Pain Free Performance — Egoscue Certified

Posture Alignment Therapists, Certified by Egoscue University

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A Peek inside Postural Alignment Therapy Evaluation

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When clients are new to postural alignment therapy, they become awakened to a new awareness of viewing the body. What do we mean by this?

When someone is in chronic or acute pain, the pain becomes their focus. Pain requires individuals to use great effort in order to function throughout their day. Their attention is centered on how to avoid pain. Our bodies are skilled at compensating. To reduce overall pain, our bodies will change the way in which we move as a form of survival.  

So as Egoscue therapists where do we start?

First: We place the focus on the joint position. We identify the joint position though palpating or touching the joints. But what does the joint position tell us? 

When we look at the body, we are looking for what is different from the natural skeletal position. 

        Do the shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles align? 

        Is a shoulder elevated? 

        Or, do the knees and feet turn out instead of being straight. 

If any of these joints are off, the body is unable to work as a unit and pain results from misalignment. 

Second: We assess the way the body is loading. 

        We do this by having the client do a body analysis. The client closes their eyes and connects to the weight of their body. Oftentimes, clients are heavier on one foot and their 

weight distribution can be uneven in both feet. This allows us to know that their body’s are misaligned and that natural compensation patterns are occurring for the client to move. As therapists we

use this assessment to understand the way the client’s joints load the weight bear of their body. This information helps us establish a baseline of their imbalances. 

Third: Gait analysis

All joints and muscles have a function or movement that they perform. When a person is misaligned and their joints are different than the natural skeletal position, their body will compensate for

this misalignment. We, as therapists, look at the way a client walks and moves. We are looking for what part of the body is not working and what parts of the body are compensating for the work

of the inactive part of the body.  Compensation can be new or have developed over years.

Often times in gait or walking we notice:

       No arm swing or more arm swing on one side

       Rotation and twisting in the upper body

       Elevation of a hip

       Knees and feet being turned outward or inward

       Uneven heel strike and decreased movement in the feet

Any compensation pattern will lead to inflammation, arthritis, pain, and decreased quality of life. 

So what do we do with this information!?!

 

Our goal is to pull the body into alignment. We correct the muscle imbalances and improve the way the body moves. Without proper alignment and motion you will set your body up for pain. Correct the alignment and live pain free.

What About Pain?

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WHAT ABOUT PAIN?

Most of us have a perverse relationship with pain – any kind of pain – back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, or neck pain.  If we have it, we don’t want it and we do any number of things to get it to go away – prescription or non-prescription drugs, lifts, braces, wraps, and even surgery – all because we don’t understand pain.

If we can look at pain for what it is – the body’s message system – then we can listen to what message the body is sending us. So what is the quality of the pain you feel?  Is it the sharp, knifelike, electric white-hot kind? Oh yeah, you have to stop whatever your doing and find a new position and placement. That kind of pain is the fire alarm so to speak.  But if it’s not that sharp electric kind of pain, if we can look it in the eye, we can learn a great deal about our bodies.  Is it there all the time or can you adjust your position and see it increase or decrease? Does it come in the morning upon waking or later when you’re tired? Does it occur while moving and doing things or when you’re more static? What brings this pain on and can you get it to decrease?

A common mistake we make around pain is to use it as the only measure that we’re doing better when it is only one way of measuring how we’re doing. Typically, pain is the last thing to change so it’s not the best measure, just the one we want to see the most!  The pain will go away when the body is able to maintain a more equal, bilateral, symmetrical position. That means you have to start developing your “kinesthetic awareness” – sensing, feeling our bodies from the inside out – which is not something we are encouraged to do in our culture!

As a posture exercise therapist, if I can get you to think about something other than your pain, we’ve made a giant step forward toward getting you better.  To practice kinesthetic awareness, ask yourself these questions:  Where do you feel the weight in your feet? Is the weight equal left to right or different?  Is it more in the heels or balls of the feet? Is it more toward the arch or little toes? If you stand with your toes together and heels apart with your legs really straight does that change anything or can you feel what changed? If you do several exercises and walk around again can you feel what has changed? Can you feel the position of your shoulders in relation to the rest of you?  Is your head in line with your shoulders and spine or is it more forward? Can you feel your body with your body (hence, the kinesthetic part) or do you have to look in a mirror to tell (more visual)? The imbalances you discover and feel in your body can be corrected.  The pain you feel from the imbalance can be alleviated. It’s what we do at Pain Free Performance.

So, while pain is an important sensation and a clue to misalignment it should not frighten us, but put us on the path to understanding the message. Acknowledging the pain and correcting the muscle imbalances will stop the pain. Listening to our pain rather than automatically stopping it with medication or procedures will help us make the necessary changes to live pain free.  At Pain Free Performance we will give you the tools to do just that.

 

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