Pain Free Performance — Posture Alignment Therapy

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alignment

Winter Wonderland

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With our recent winter storm gifting us with 12 to 16 inches of beautiful snow a lot of us have been talking about it.  How deep it was, where it was and how much there was to move!!!

So, probably like you, my workout the last couple of days has been the old fashioned kind – shoveling snow!!! And, there’s nothing like a lot of wet heavy snow on a 120 foot driveway to have me eating some humble pie regarding my strength and endurance.  However, I lived through the three hour workout without issue and I have my Egoscue menus to thank for it!  How did you do?  Hopefully you won’t have to use these until next season, but I wanted to share some pointers:

As a warm-up before I started shoveling, I did my menu of Egoscue e-cises which got me ready in two ways:  1) it lined me up and got me equal on both sides.  Both left and right sides of me were working and made sure my legs and hips were ready to work and not my back!  2) it warms up the big and little shoulder, leg and hip muscles that will be doing the major work!

If you don’t have an Egoscue menu yet, then try these simple things – swing your arms around in all kinds of ways especially imitating what you’ll be doing with your snow shovel.  After that, try an “airbench” for a minute or two – you may know it as a “wall sit”. (Your back – low back especially– is against the wall, legs bent as if you were sitting in an imaginary chair, knees over your heels, equal weight in both heels) Go back and forth between those two things a couple of times before you begin shoveling.

While shoveling, keep your back as flat and straight as you can, which will make you bend your knees and use your legs and arms to toss the snow, not your back.  Make sure you move your feet up close to the shovel or the shovel back to you before lifting to toss.  Take lots of little mini breaks – this is hard work so be nice to yourself and stop and lean on your shovel to admire how far you’ve come!!

When you are done for the day, do another airbench then spend about 15 minutes in “static back” (which is lying on your back on the floor with your lower legs over the seat of a chair with your butt right up to the legs of the chair and your arms out to your sides, palms up).  Relax.  You’ll feel great afterwards! 

Give yourself some kudos for a job well done!

PAIN FREE — IT’S YOUR BIRTHRIGHT!

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Pain Free Performance – It’s the name of our posture clinic in Charlottesville, Virginia and it is also every person’s birthright.  We should be able to do whatever we want free of any kind of chronic musculo-skeletal pain.  For most of us, that is not the case.  We live with pain every day, but the good news is, we don’t have to!

In its truest form, pain is the body’s alarm system.  It is telling us that something is wrong and urging us to do something about it.  When we listen to that alarm, a whole new world awakens!  First, we need to determine what our body is trying to tell us and then take responsibility and be pro-active to regain our health.  That’s where our expertise at Pain Free Performance comes in!

In listening to your pain, is there a position that helps it feel better or decrease?  Is that position associated with an activity?  What happens when you do that activity with perhaps more mindfulness?  Does the pain/symptom increase, decrease or not change? 

The body thrives on movement and it must move to maintain health.  Load bearing joints need to line up in vertical and horizontal lines to allow the body to move without limitation or pain.  So, if you’re in pain, you need some help with alignment to get your body back to its original perfect design.   After all, for thousands of years we have walked, run, danced, crawled, dug, thrown, climbed, swung, jumped and played.  By doing these things, we thrived! There’s no reason we shouldn’t be doing these things all of our lives.  Our technology-oriented society has taken us away from our life of movement and well-being  (hunched over desks in front of computers rather than moving) but we can reclaim our active lifestyles!

So, I ask you, is your back pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, neck pain or knee pain keeping you from doing something that brings you joy or makes you feel good about life?  Are you willing to take some action to change that?  People may be suggesting medication, injections, even surgery but there is another way.  You have to do it, but we’re here to show you how.  It’s your move and your body! 

Missy’s Story

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CINDY MEYERS WRITES: A few weeks ago my client Missy stopped in with exciting news!  She had not been into Pain Free since February and she wanted to let us know that she was able to run for the first time in five and a half years!  Considering her physical condition at our first session, this was quite amazing news.  Missy had knee re-construction surgery in her twenties that left her with a very unstable knee.  She had back pain that radiated down her left leg and also suffered from right elbow tendonitis.  Analyzing Missy’s posture revealed that her left leg was bowed, her right leg turned in, her head forward with rounded shoulders and her pelvis uneven.  In her sessions, we worked to correct the underlying muscle imbalances that created the misalignment of her bones and her poor posture!  Here is what Missy has to say about getting her body back into balance:

Missy’s Story

Four years ago, at the age of 45 I was not able to tour Montpelier without my back aching during the one hour tour.  I could not stand still without bending and sitting during the lectures.  Two and a half years ago I could not walk my dog for thirty minutes on a trail in the woods without causing a backache that would last for days.  I had knee reconstruction twenty seven years ago and reinjured the knee several times over the years.  This caused knee instability, a bowed left leg, and backaches.  I was advised by an orthopedist to walk only for necessity, no hiking, touring, dog walks. He stated the arthritis in my knee was too far along.   I was also suffering from reoccurring carpal tunnel symptoms three years after having the “release” surgery, and tendonitis in my elbow from knitting.  I was only 45, in very good health otherwise, slim, active, medicine free. 

In preparation for a family trip to Bali, I started physical training with Pain Free.  I was concerned about the twenty four hour plane ride, because four hour car rides to Raleigh, NC caused me back pain.  I also wanted to participate in a seven hour volcano hike while in Bali.  I worked for several sessions with Cindy before my trip to Bali, and completed my menus daily at home.  The trip was a success. I did not need any pain medication to get through the two plane trips or volcano hike!!!  The carpal tunnel was also gone as well as the tendonitis. 

Eighteen months went by without my continuing the exercises.  I woke up one day and my reconstructed knee was completely out of alignment.  I could not walk.  I had to hop.  After a few exercises with Mackie, my knee was realigned and I could walk out of Pain Free.  Another family trip was on the horizon, this time seven days of waking around Rome.  Again I was unable to even walk the dog.  I started with Mackie this time and spent seven sessions working on strengthening my posture so that my knee would not fall out of alignment while asleep in Rome.    Rome was a success-no backaches, no knee pain, no pain meds, and no swollen knee. This time I have continued daily with my various exercise menus and have had no reoccurrence of the problems. 

I ran for the first time in five and a half years this fall.  Before that, I was not able to take a running step without my knee collapsing.  However, without thinking one day, I ran to catch up with a group of friends.  My family and I are amazed!!! It is all the good professional work of the folks at Pain Free.  My family and I are 100% convinced that without Pain Free, these trips would not have been possible for me.  My knee is so misshapen now that, while only 50, I am a candidate for knee replacement surgery.  But, with the daily practice of my Egoscue exercises and professional help of the folks at Pain Free, I have been able to resume an active life with my family without knee surgery. 

Thank you thank you thank you!

Missy D.

Straighten….THEN Strengthen!

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That is what I tell my clients when they ask if they should be doing strength training.  The answer is they are already doing strength training!  Most of us do not realize the work that it takes our body to stand up in alignment with the line of gravity – ankles, knees, hips shoulders, and head in vertical and horizontal lines.  It actually requires more strength than we think – just a different kind of strength and in different places.  The paradox is when you have that kind of strength, it feels effortless.

Try this little test:  Stand with your back to the wall, feet 4 to 6 inches apart pointed straight ahead.  Let your butt and shoulder blades lightly touch the wall.  Does your head easily touch the wall?  If it does, great, leave it there.  If it does not, you don’t have to force it back, but it shows that you lack some postural strength.  Set a timer for 3 to 5 minutes and just stand there.  Begin to notice how you feel and where you start to feel tense and uncomfortable.  Do you start to fidget?  All of these are signs that you don’t have the postural strength to stand up straight along the line of gravity. 

Here’s another paradox:  You cannot strengthen those postural muscles by going to the gym and doing what we typically do on those machines or with weights.  Most of the postural muscles are really deep in the body and have been inactive for a while due to compensations.  If you don’t re-activate those postural muscles but go to the gym to lift or whatever, they stay asleep and you strengthen the compensations until they start creating pain or injury. 

Many of our clients are fit active people who participate in strength training and classes but have had to stop because of pain.  Their biggest fear is that because they are not lifting weights or doing the cardio kickboxing class, their bodies will turn to mush and lose muscle tone.  RELAX, that Egoscue program is a strengthening program!  I can guarantee you won’t lose anything.  In most cases, you don’t have to stop doing anything but you’ll have to do your Egoscue program first and then do those lateral raises (or your exercise of choice) a little differently and a bit more consciously.

Then, it’s almost like magic….you’ll feel better, stand taller without effort and you’ll be stronger than ever!

HOW POSTURE THERAPY WORKS

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HOW POSTURE THERAPY WORKS

I had a client the other day that came in with major pain and I thought I would share his story with you because this visit clearly illustrates how posture therapy works.

“Tom” came to us with left knee pain.  He had tried all kinds of things to help it – yoga, massage, stretching, chiropractic, physical therapy, even medication.  Nothing seemed to help and often his knee hurt as much if not more after these activities.

The focus of our posture work is looking at the body as a unit, as a complete system.  Most people think the problem is where the pain is, but that is hardly ever the case.  Tom’s pain tells us there is an issue with his left knee, but the cause of that knee pain is most likely somewhere else.  How do we find out where the root of the pain is?  Let me take you through our thought process as Posture Alignment Specialists certified by Egoscue University.   

As I said before, we look at the body as a unit, without focusing on the symptom (Tom’s knee pain).   I look at him to see if his ankles, knees, hips and shoulders line up in straight lines and at ninety degree angles.  I’m not thinking about what I can give him to make his knee feel better but I ask myself how is his body working as a unit?

Looking at Tom, the first thing that jumped out at me was that his right hip was an inch higher than the left.  Viewing from the front or back, his right hip was definitely elevated.  Just standing there, I could see that he did not really put equal weight on his right side.  With a hip that is elevated, it is so out of position that it is unable to do its job taking equal weight.

As a little test, I asked him to stand on one leg at a time, bending the other and bringing it up waist high.  Standing on his left side, the painful one, he could balance easily, but he could not balance standing on his right side.  So, I’m thinking that hip elevation is probably the major cause of his left knee pain, but I want to watch him walk first.  When he walks across the room and back I can see that he definitely shifts more onto his left side.  When I ask him if he can feel that he lands harder on his left side, his answer was “yeah, sort of” but when I have him watch himself walk in the mirror, he sees it clearly.

It’s a little strange that he shifts onto his painful side.  Most people shift away from the painful side.  Tom agrees that it doesn’t make any sense to him and has no idea why he would do that.  I explain that with his right hip so out of position, he simply is unable to load his weight equally from left to right.

So, Tom’s thought was “If my left knee hurts because my right hip is elevated, I’ll do some hip exercises to even them out and we’re good, right?”  “Hang on” I explained, “Let’s figure out why that hip is elevated.  Maybe that hip is the problem, but there could be something else going on.”

Often what we see in the clinic is that the client’s upper body position has a huge effect on the ability of the lower body to work properly.  When I look at Tom from his side views, I see his head way forward,  his shoulders hinged forward and his upper body rounded over.  He looks like a big “C”.  Tom’s spine should have three little curves in a gradual “S” shape, not a big “C”.  I put my hands on the top of each side of his pelvis to confirm that his right hip is higher and leaving my hands there I have Tom interlace his fingers together and put his hands behind his head and pull his elbows back as hard as he can.  He grimaces as if this is a bit difficult, then jokes about the only other time he did this, he was talking to a police officer!  But, guess what, with his hands up like that his hips become even.  I have him walk across the room again keeping his hands behind his head and elbows back and as he does that his hips stay level and load equally from left to right.  The hip disparity is gone and he can see it for himself as he walks toward the mirror.  He is amazed.

He laughs, “so all I have to do is walk around like this the rest of my life?”  I said “yeah, and in your neighborhood, they’d think nothing of it!!”  In all seriousness though, we have to get Tom’s upper body in that position without him having to put his hands up to get there.  I could see that Tom got it.

Putting his hands behind his head took his upper back that was stuck in flexion and shoulders that rounded forward and got them into a more extended position, closer to where the body was designed to be.  In this position the rest of his body changed and we could see his hips were level and his walking become equal left to right.

Bottom line:  Tom’s left knee hurts because every step he takes, he makes it work harder than it’s supposed to by putting more weight on it than it should normally get.  Along with that, as he keeps loading that left hip more and more, it gets tighter and tighter and over time stops rotating the way it should, so then the knee has to take up that job.  The knee was never designed to rotate – it’s a hinge.  So he’s not only putting more weight on that side with every step, he’s asking his left knee to do something it was never designed to do — rotate!  That knee is working like crazy taking more weight and twisting with every step – one hard step off a curb and the ACL tears – ouch!!!

Because the right hip is out of position he cannot load evenly left to right.  The right hip is out of position because his upper body is pulling it there.  In order to resolve the knee pain we have to get his upper body and shoulders in a more extended upright position.

All the other people trying to help him were only seeing his knee as the problem and so focused on the knee.  But the cause of his knee pain symptom was not the knee but the position of his upper body.  He could have done and did all kinds of things for his knee (the symptom) nothing changed because the cause of that symptom was not addressed.  We gave him a sequence of exercises to get the upper body more extended and some others to help the hip change position and stabilize so by the end of our session he felt better and walked better than he had in years.

This is not the end of the story.  In fact, it’s just a beginning.  Tom has to do his exercises every day to retrain his body so it will live in the better position.  It’s not a quick fix, but if he does the work, he will begin to stay in that better position and he won’t have knee pain. 

Where you are having pain (symptom) is rarely the actual cause of the problem.  The body works as a unit.  When we observe and treat the whole body as a unit the results can be amazing; some people have said miraculous.  It’s not so much a miracle, it’s just returning to the body’s original design of straight lines and 90 degree angles.  If you would like some help getting your body back to this basic design, give us a call or check out our website.

If you can understand these simple concepts, you don’t have to live with or be afraid of pain.  Pain is just a message that something is wrong and your body is asking for help.  Instead of ignoring it, let’s listen and then respond to it with grace and intelligence.  Believe in your body and honor it by giving it the motion it needs and the results can be truly amazing.

 MACKIE BOBLETTE

HEALTH CARE CAN BE CONFUSING!

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I have spent the last eight years of my life devoted to postural alignment after a career in physical therapy and fitness.  I understand the body, injury, rehab and alignment.  As a Postural Alignment Specialist certified through Egoscue University, I know the amazing benefits of this work and the direct correlation to pain elimination, prevention and optimal health on every level.  I live it every day as a pain management clinic owner helping clients get out of pain.  I know with certainty that medical intervention, including medication and surgery can often be avoided or postponed.  However, this summer I am struggling with how to proceed with my own son’s shoulder injury and rehabilitation. 

My son is in high school.  Last fall while playing football, he was hit and his right shoulder dislocated.  For those of you who may never have witnessed this, it’s not pretty and the pain is excruciating until the shoulder is “popped” back in.  He went to the Emergency Room where they gave him pain medication and put the shoulder back in place then sent him back to school in a sling.  He worked with the Athletic Trainer at school and was back playing football.  Yay, right?  During the first week of summer vacation, he jumped in the pool and dislocated the same shoulder again.  We were back in the Emergency Room, same story.

I believe that the reason his shoulder is prone to dislocation is because of his poor posture.  He has a forward head, shoulders that are rounded forward, an upper back that is also rounded and the only curve in his spine is in his neck because of his forward head.  His pelvis tucks under, which flattens that needed lower back curve and also hinges his shoulders forward.  Any kind of stress on his arm or shoulder causes the shoulder to dislocate because it’s the only place it can go!

Ideally, postural alignment therapy is the answer to my son’s malady.  After his injury, I had him in to see my colleague Mackie.  Mackie, who is also Egoscue University certified and worked alongside Pete Egoscue for a number of years, gave him a sequence of exercises that repositioned his pelvis and changed his shoulder position to make sure that all of the muscles that interconnect the pelvis and shoulder are working.  My son felt much better and looked much better.  It’s not a quick fix because he’s been stooped over a computer doing homework and playing computer games for most of his life, which created the posture.  He needs to commit to the prescribed postural alignment program for the long term.  Sounds like a good plan?

The trick is, I’m dealing with a teenager!  He’s young, strong, he’s a great athlete, he’s busy and he’s not in pain.  He feels “fixed”.  Have you ever tried to get your teenager to stay consistent with a therapeutic exercise program when they have no pain?  It will take time to reposition his skeletal system…probably not enough time before football season begins again.

Research shows that some 85% of people who dislocate their shoulders playing sports at a young age will continue to dislocate them.  Usually the labrum (soft tissue) and the ligaments which keep the shoulder stable get torn or over-stretched causing an unstable shoulder.  All of my best shoulder resources are telling me that he needs to have surgery to avoid further dislocations.  Having the surgery, which will tighten the ligaments and hold the shoulder in place, will certainly fix the problem for now but it will not be without risks.  The surgery may leave him with a shoulder that is “frozen” in place without full range of motion, muscles could start compensating creating back issues and someday he may even need a shoulder replacement.  I have seen this in my practice and it is not something I want for my son.

We still have not decided exactly what course of action to take.  My son is a young athlete who wants desperately to finish his senior year playing with his high school football team.  We could schedule surgery and he might not be able to play at all, we can wait and see and risk another dislocation, we can encourage daily alignment exercises and also risk another dislocation if he is not compliant or does not respond in time.

Ultimately this is a group decision between my husband, my son and I.  No matter what we decide, eventually there may come a time where my son will understand how important it is to keep the body in alignment.  The human body functions as a unit and surgery will stabilize my son’s shoulder but it will not correct the disparity in his pelvis.  Untreated, that disparity will continue to affect every part of his body, even his shoulder.  Eventually, poor posture catches up with all of us.  I only wish I could get him to understand the implications now!

Cindy Meyers, PTA, PAS

 

ARTHRITIS

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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.

 

 

AWARENESS = HEALTH

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AWARENESS = HEALTH

The human body is a miraculous system.  It has an innate ability to heal itself if we just pay attention to the messages it sends us.  Some messages are easier than others …when we are hot, we sweat; when we are cold, we shiver but when we feel pain, it might be hard to figure out why.

What is the best way to pay attention to the messages that our body is sending us?  Be aware.  It may take a little practice because we are busy, we are overworked and overstressed, we are stoic and we brush aside feelings, experiences, pain, as well as the good stuff because we have things to do.  Well, until we can’t do them anymore.  Because we didn’t heed the signs of things to come, we didn’t experience the pleasures or the pain…we were unaware.   

Pay attention to your pain.  Is it sharp or dull? Is it constant or brought on by certain movements?  What time of day is it?  Be aware. At Pain Free we are posture people.  We understand that joint pain is the body’s message that muscles are out of balance and are pulling the skeletal system out of alignment.  When we are out of alignment, then some muscles get too tight and painful, some atrophy and joints no longer line up properly causing them to wear down compressing the nerves.  Ouch!

If we automatically take pain medication, then we lose important information that our body is sending us.  We are no longer aware of movements that change or decrease the pain which makes it impossible to correct the underlying cause. The Egoscue method provides awareness techniques that enable you determine what is going on in your body and help us create a program to get you back to optimal alignment and out of pain. These are techniques you will keep for the rest of your life!

Practice awareness in all aspects of your life.   Focus on some simple things – as you are walking outdoors, feel the wind in your face, feel your leg muscles tighten, feel the rhythm of your arms swinging; when you are getting ready for your day, really feel the hot shower water hit your body, take a deep breath and let your muscles relax in the steam;  at the end of your day relish each bite of food at dinner and if you are sharing dinner with someone, listen, engage in conversation, enjoy the company.

Instead of rushing through everything to get to the next thing, slow down and experience, enjoy, listen, and feel this amazing life – including the pain.  Awareness is the first step to becoming pain free, reclaiming health and living your life to the fullest.