Pain Free Performance — Egoscue Certified

Posture Alignment Therapists, Certified by Egoscue University

Egoscue Method

THE EIGHT LAWS OF PHYSICAL HEALTH

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**This is a condensed version of The Eight Laws of Physical Health posted on the Egoscue University website.

THE EIGHT LAWS

I think we can all agree that the majority of laws are in place to protect us.  When it comes to the body, we have laws in place as well.  Eight of them, actually.  Pete Egoscue talks about them in his book, Pain Free.  Not only does he go in-depth about the Eight Laws, but gives you the Egoscue perspective on posture and pain.  Egoscue’s laws are a great way to understand how everything in the body works together.

  1. VERTICAL LOADING: Gravity is necessary for health. In order for gravity to exert a positive and dynamic influence on the body, the skeleton must be vertically aligned in its posture.

 

  1. DYNAMIC TENSION: A state of constant tension exists between the front of the body and the back.  The posterior portion is responsible for the erection of the body and the anterior is responsible for the flexion, or bending forward, of the body.  Neither activity can be performed correctly and healthily without this action.

 

  1. FORM AND FUNCTION: Bones do what muscles tell them to do.  All skeletal motion is initiated by muscular activity.

 

  1. BREATHING: The body will not function without oxygen.  So essential is this law that the body has redundant systems to ensure compliance.

 

  1. MOTION: All of the body’s systems – digestive, circulatory, immune, and so one – are interrelated.  The common thread that binds them together is movement.  The faster the molecules of the body move, the higher the metabolic rate.  The higher the metabolic rate, the healthier the human being.  We are designed to run, jump, climb, fall, roll and skip, not just for initial development but for continued health throughout our lives.  If these activities hurt or cause pain, it is because we are violating some or all of the laws of health.

 

  1. BALANCE: In order for the law of motion to be effective and true, the body must achieve balance, defined as muscle memory, sufficient to constantly return the body to the first law of vertical loading.  For balance to occur, muscles must work in pairs and equally on the right and left sides of the body.  Being left- or right-handed hinders this balance only when we violate the laws of motion.

 

  1. STIMULUS: The body reacts to all stimuli twenty-four hours a day, regardless of the conscious state of health.  Therefore, the law of motion constantly reinforces this law of stimulus.  If motion is limited, the law of stimulus becomes stressful to the body.  The body absorbs pollutants and irritants rather than deflecting them.

 

  1. RENEWAL: The body is organic; therefore, it is in a constant state of growth and rebirth.  Muscles, bones, nerves, connective tissues, cartilage, and the like are all alive.  If the body is not renewing, it is because we are violating the laws of physical health.  The more laws we violate, the faster we age and die.

Read through the Eight Laws then go look in the mirror.  Simply by looking in the mirror, you’ll be able to determine if you are violating the laws of Vertical Loading, Dynamic Tension, Form and Function, Balance and Breathing.  Does your body pass the eye-test?  For those of you with digestive issues, immune issues or reproductive issues, you are in violation of the law of Motion.  For those who have a difficult time recovering from injuries or sickness, you may be in violation of the laws of Stimulus and Renewal.

If you violate the laws you won’t get a written citation, but you will get a “warning” of a different kind.  At first, the violations may present themselves as low energy or poor health.  Maybe you “crash” every afternoon, or perhaps you’re sick a lot.  Unfortunately, the longer you violate the laws, and the more laws you violate, the louder the “warning” gets.  For those of you struggling with chronic pain, it’s because you are violating multiple laws.  There’s a good chance you have violated the laws of Vertical Loading, Dynamic Tension, Motion, and Balance, just to name a few.

Which laws resonated most with you?  Are there ones that you know you definitely violate?  Which ones do you feel you’re doing a good job following?  No matter where you are right now, the last law – Renewal – should be your focus.  That’s the cool thing about the body.  Just because you may be violating laws right now, doesn’t mean you will be forever.  Your body can, and will change.  You simply have to apply the proper Stimulus!

 

 

 

Continuing Egoscue After Injury

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People come to Pain Free Performance to confront their pain by resolving their body’s muscular imbalance.  When our clients begin noticing a significant reduction in their pain level, they are motivated to continue their Egoscue program creating improvement in their mobility and function.  So, what happens when our client experiences an acute injury from a fall, twist, sport or some heavy lifting?

Although the client’s pain may be tied to a particular event or movement, discontinuing their Egoscue program is not part of the best recovery. Acute pain after an injury is the perfect time to come in and see us Pain Free. Your therapist is trained to look at you and determine the best path to unravel this sudden shift in the body that resulted in your acute pain. At Pain Free, we analyze the body’s current function, identify restrictions in range of motion and then restore muscle imbalance and movement.

If your body becomes injured, give your therapist a call.  There is no need to suffer through the pain.  You can get back to the life you love and the ability to do what you enjoy and be pain free sooner than you think!

What’s Causing Your Back Pain??

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When it comes to back pain, there is no classic case. Clients come to us with different reasons for their back pain including: muscle spasms, fusions, herniated discs, impinged nerves, spondylolysis, or scoliosis. All of these medical diagnoses are a result of a muscular imbalance. Although everyone’s back pain does not look the same, many of these patients have a something in common: a misaligned pelvis.

When the body is misaligned, it is forced to adapt just to function. This means that parts of our body are doing jobs that they were never meant to do. When the pelvis is tilted (anterior, posterior, elevated or rotated) it changes the curve of our spine. This is important because the curves of our spine are designed to absorb shock and prevent us from feeling pain!

So how do we fix this? By providing the body with the exercise or stimulus it needs, the alignment of the pelvis will slowly be restored. This will allow your pelvis to be balanced again in a neutral and functional position which restores the curve of the spine.

Getting your pelvis in the correct position is not where we stop. We have to train the muscles around the pelvis to continue to hold the correct position. If your pelvis is misaligned, it’s likely that your gluteal muscles, (those big muscles in your behind) are not working the way they were designed. By retraining those muscles to work as they were intended, we can help restore the stability to your pelvis, realign the spine and get rid of the back pain.

The beauty in restoring alignment and function to the body utilizing the Egoscue Method, is that it is lasting and preventative. As Egoscue therapists, we know that we are providing our clients with the tools they need to not only get out of pain, but also to prevent future issues!

 

The Whole Picture of Being Pain Free

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As Egoscue certified therapists, when we look at the body, we do not isolate it into individual bones or parts. We hear our clients when they identify the quality and site of their pain whether it’s knee pain, back pain, hip pain, or foot pain. This information is used as a tool to provide appropriate care for our client, but we continue to treat the whole body. In order to eliminate pain long term, we must work to correct the imbalance of the body as a whole unit.

When our client’s come to Pain Free Performance, we encourage them to “listen to their bodies”. This means to acknowledge when they have pain, to not complete exercises that bring on pain, and identify changes within their body after completing a musculoskeletal exercise.

In an Egoscue therapy session, we might encourage our client to stand with their backs against the wall and have their heels, hips, shoulders, and head touching the wall for two minutes. For some clients, not all of their body parts will be able to touch the wall in the beginning. During these two minutes, a client could feel that their body is falling forward, that the muscles behind their knee could be stretching, or they could notice that their head is forward. After two minutes of holding this exercise, we watch the client walk and ask them to consider if anything in their gait is different which could include:

Are they lighter on their feet?

Are they standing straighter?

Has their knee pain decreased?

Do they feel equal weight bear in both feet?

As therapists, we are looking for a change in the function of their body. We are assessing whether the exercise restored the client’s ankle function or created a lighter load in the client’s steps. In the beginning pain level or quality might not change, but it is through restored function of the musculoskeletal system that our clients will not only have improved posture, but improved quality of life without limitations. Balance and restored function of the musculoskeletal system are the key to becoming pain free.

 

Alignment While Exercising

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Have you ever been told by a fitness instructor or a health care professional to tuck your pelvis under to protect your back?

Look in any anatomy book at the skeletal system and you will see that the lower back is designed to have a curve in it.  The curve of the lower back is there to absorb the “shock” of your body weight when you stand or move.  When you tuck the pelvis under you are decreasing the curve of your lower spine and taking away the shock absorber.  Doing this will eventually contribute to back pain. But that’s not all!

Our bodies work as a unit.  Everything is connected in one way or another.  A tucked pelvis can also create rounding in the upper back which can cause the shoulders to move forward.  A rounded upper back can cause the head to go forward.  Below the waist the tucked pelvis will change the way the leg muscles work.  The change in the work of the leg muscles due to a tucked pelvis will force a slight bend at the knees. Overtime the uneven pressure on the knees can lead to a wearing of the cartilage, inflammation and pain.

Anytime you change the design of the skeletal system it effects the system as a whole.  There are safe ways to exercise with or without weights that do not involve changing the natural alignment.  Use your Egoscue programs to align your body (get straight).  Then when you embark on a fitness activity (strengthen), allow the natural curve in your spine and keep your shoulders back while performing upper body exercises.  If you need additional guidance, we are happy to help.

Muscle Memory and Egoscue

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What makes the Egoscue method work so well compared to other treatments? The Egoscue method is different because it utilizes the basic way our body learns and remembers movement. When you do your Egoscue exercises each morning, you activate muscles in the correct way to align your body.
Motor memory, or muscle memory, allows the cells within our bodies to coordinate our movements, muscles, and brain to create the desired activity. Each time you move, your body remembers it. When movements are done repetitively, your body keeps track and creates the “new normal”. Science shows that it takes 90 days of that new repetitive motion to have the memory remain without prompting. With Egoscue we are introducing proper stimulus to create equal and bilateral activity in the muscles. This retraining process is amazing because it means we have the ability to change and heal ourselves!
In comparison, when a person goes to the chiropractor, they align their bodies through an adjustment of the bones. Without the memory in the muscles, the skeletal alignment will not stay because muscles pull bones. This creates a need for frequent follow-up appointments. With the Egoscue method, our clients are able to retrain the musculature to hold their bones in the correct position. This is why the Egoscue method is a therapy that creates lasting change and is not just temporary symptom relief.
Utilizing Egoscue, our clients are able to create new alignment with noticeable improvement in pain reduction, movement, balance, and quality of life!

Joint Replacement and Egoscue

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Are you and your physician choosing joint replacement?  Let us help you maximize your outcome.

When your joint is bone-on-bone, the pain is worsening and keeps you from your daily activities; joint replacement may be the next best step.  I get it, I’d try everything I could to avoid surgery, but sometimes it’s inevitable.  So, once you and your physician make this life changing decision, there are some other things to consider as you look forward to getting back to normal.  Consider your alignment.

For those of you who are already on board with Egoscue, you know that we are all about pain relief through proper alignment.  The key to our work is retraining the muscles to work equally so when the weight of your body goes through your joints it is balanced.   If muscles are out of whack and doing too much or too little, bones are pulled out of place, joints are wearing unevenly and therein lies your pain.  Once your joints bear weight evenly you gain strength, balance and function.   This not only alleviates pain, but protects you in the future.  Although I talk about how cartilage regenerates, some joints are so compromised that replacement is the only option.  Each body is different; everyone’s history and injuries are different.  If you are in pain and cannot function, choosing joint replacement isn’t a failure; it is an amazing tool to get your body and your life back to where it needs to be.

If joint replacement is next, you have prepared for it beautifully!  You’re in your best alignment going into surgery – a step ahead of the curve with strength and balance as you also embark on post-surgery rehab.  One of our clients recently exclaimed that “My doctors, all the nurses and my rehab therapists were amazed at how strong I was and how fast I recovered from my knee replacement!”  “They asked me what I had been doing and I told them it was all my hard work doing Egoscue at Pain Free!”   She continues to do her Egoscue e-cises to maintain her alignment and protect her new joint.

If you are planning on joint replacement, we can help you prepare and improve your outcome.  And, we are waiting for you on the other side to help keep your entire body functioning – head to toe – including your new joint!

Exercise and Egoscue

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We tend to think about our daily exercise as strengthening our muscles or stretching our muscles. We do it every day, we are committed and diligent to maintain our strength and flexibility. If we stopped any part of our routine, we’d lose ground and our body would suffer, right? While there is truth to this, it may not be the appropriate thing to do when you are in pain. As Egoscue therapists we are trained to look at the body using a different approach.

In my physical therapy training, I learned the origin and insertion of all of the muscles and where they connect to the bones. I was taught the particular function and range of motion of each of the individual muscles. In physical therapy, I was trained in specific techniques to treat neck pain, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, shoulder pain – you name it. I also designed personal fitness programs to get people strong. I taught stretch classes to relax tight muscles. I owned a fitness studio in the 1980’s when aerobic classes were the thing to do. I taught classes 7 days a week and had so much fun! I was in great shape but my body was a mess. Why? I never thought about the position of my joints. Even with pain, I would have been hard-pressed to give up my exercise. It was a big part of my life. My new Egoscue clients feel the same way when initially stepping back from their exercise might be necessary. They feel as though they will lose ground with their fitness.

Here is what I now understand from my training and certification utilizing the Egoscue Method for the last 13 years. Our habits and old injuries can change the position of our joints. When joints no longer line up correctly, an uneven force goes through them when they bear the weight of your body. This new uneven pattern wears down the cartilage and changes the balance of the muscles. Some muscles are doing more work than they are designed to do, causing them to get stronger and other muscles are doing less work than designed, causing them to weaken. The overall loading of the joints is now very compromised. Let me give you an example:

John Doe works at his desk all day with his back rounded and shoulders slumped over his computer. Years of this posture becomes habit and his muscles now rest in this position. Some of his muscles have shortened over time making it difficult for him to stand straight and pull his shoulders back. It feels normal to have rounded shoulders. John Doe really does not think about it. He has no pain. John Doe goes to the gym and does weight training. His shoulders and his upper back are rounded as he performs bicep curls. Yes, he is strengthening his bicep muscles but, he is also reinforcing the uneven loading of his spine and shoulders.

Fast forward a couple of years and John Doe now has lower back pain. The rounding in his upper back and shoulders changed his center of gravity. This causes the muscles of his lower back to work harder to compensate for the changed center of gravity. The body’s response is that the lower back muscles are tight, creating pressure on the nerves. Strengthening and stretching the muscles of the low back will NOT change the position of the rounded upper back and shoulders. John Doe’s back pain is caused by the position of this upper back and shoulders.

John Doe looks everywhere for relief – physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture. Everyone is trying very hard to help but focusing on his back. He still hurts. He finally ends up at Pain Free. In order to help him using the Egoscue Method, we focus on his body as a unit, his alignment. We might recommend temporarily changing how he works his biceps until his upper back and shoulders are in a better position. Does this mean he can never do bicep curls again with weights? Absolutely not! It just means that he may need to back off his old exercise routine a bit until his body responds to the new exercise designed to correct the upper back and shoulder position.

You can understand now that everything in the body is connected. Working on the body part that hurts will not change the way the body moves. The Egoscue Method has taught me how to look at the body as a whole, no longer thinking about strengthening or stretching muscles but alignment. When John Doe stands in front of me in pain, my focus is determining misalignment, what is necessary to correct it and getting him back to his life pain free. Maybe his focus is to be out of pain so that he can get back to his bicep curls. We both win.