you notice the symptoms of chronic inflammation in one joint or region of the body, other areas have already been affected. At the first sign of inflammation, the body begins to compensate to avoid pain.  This is a good thing in the short-term however it can be devastating to our alignment and posture.   Nerves are compressed, which can cause tingling, numbness, and pain. Muscles become fatigued, strained and out of balance which can cause soreness, inflexibility and pain. You may experience neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, and foot pain all because muscle imbalance and misaligned joints are creating it. What is the cause?  POOR POSTURE.

It’s important to understand the effects of chronic inflammation because according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of us will develop degenerative joint disease or osteoarthritis as outlined above. Because most current medical treatments do not address the root cause of the disease, joint replacements become almost inevitable.  We provide an alternative to this unsettling prognosis.

The Egoscue method of pain management focuses on joint position and muscle imbalance. In the first two-hour session, we take posture photos, analyze gait, and perform functional movement screens to determine where the muscle imbalances are that are creating misaligned joints and chronic inflammation. By correcting these imbalances, and returning the body to proper alignment, the connective tissue will be allowed to do its job, inflammation will decrease, and you are on your way to keeping your joints for life! You will not only be pain free you will be inflammation free.