Pain Free Performance — Posture Alignment Therapy

Posture Alignment Therapists, Graduates of Egoscue University

Posture Alignment Therapist

Cart before the Horse

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The Cart before the Horse….

The other day I got a call from a client who was in such excruciating back pain that she couldn’t make her appointment. She travels from quite a distance and she said she could not get comfortable enough to sit in the car that long. I spoke with her on the phone and gave her some e-cises to do. She called back about an hour later and her pain was significantly better.

When I asked her what she’d been doing before her pain began, I got an earful! She had been shaking out rugs, digging in the garden, mowing, cleaning her house for an upcoming event including a lot of up and down the stairs. When we talked about her Egoscue menu, she said she’d been doing well with it. I learned later that she had not done her Eogscue program before she started her busy and very physical day. Aha, therein lies the problem.

She should have done her Egoscue program BEFORE beginning her activities. Let me tell you why….

The sole purpose of performing an Egoscue program is to change the alignment of the body, creating a pain free body. When muscles aren’t working properly, after an injury or surgery for example, they become imbalanced. They either work too hard and become overly tight or don’t work at all and become loose. Muscles are responsible for keeping our bones in place so both scenarios cause the muscles to pull the bones out of alignment. This creates wear and tear on the joints and pain. Doing the individualized Egoscue program you are prescribed gets those muscles back to doing what they’re supposed to do, which puts the bones back where they belong. If my client had done her Egoscue prior to working so hard, her body would have been prepared – less wear and tear on the joints, less pain.

So, the very best way to enjoy your Egoscue and your new found alignment is to DO YOUR EGOSCUE MENU BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR ACTIVITIES! It is our goal to get you back to doing what you love and what you need to do! The body needs to be aligned before you start pushing it. It is the best way to avoid pain, avoid injury and begin to strengthen your alignment –not strengthen your dysfunction. Does that make sense?

So, put the horse (Egoscue) before the cart (your life’s activities) and make your Egoscue menu part of your early morning routine! Your body will thank you.  

Egoscue should be your first stop….

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I was working with a client who happens to be a physician and at the end of his session he said something very powerful about his patients – “This should be their first stop, not their last!”.   So often, people come to us in incredible pain after months or years of trying everything else under the sun, finally experiencing relief with Egoscue.  Why?  Instead of focusing on the symptom, we get to the root of the pain.  We diagnose the underlying cause and provide the specific tools to gently move the body back into the intended alignment, alleviating the pain.  This is not a temporary fix, it’s for life.

It’s what we do.  So, don’t make us the last stop in your search for a pain free life, make Pain Free Performance your first stop.

 

Golf Exercises

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Spring is finally here!  Really!  I see more and more people out at the driving range and on the golf course, and that is great!  What I also see though, is a little alarming…the golfers bodies, especially shoulders, upper back, neck and hips are still frozen and stuck from winter.  Getting that golf ball off the tee and into the air is not a pretty sight and often results in some fairly substantial pain from the musculo-skeletal compensation used to get the job done.  That’s a mouthful, but it means there is a lot of pain in the low back, knees, elbows and shoulders for these golfers because of this. 

Here is a quick sequence of e-cises you can do both before and after golf that will unlock the upper back, hips and shoulders so the body can work as a inter-connected unit rather than disparate parts.  Our Egoscue enthusiasts will recognize these e-cises.  If you are not yet familiar with Egoscue e-cises, and would like to know more about these, give us a call and we’ll give you some pointers.

ARM CIRCLES to strengthen the upper back muscles involved in the ball and socket work while reconnecting the back and pelvis.

ELBOW CURLS to remind the shoulders that they have a hinge function while getting the upper back out of its rounded stooped place.

STANDING OVERHEAD EXTENSION getting all the load-bearing joints to line up in the vertical line and extending the upper back through the neck.

UPPER SPINAL FLOOR TWIST uses rotation of the spine to continue opening and lengthening the mid and upper back while strengthening the hips in the same plane, twists the upper body against the lower body (important for that swing!).

CATS AND DOGS work hips, spine, shoulders and neck in coordinated flexion-extension and asks all the muscles of hips, back shoulders to work bilaterally – both right and left shoulders together at the same time.  This is so important as more and more we use just one side of our bodies predominantly.

Try these both before and after you have played your round of golf.  I can guarantee you’ll feel the difference.  Contact us at Pain Free Performance with any questions.  Enjoy the course!

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.

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

BELIEVE IN YOUR BODY!

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In case you think that we posture people never injure ourselves or have pain, I have a story for you…

I was cutting firewood last week-end, moving logs so I could cut them with my trusty hand saw.  Some of you might even be happy to know that while moving a particularly large log, I felt my low back strain, and being a guy, I had to finish my task so I just kept going the rest of the afternoon.  By the end of the day my left low back was screaming at me and I could hardly straighten up!

Now, here is where doing what I do gives me an advantage.  Unlike most people, I did not reach for the Advil or think that I had herniated a disk nor think I should just take it easy and go to bed.  I got down on the floor and did my menu – 10 Egoscue e-cises and my back felt 75% better!  I did supine groin stretch, had dinner and then went to bed.

Next morning, I was still stiff and it was difficult to bend over.  I poured my coffee, had some breakfast and did my menu again.  Again, I felt much better and went on to work.  Throughout the day I felt some twinges in that same spot and when I could, I did a few simple e-cises.  When I got home, I did a couple of e-cises, did the tower and then off to bed. 

Upon waking on day two, my back was stiff again but less than before.  I did my menu and the pain was gone!  Throughout the next day, I moved around as usual, bending, twisting – no pain.  One and a half days after straining my back and its back to normal!

That’s how resilient the body is when you give it half a chance!  We all like to do different things and in doing those things, stuff may happen.  If you are doing your menu fairly regularly, you have the tools to handle most any kind of problem that can occur. 

Believe in your body!  It has an amazing inherent strength and ability to heal.  Trust your intuition about what you can do to help yourself – as you listen to your body, you will begin to know.  If something like this happens to you and you’re not quite sure what to do, give us a call and we’ll direct you. This is where we can help.  That’s what we do – give you the tools to re-connect with your physical self, get yourself out of pain and believe in your body.

 

 

Dr. Greg Gelburd Discovers Egoscue at Pain Free Performance!

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DR. GELBURD DISCOVERS PAIN FREE PERFORMANCE!

It’s an early morning in Haiti and I’m doing an airbench before clinic. My eyes are closed and I’m concentrating on Cindy Meyers’ words: “push down on your heels and push your lower back into the wall and hold for two minutes”.  I look like a man sitting in a chair without the chair under me. This is a small pause before my very busy medical clinic begins.

How did I come to airbenches in Haiti, doing these and other  postures described in “Pain Free” by Pete Egoscue to help resolve issues in my foot, my lower back and my shoulder? I’ve written this little story to describe to you how postural therapy has rescued me and why I believe many others in Charlottesville would benefit from some time spent with the people at Pain Free Performance where they treat pain with postural alignment.

Seven months ago, I was faced with several muscular skeletal problems that were not going away, the result of one bike collision with a car, 45 years of running with the wrong stride and a slowly aging 60 year old body. My pain was so severe a year ago I hiked down a Glacier National Park mountain backwards for two miles because I couldn’t come down on my right heel, it felt like a knife jabbing my foot! The bears thought I was just wacky but at least they stayed away.  I sought out help from Cindy Meyers, Mackie Boblette, and Kat Draego at Pain Free Performance. In February I saw Cindy for an evaluation and she photographed my body from several angles against a grid background. She showed me where my shoulders and hip bones were off balance, and then how my head was too far forward on my neck and how my gut was not so much full of extra hamburgers as I thought, but it protruded a little because of the lack of curvature in my middle back. She watched me walk and perform some stretches and positions so she could evaluate the way my body moves and from that she gave me a specific regimen to begin to re-balance my body.

Cindy, Mackie and Kat are Postural Alignment Specialists certified by Egoscue University.  Developed over forty years ago by anatomical functionalist Pete Egoscue,  this postural alignment therapy focuses on realigning the entire body. So even though my heels were giving me fits, the fact that my head, shoulders and hips were off kilter is what was causing the overall dysfunction and pain in my feet.

Every two weeks I have spent an hour with Cindy and Mackie for re-evaluation and a new program prescription as my body changes. I spend about 15-20 minutes each day performing these simple but deeply effective isometric postures, strengthening and balancing my skeleton and muscles. The results are amazing! Who knew? Even a vegan diet couldn’t get rid of my gut, but not only is that disappearing but my heel pain is pretty much gone! I’m back to running after a two year hiatus and my foot strike is now mid foot not heel. I’ve even gained an extra half inch back in my height with my spine better supported!

Now my family, office staff and Haitian friends are accustomed to my  airbenches, cat-dog postures and standing shoulder shrugs. I am continuing to make these postures a part of my routine before my work day, before running and other workouts. This is an incredible team of caring and gifted health workers. Their skills and their motivation will keep you going in the right direction until you are as healed as you want to be.

Dr. Greg Gelburd