Pain Free Performance — Posture Alignment Therapy

Posture Alignment Therapists, Graduates of Egoscue University

alignment

New Years Resolution

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So….. it’s almost February and most of us have decided we should eat right and exercise more now that the holiday binge season is over!  That is all well and good – but be cautious.

If you go to the gym and are weight training a body that is out of alignment then you are setting yourself up for an injury.  How, you ask?  Well … if a body has muscle imbalances then some muscles are working harder than they were designed to and other muscles are not working hard enough.  When you go to use the weights, the stronger muscles will do more work than the weaker ones and in the long run you end up strengthening the dysfunction.   The result will be back pain, neck and shoulder pain or a million other pains that you were really working to avoid! While weight training has many benefits…you need to GET STRAIGHT … THEN STRENGTHEN. 

The best way to do this is to have an evaluation by one of our Egoscue therapists.  Let us determine where and why the imbalances are in your body,  correct them so that you can go to the gym and exercise a functional body – pain free!  The Egoscue Method works….. we are offering free screens this month.  Call us to get scheduled.  434-296-0600

NECK AND SHOULDER PAIN RELIEF!!!

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Is your neck and shoulder pain becoming debilitating?  Perhaps you are constantly twisting your your head side to side, shrugging your shoulders, trying to find a neutral position to take you out of pain.  Maybe you try to stand up straighter, you get your spouse to rub your shoulders at the end of a long day, you take an Advil (or three), and it all helps – for a little while.  The next morning you have the same pain and you start all over again.  You wonder what you “did” that made you hurt.  Did you lift something too heavy, twist a funny way, reach for something, or was it sitting hunched over at your desk all day?  Most likely, even if one of these scenarios brought on your current discomfort, the real answer is found in one word:  balance, or in this case, imbalance!  Not the kind that the gymnast shows while traversing a balance beam, but the balance in your musculo-skeletal system, the alignment of your body.
How do you restore balance to your body and relieve your pain?  The Egoscue Method.  Pete Egoscue developed this method as a result of pain he suffered with after serving our country in Vietnam.  He was unable to find anything but temporary relief through typical channels; doctor visits, medication, traditional hands-on symptom based treatments.  Sound familiar?
Egoscue began thinking about the actual cause of his pain and determined that if the body is  aligned properly, it becomes pain free.  He also created this method to be a self-treatment approach — empowering all of us to keep our bodies in optimal alignment and function!
So, what is the Egoscue Method?  It is a series of positions, stretches and strengthening exercises that help reposition and realign your musculo-skeletal system.  This allows the load-bearing joints to line up along the line of gravity.  After a thorough evaluation by a trained Egoscue Certified therapist you are prescribed personalized programs for your body issues.   You actually train your body to rest in vertical alignment.  So, like breathing, you don’t have to think about standing up straight or moving a certain way — you just do!   As your body becomes aligned,  your pain subsides.
If you’d like to learn more, give us a call at 434-296-0600!  We even have  free screening appointments available if you’d like to see our studio space, meet us and learn more about Egoscue!
In Good Health,
Cindy Meyers

TREATMENT FOR BACK PAIN

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If you have suffered through a severe back spasm you know just how excruciating back pain can be! Treatment for back pain usually takes you to the doctor to get muscle relaxers, anti-inflammatory medications and perhaps a referral for physical therapy, massage or chiropractic.  I know….. I spent years in physical therapy treating patients with back pain using hands-on techniques, exercises and other treatments.  Don’t get me wrong… I am not against taking appropriate medication or having hands-on work directly on your symptom.  The problem with that approach is that you never correct the actual underlying cause of the back pain. The real cause of back pain; neck and shoulder pain; hip pain or most muscle pain is musculoskeletal imbalance in the body.

Our muscles are designed to do a certain job.  When muscles are out of balance,  some muscles are working too hard (causing them to get over-developed, tight and painful) and other muscles get weak.  These imbalances can pull our bones out of alignment and cause wear and tear on our joints. So what is the best treatment for back pain, neck and shoulder pain; hip pain or any muscle pain?  The Egoscue Method!
The Egoscue Method focuses on muscle imbalance. Sometimes where you hurt isn’t why you hurt.  Let me give you one example (out of 100’s of possibilities) of how misaligned hips can cause back pain!  Let’s say you sit all day at the computer. This causes the hip muscles to shorten and get tight.  These hip flexor muscles are now pulling the pelvis  into a tipped forward position.  Now, every time you get up and walk, the changed pelvic position causes the muscles of the buttocks and the back of the thighs to become weaker, creating imbalance. This imbalance pulls the low back  into a swayed position, the leg bones and feet are pulled outward  and the upper back will eventually round forward pulling  the head and shoulders along with it. The result?  Back pain!
The good news is you can bring your body back into balance by doing corrective exercises that will allow your injuries to heal.  The key to the Egoscue Method begins with a thorough evaluation of your body.  By examining photos, looking at the way you move and function,  we can determine which muscles are too tight and which ones are too weak.  This gives us the information about your body to design corrective exercises to restore your body to proper alignment.  The result?  Improved function, and NO PAIN!
What a better way to start your New Year than being Pain Free!
In Good Health,
Cindy Meyers
P.S.  –Give me a call @ 434-296-0600 and learn more about how we can help you

WELLNESS RETREAT …A GREAT SUCCESS !

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A huge THANK YOU to all of the participants and practitioners that joined us at Montfair Resort Farm for a day of WELLNESS!

It never ceases to amaze us  how many gifted practitioners we have working in Charlottesville and the surrounding areas.

Our day started with an Egoscue class to bring our bodies into proper alignment.  This was followed by a Restorative Yoga session.   After we were aligned and stretched,  various gifted practitioners shared information about their specific treatment techniques.  These  included Acupuncture, Chiropractic Care, Craniosacral Therapy,  Tai Massage,  Structural Integration, Acupressure and  MELT (myofascial elongation).

We enjoyed a healthy lunch followed by some time to visit and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings.
The picture above is from our  experience  of Tai Chi in the great outdoors.  We followed this with a session on self hypnosis.  After everyone was aligned, stretched, fed and filled  with the peace of meditation,  we had the opportunity to experience a variety of hands on work.

An incredible day!

CINDY GETS MELT CERTIFIED

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What is M.E.L.T ??
Six years ago everyone was asking……

“What is Egoscue”??   Well…. Here I go again….

In my quest for understanding all that I can to empower my clients with tools that will offer them the best care possible, I discovered a method called MELT. This stands for Myofascial Energetic Length Technique. This technique involves the connective tissue in our body.

What exactly is connective tissue?

If you ever pulled the skin off of a piece of chicken before you cooked it, you will see a thin, white sheath…that is connective tissue. And as our manager so kindly pointed out… vegetarians can think of peeling an orange and seeing the protective coating over the fruit as the connective tissue. Connective tissue covers every cell, nerve, muscle, bone and organ in our bodies.

When the connective tissue becomes dehydrated, it loses its buoyancy and can no longer do its job to support and protect our muscles and joints. In addition, the nervous system becomes over-stressed and the tissues cannot act as a communication network. That leaves you with tissue that is now bound down to the muscles and a nervous system that stays in a state of “dis-ease” (meaning the body can’t rest). When you go to move, the muscles still move but the connective tissue is pulled causing that stiff/painful feeling.

When you MELT you push fluid back into the tissue and your proprioception (how your body senses its enviornment) improves. At PAIN FREE PEFORMANCE, we are combining MELT with Egoscue to enhance the body’s ability to RESTORE POSTURE…. CREATE BALANCE….LIVE PAIN FREE!

We are offering a MELT class on Wednesdays at noon… come try it out. If you want to learn more feel free to call me at 434-296-0600

“the tower”

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The Supine Groin Exercise often uses a piece of equipment called “the tower”.  This particular exercise creates powerful changes throughout the body.  It will help restore your alignment and help to retrain your gait pattern.

Here’s a helpful video that further explains what the tower is and how it works!

http://www.youtube.com/egoscuesd#p/a/u/2/zBSeycBZ9V8

exercise of the day!

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This e-cise is almost everyone’s favorite. it’s simple and is called Static Back:

Find your favorite couch or ottoman, and put your legs up so that the hips and knees are at 90 degrees.
Notice where the back of your head contacts the floor, take note if your shoulders are resting comfortably on the floor or are they rounded forward.  Is your low back touching the floor?   After about 5 min., notice if anything feels different……..  This exercise begins the realignment of the shoulder girdle with the pelvis.