Pain Free Performance — Posture Alignment Therapy

Posture Alignment Therapists, Graduates of Egoscue University

alignment expert

Misalignment leads to Neck & TMJ Pain

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Our head is the center and peak of our body. When the head and neck are out of alignment, the weight of our head increases the load on our neck by 10 pounds per every inch that our head is forward. As our culture continues to become tech focused, the root of neck pain and jaw pain are due to our misaligned necks and forward heads. 

 

Our neck is made up of the top part of our spine: the cervical spine. The cervical spine is a slightly concave curve that develops during the first three months of life as infants learn to lift and turn their head. The curve of our neck allows for enhanced mobility of our head. This is why we can turn our head to see something without rotating or turning our spine and shoulders. 

 

Throughout the past 20 years our culture’s behavior has changed. We no longer turn our head to look for cars behind us while driving because our rear cameras alert us when someone is there. Work days have shifted to being predominantly at the computer. The average time an adult spends on their phone is more than three hours per day. The decrease in movement of our neck and increased forward head has led to a loss of the concave cervical curve.  Without the cervical curve of our neck to support our head, our skeletal system shifts and leads to increased tension in the muscles that connect our neck to our shoulders and jaw misalignment.  

 

Within the past few years at our practice, we have seen this increase in clients presenting with neck pain and temporomandibular joints (TMJ) pain.  As the head becomes more flexed forward, the joints that connect our jaw to our head begin to shift in response to the misaligned spine of our neck. The misaligned jaw often is identified by “clicking” or pain from overuse of chewing/talking in a misaligned joint positioning. Often clients with forward head positioning and jaw misalignment present with headaches in conjugation to neck pain and TMJ pain. Forward head positioning leads to decreased blood flow to the brain from poor alignment. It might sound unusual that headaches and jaw pain are connected to your alignment, but as the head shifts forward the cervical spine becomes more flexed, decreasing blood flow to the brain, enhancing strain on the muscles around the neck, and often creating shifts within the jaw.

 

At our practice, we treat the misalignment of the head positioning that creates TMJ pain and neck pain by addressing the body as a unit. We focus to align the body vertically and reduce the flexion of the neck. One example of this would be aligning the body against a wall and placing a block between the knees with active pressure. This position allows the feedback of the wall against the head, shoulders, hips, and ankles. When holding this positioning daily, the muscles of the neck and shoulders begin to relax and have reduced tension and muscular compensation. Overtime, we are able to see a reduction in the flexed position of the head, correct curvature within the spine, and the jaw becomes more aligned.

 

Our goal during a postural alignment therapy evaluation is to identify what is driving the forward head position and jaw misalignment. Through a complete health assessment, functional testing, and gait analysis we can begin to understand the muscular imbalances in a client’s body. This will allow us to identify the muscles that need to be strengthened or released to bring the body into alignment. We do this through corrective exercises that will be done daily at home in the order to address the misaligned neck, forward shoulders, and jaw positioning. Once the body is aligned and the forward head position and shoulders are less rounded, the pain will subside and our clients are able to live a functional pain free life.

A Simple Trick to Test Your Alignment

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Many clients seek out our practice to reduce pain and regain their quality of life. 

Often, they are not aware that their body is out of alignment. 

When one aspect of the body is altered, it changes the function of the muscles and joints that surround that site. 

For most of us, our work week involves sitting at a desk in front of a computer. 

This position drives the shoulder forward, forcing the upper back to round, and bringing the head and neck into a flexed position.

In order to not develop chronic neck, shoulder, and back pain here is a simple trick to see if you body is aligned:

Stand vertically at the wall with the back of your head, shoulders, hips, and feet touching the wall.

In this position, is your head able to touch the wall? Or is there tension in your neck from bringing the head back?

For every inch forward that your head is from the wall, it increases the weight of your head on your neck by 10 lbs!

With the Egoscue method, we can reduce the forward head positioning and neck strain by getting to the root of the problem in the body.

A look into Knee Pain

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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!

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 is Different About Egoscue?

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People ask us all the time “how is Egoscue different?” At Pain Free Performance, we want to get down to the root of your pain. Egoscue therapy looks at the entire body and determines what joints are out of alignment and therefore, are not mobilizing correctly. When this happens, other muscles will try to create the movement for the weaker muscles. This is what pulls the joint out of the right position.

Egoscue looks at each area of the body and determines which muscles are too tight or overworking. Through gait analysis and functional testing, Egoscue therapy can determine how your body is moving. Then the fun part begins. Our Egoscue University trained therapists will work with you to determine how to release the overworked muscles and how to wake up the muscles that are weaker and not supporting the joints. In other therapies, like traditional physical therapy, therapists work to strengthen the weakened joint, but overlook the compensations from different parts of the body. Egoscue therapists understand that your spine rotates because your right foot is turned out. Egoscue therapists at Pain Free Performance take it a step further and notice the over developed muscles on the right side of your spine. Their Egoscue training promotes further testing to release those muscles before they re-balance the rest of the body.

Want to get back to the life you had before pain? Live the life where you could move naturally and not in order to avoid the pain? Try Egoscue therapy at Pain Free Performance and let’s uncover the root of your pain.

Movement Challenge

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Our bodies are meant to move! Walk, run, jump, kneel, stretch, reach, twist, squat, hang – the more we do these activities, the more aligned and healthier our bodies. You’ve probably heard the “sitting is the new smoking” catch phrase? I want to challenge you to go a step further than just standing up to understand what exactly our bodies need. When we fill our days with the activities listed above, amazing things happen. The movements keep the muscles in our hips elongated; encourage a mobile straight spine, our shoulders fall more easily back into place supporting a strong neck and balanced head.

We’ve got it easy these days compared to our “hunter-gatherer” ancestors. The luxuries that resulted from the Industrial Revolution have presented us with an unforeseen dilemma. With all the conveniences and less to do to get what we need, how do we continue to stay active? The answer I often hear from clients is “I exercise one or two hours every day!” Great! Maybe you’re like me; I love to work up a sweat. I want to be fit. As a former fitness center owner, I cannot imagine not having exercise in my life. I love to hike and kayak with my family. My husband is an avid biker. We exercise, but we need more movement.

After years working in physical therapy, and going on twelve years as a Posture Alignment Specialist, Certified by Egoscue University, I love helping people restore the alignment of their joints, become more functional and relieve their pain. So, you might wonder why I’m talking so much about movement.

Exercise and movement are very different things. Exercise is one important piece of the puzzle – how you move the rest of the day is just as important. Alignment is key. Exercise often works one area of the body through focused repetitive motion. There are great benefits yet at times we are inadvertently compromising other areas of the body. With repetitive exercise we are asking our bodies to function in ways they were not originally designed to function. The body wants and is able to perform with complete range of motion.

When thinking of movement, think of activities more people did generations ago: squatting while harvesting farmland, walking barefoot on uneven terrain, carrying items up and down hills, sitting on the floor. Movement works all parts of the body in the way it was intended to move. Movement is important because it nourishes the whole body by promoting blood flow, improving overall circulation – keeping us strong.

Alignment is important because when you move, the forces that go through your joints determine if your body is functioning properly. Think of your body like a car. If your car tires have worn unevenly, your car will pull to one side. You go and buy new tires and get the car aligned in order for it to drive smoothly. If the muscles in your body are imbalanced, it will create pulls that change the way you move. Correct the muscle imbalances and you improve the function of your body. Improving function means you’re moving better and probably moving more.

ALIGNMENT MATTERS AND MOVEMENT MATTERS.

The challenge is how to incorporate more movement into our daily lives. Awareness is the key! Just being aware of the amount of movement in your day will help you come up with ways to move more. Stand at your desk and roll your shoulders or do some toe raises. Squat down several times per day to pick things up. Walk on trails or hills rather than sidewalks and wear less rigid shoes for increased foot movement. Sit on the floor more while watching TV and notice how much more you move your body. Next time you take the kids to the park – YOU hang from the monkey bars too! Have fun with it. Challenge yourself. The more you move, the more you can move. Ask us next time you’re in Pain Free and we’ll give you some more amazing ideas!

THE RIGHT MOVES

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When we hear about healthy lifestyles from our healthcare professionals, three things are always stressed: eating healthy foods, getting adequate sleep and exercising regularly. As you know, we’re into healthy lifestyles at Pain Free and we talk a lot about total body alignment and movement.

Culturally, we are pretty sedentary with only bursts of movement or exercise adding up to maybe 1 or 2 hours a day. Research is now showing that doesn’t meet our body’s daily movement requirements. THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOVEMENT AND EXERCISE.

EXERCISE typically consists of repetitive motion in a specific area of the body for a specific amount of time. Think treadmill, for example. Our heart rate’s up, one foot in front of the other over and over. We drive to the gym, walk or run on the treadmill for an hour, then we drive back home or work. What are we doing the rest of the day?

MOVEMENT is leaving our car at home and walking to the store to buy our groceries. Our heart rate is up, we’re working our lower body and utilizing our upper body carrying groceries home. Now, that might not be feasible for all of us but it illustrates how our bodies are meant to function. Even if we can’t walk to the store, we just need to change things up a bit to add natural movement back into our lives.

HERE ARE OUR TOP FIVE TIPS TO OPTIMIZE THE WAY YOU MOVE EVERY DAY:

1.) START YOUR DAY MOVING
Begin the day with your Egoscue ecises , take a walk with your coffee, stretch while you read the paper, or step on the trampoline while you watch the news. The more you move, the more your brain will encourage movement throughout the day.

2.) PARK AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE
We hear a lot about 10,000 steps. Instead of stressing over a number, seek any opportunity for movement – all types of movement. Park further away, walk to your destinations, take the stairs, work-in a zumba class – whatever you love to do. The movement will add up. Lasting results begin with subtle changes in the way you move through your life!

3.) CREATE A MORE DYNAMIC WORK STATION
People ask us if standing work desks are really healthier than sitting. Absolutely! Also think about working from the floor, at a coffee table, on a pillow or in any other way you can imagine. If you can’t do this at the office, try it at home. Stand awhile, sit awhile. The take away is, this encourages your body to respond and move in the way it was intended. Your joints will be more fluid, increase your functionality and keep you moving well for a long, long time!

4.) MOVE WHILE YOU WORK
Why not encourage natural movement while taking care of business? Take a walk down the hall or up and down the stairs while you return phone calls. Your heart rate will increase, your feet will be happy, and your mind will be clear and rejuvenated from this much needed movement break. Stand a stretch every hour or so. Keep moving.

5.) SIT ON THE FLOOR
Home after a hard day, maybe you’re planning to catch up on your favorite Netflix series. Instead of plopping on the couch, try the floor. Put your back up against the couch. Cross your legs, or put them straight out in front of you, or pull your knees up to your chest. Better yet, do all of these periodically! Floor sitting allows your hips and knees to bend at angles that are lost in our culture. Using the floor, instead of chairs or the couch, stimulates your muscles to be more flexible, stronger, and more efficient.

It’s not movement OR exercise. While it’s important to know the difference, fill your life with both. As Postural Alignment Therapists at Pain Free Performance, certified by Egoscue University, we teach total body alignment to create your very best function without pain. Incorporate movement in your life the same way. More movement, of all kinds. All of your functional muscles and the resulting properly aligned joints need to be used all day every day in as many ways as possible. Total alignment, total movement, for a totally enjoyable healthy life!

Things I Wish I Explained Better….

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I often have a conversation with a client that causes me to think – “Wow, I didn’t do a very good job of covering all the information I wanted to!” There is a lot of information we share with clients and it’s a lot to absorb, especially in the beginning.  We also have such a smart group of people who come to Pain Free Performance, we sometimes assume people know things that they don’t.

Here is a smattering of random questions and topics that come up often and might be helpful as you continue your Egoscue journey toward a pain free body! Clients often ask or say….

Can I resume weightlifting?

At first, NO.  We don’t want to strengthen any misalignments.  When your body is ready, we will give you some pointers on how to start with weights again.  You will be surprised at the “work-out” you will get from your Egoscue!

Can I go to Yoga class? Pilates? Tai Chi? Can I jog?

We are all about getting you back to your fullest most pain free life – whatever you love to do! The easy answer is yes, of course.  Talk with your Egoscue therapist regarding your particular issues and your favorite class or activity to make the most of it!

I twisted my ankle (bruised my elbow, tweaked my back) so I’m just going to cancel my appointment.

No, just the opposite! That’s the perfect time for you to come in – this is what we do – treat people in pain!  So, keep your appointment and have your therapist assess the injury and create a program that will enable you to heal faster and keep your newly aligned body on track!

I may not be doing my E-cises correctly and it made my leg hurt so I just stopped doing the program.

Contact us immediately if you feel that your program is causing any pain. We want to know, ask you a few questions and tweak the program if necessary.

I do my e-cises when I get home in the afternoon ……

Do your program in the morning! I know, I know sometimes it’s just not possible but here’s the thing…if you do your E-cises in the morning, you are setting yourself up to have your most aligned body possible to carry out all of the living you have to do during the day!  This means better function, less pain and less possible injury.  Talk with your therapist about how to adjust your program to fit your schedule.

Don’t cherry-pick from your program – do all of the E-cises in the order only!

The order of your Egoscue program is key. The e-cises are prescribed to either wake up certain muscles that are not doing their job or quiet muscles that are overdoing which creates that pesky misalignment, poor function and pain! Depending on your specific issues, there is an important chain of events that must occur by doing the e-cises in order to get you to the best outcome….which is a pain free body!

Do I have to do everything on both sides?

Occasionally, I have a client who ran out of time, or thought because her pain was on the right side that she’d just do the e-cises on the right side. Not with Egoscue.  We are trying to get the two halves of the body to work together as intended.  What you do to one side, you must do to the other.  It is important for regaining muscle balance, symmetry and healing to do the complete program on both sides.  If you’re often running late, talk to us and we can tweak your program to fit those days that are just too busy!

Do I have to do Egoscue the rest of my life?

Yes, but a very doable, shorter version of your program. It will be as easy as brushing your teeth or bathing…a necessary and desirable habit to maintain your pain free functional body!  When you’re ready, your Egoscue therapist will instruct you on how to continue with abbreviated and rotating programs that will keep you aligned and living life to the fullest!

 Speaking of function….

One of the most important things I want our clients to understand is that our job is to improve the way your body functions. Pain relief is the amazing benefit of having a functional body. Pain is the symptom, not the cause.  When the joints in the body are in the proper position and the muscles are balanced – the pain goes away!