What Frozen Shoulder?

"No one was able to help using any significant change to my frozen shoulder. Unexpectedly, one day, I received the "Pain Free" book in the mail from a friend. I read it in one sitting and immediately started the exercises for shoulder pain. Finally I had found something that made absolute sense." More...

For those who, like me are keen in some visible evidence that something works you might like this picture and testimonial from Kathy Morris who is a client in the Egoscue Clinic in Atlanta. I should congratulate Kathy M. and Sally for helping her get there.



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Does Posture Affect Running Performance?

Rather than me waxing lyrical about this and for the benefit of you visual learners, here is a very cool short video with simple visuals. I think it makes the point rather well, don't you?

Click on the video screen TWICE to view it on youtube.com



BTW - this relates to an article in Peak Running, by Brian Bradley (the guy talking in the video) VP of Egoscue.


Technorati Tags: Egoscue, Peak, Running, Posture, Performance

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TREVOR HOFFMAN EGOSCUE PATCH VIDEO

Where has the past 3 weeks gone?!

This year is going so fast I get motion sickness
when I close my eyes!!

Now, as many of you know, Egoscue work with some
of the greats of American sport and these guys
LOVE the Patch! Even though it kicks their
'butts', big time!!

Trevor Hoffman, is a baseball pitcher for the San
Diego Padres and the all time leader in 'Saves'
(I don't know what they are either!?), which is a
big deal. It's a big deal because it means he's
the best EVER in what he does. E-V-E-R!!!

When I was in San Diego in October, I met Trevor
when he was in the clinic getting his mother-in-law
some help for her hip and back pain. He's a really
nice guy!

Anyway, if you liked the previous Patch videos, you
might like to get a glimpse of Liba Placek (Egoscue
Athletics Director) putting Trevor through his
paces as part of his pre-season training.

Click the link below and scroll down to
'April 07, 2007'. Click on the second option -
'Top 5 The Natural'


Click here for the video link

IF IT'S BROKEN, PATCH IT!

Ok, so they're still from back in the day and it looks like someone shot these on their Nokia after rubbing their greasy fingers all over the lens, BUT that's missing the point!

Movement and exercise need not require fancy pants equipment and it should always be, at least just a little fun...





If there are anymore questions on any of these workouts or ecises drop us a line or post a comment here.

Egoscue Patch Videos in The Open!

Here are a couple of Egoscue Patch workout videos from the 'archive'. Lets be honest they're not pretty...but I think you guys will enjoy having a look all the same.





I'm not too sure how long they'll be up, so if you have friends you'd like to see them too, pass the link on now...

IS YOUR BACK PAIN CHANGING YOUR BRAIN???

BBC NEWS | Health | Back pain linked to brain changes

"Chronic back pain is linked to physical changes in the brain, according to researchers in Germany.

A team found patients with the condition also had microstructural changes in the pain-processing areas of their brains."

Unfortunately, the quote from Dr Jurgen Lutz is very much the reality for a signifigant number of 'chronic pain sufferers',

"A major problem for patients with chronic pain is making their condition believable to doctors, relatives and insurance carriers"

...which poses the question 'why'? Why is it that so many people have difficulty in believing the extent of anothers suffering?

Could it be a lack of understanding of the actual cause? After all, time and time again we hear of cases where the medical community have been stumped as to the causes of pain. In some cases the suggestion is made that it is psychosomatic.

And while I'm in danger of banging on about posure again, just think for a moment, what if it really is that simple? What if our societal obsession with technology and fine detail has meant that we (and the medics) can't see the provebial wood from the trees? (More about this later...)

What is very cool about a study like this is, while it does nothing to tell us how to eliminate the cause of the pain, it very much indicates that the body does indeed work as a unit (thank you Mr Egoscue!).

I for one eagerly await further studies to confirm what Pete Egoscue has been saying for 30 years or so...

Thanks for Graham Wilson for sending me the link for this article. Graham was a student on the recent Egoscue PAS Level I Seminar in London last week (taught by Matt and I). I'm looking forward to hearing about great success from him in the near future.

Talk soon,

Donal

Remember To Have Fun!

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life - Baby Step #9

So here we are on the last of our “Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life”.

If after reading the previous posts you are somewhat concerned because you used a walker or a playpen or any of the other things we’ve talked about… Don’t be!

You can only work with the information you have at the time and you were undoubtedly doing the best you could with the tools you had. Life is constantly changing and with it, our knowledge of what’s best and what’s not.

If your kids are still young enough, get them out playing as much as you can and make the play as unrestricted as possible… Jumping over and crawling under objects, twisting and turning, jumping up and bending down, hopping, skipping, jumping…

You get the general idea!

Football and other sports are certainly great, though they don’t offer completely unrestricted motion that takes their bodies through a full range. The more unrestricted and free play it is, the better.

And make sure you get out there and join in too! You don’t need us to tell you about the joys of having kids… So relive a little of your youth and get down on the floor or the lawn or anywhere else and join in!

Kids are fun and so is rediscovering your inner child!

The most important aspect in all of this is that you have fun with your little people.

If you would like to get a deeper understanding of the points covered in this series of posts, we can’t recommend enough the reading of Pete Egoscue’s fourth book, Pain Free For Women.

The title can easily give the impression that it’s for women only… Don’t be fooled! It’s a great book that everyone should read.

Chapter 5 is the most pertinent to the points that we’ve been covering in this series of posts.

Talk to you soon!

**

Meet Them On Their Level

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life - Baby Step #8

One of the reasons we often see little people trying to stand before they’re ready (in addition to the sheer boredom of being cooped up in a playpen) is because they’re down low and all the activity is up high.

If you’re not getting down on the floor or the garden lawn very much to play with your kids, you might want to have a look at your own musculoskeletal system to see how functional you are.

You can follow this simple test to see how you get on. And remember to check out Pete Egoscue’s books for a real in depth look at what is going on in your own body. In addition to the link, there’s also a recommended reading list on the right hand side of this page.

So, if you’re not getting down on the floor, why not? When you get down and spend time with the little one, she’ll get the message that it’s OK to be down there and that she’ll join the adult world of standing when she’s built the functions and is ready.

Once again, contraptions like high chairs are great for making sure she is safe while you turn your back, but they are restrictive in movement terms and they also give the message that up high is where all the action is, “So hurry up and join us”.

Now we know that that isn’t really the case, but in a child’s simplistic view of the world, it’s a pretty logical conclusion to come to.

Next time she’s in her playpen, she’ll try grabbing the side rail and pull herself up into a standing position.

Looks great… Until she realises that she doesn’t yet have the function in her hips and pelvis to hold her there. So how to get back down? “Let go and fall seems the best way.”

Sixty years later, as she lowers herself into her favourite armchair, she’ll still be using the, “aim bum over seat and drop into position” tactic. That will simply be blamed on getting old.

So, to encourage your little one to stand when she is ready and not before, get down on the floor with her as much as possible and show her that her world on all fours is very much OK.

And if getting down on the floor is a struggle for you, take a look at your own posture and get started on restoring those lost – but not forgotten – functions.

It’s the last in our series of “Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life” tomorrow. We’ll be summing it up, reminding you of one last important step to giving your little person The Absolute Best Start In Life and letting you know where you can get more information on the same topic!

Until then…

*

Confinement Is Detrimental To Good Health

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life - Baby Step #7

So we’ve had a look at Baby Walkers and why they’re not so good for the development of your child… And we’ve had a look at hard soles shoes and how they play their part in sabotaging strong, functional muscles.

Today we’re going to look at a device that is great for keeping the little ones safe while Mum and Dad tend to other matters, but aren’t so good for their healthy development…

Today, it’s the playpen! (And unrestricted motion in general).

You’ve probably seen a wee child in a playpen that is screaming at the top of her lungs. Is she throwing a tantrum? Is she being a little brat? Or is she saying, “Hey, get me out of this prison! Don’t you know I’m designed to move and to get out and explore this new world?!”

Now, we realise that life moves at a hundred miles an hour nowadays. Mums go out to work and there are numerous other things that need to be done all the time.

In addition to all of that, when you’ve got a little person to look after, you want to make sure she’s safe while you turn your back to drain the spuds and turn the oven down to gas mark 3…

It’s tough to balance everything.

And we also know that your little person is the most important thing in the world for you. You’ll do whatever it takes to protect her and to ensure that she is fit, strong and healthy.

Which is why she needs to be out of the playpen and given free range to explore wherever she wants as much as is humanly possible.

Crawling and exploring builds strong and healthy muscles… And more than that, "the baby's movement is strength­ening not only musculoskeletal system functions but brain functions as well."

That’s quite a realisation for many folks and it’s worth repeating…

"The baby's movement is strength­ening not only musculoskeletal system functions but brain functions as well!" *

So keeping your child out of the playpen, out of hard soled shoes and out of baby walkers is not only working towards building strong and healthy muscles (which lead to great posture later), it’s also working to develop brain function too.

Remember, we humans are designed to run, hop, skip, jump… To roll, tumble, reach, bounce and pounce. We are designed to move.

Movement is not only necessary for building strong functions from birth, it is necessary throughout our lives as we continue to repair and regenerate worn parts.

We’ll talk to you again tomorrow when we’ll be looking at the joys of entering their world, as opposed to bringing them into ours!

Talk to you then.

* Reference: Pain Free for Women – Pete Egoscue



*

Give Baby Shoes The Boot

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life - Baby Step #6

Aaah, shoes on little feet… We love them almost as much as we love baby walkers!

Get ‘em off!!

While the latest fashion label might look very cute on your little one, guess what? It’s going to do absolutely nothing for helping to build strong functions.

Why not?

Well, for a start, there are more than 100 muscles, ligaments and tendons in the foot. With a hard soled shoe covering them, they’re not getting a workout and building strength and flexibility. (Incidentally, tendons attach muscles to bones while ligaments attach bones to bones).

And if that’s not a good enough reason to keep your little people out of shoes as much as possible, you might want to consider the lever-ability that shoes give. Remember that your child is designed to walk when she’s ready, and not before.

“A hard soled shoe turns a child’s foot into a platform that will encourage her to push herself up into a standing position before she is ready”. *

As we’ve already talked about, standing before she is ready to is going to place a large amount of stress primarily on the hips and pelvis that they aren’t yet ready to handle, not to mention the spine.

If done properly (i.e. all the stages of development have been properly passed through), “it usually takes between seven and twelve months before your child is standing… but you should forget that. If your child is still crawling at thirteen months – it’s no big deal!”

As we’ve said several times now, she will stand when she is ready.

We’ll be talking about the vast benefits or unrestricted motion very soon…

We look forward to catching up with you again tomorrow!

* Reference: Pain Free for Women – Pete Egoscue

*

Walk On… Bye

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life – Baby Step #5

Of all the contraptions that are built to “aid child development”, the Baby walker has to be our most disliked.

Just as we’ve talked about previously, if your baby cannot walk unaided, she isn’t ready to walk yet! And the same is true for sitting up or anything else… If she needs help to do it, she hasn’t developed the functions yet and isn’t ready to do it.

Many well-meaning parents put their little ones in walkers to ‘help them along’ or to ‘get them ready for walking’.

Unfortunately, walkers do nothing to help or get them ready for the process.

Going through the stages of development such as creeping on her tummy and crawling are what will prepare your child for walking.

If you’ve ever seen a child in a baby walker, you may have noticed that quite often, their feet don’t quite reach the floor to begin with… So, frustrated at not being able to move, she will reach down with one leg to enable her to ‘push off’.

What happens over the weeks and months is that she will continue to use that same leg, which is going to build the hip and pelvic muscles up on that one side. It doesn’t take a trained expert to see that an imbalance from left to right can and will lead to a compromised posture and problems later in life.

By the time she gets to sixty and is in need of a hip or knee replacement, friends, family and doctors will say, “Well it’s inevitable, isn’t it? What can you expect at your age?”

If the functions are built properly from the start, you can expect to live a pain-free, active life… for the whole of your life. And so can your children!

So if you have your child in a baby walker, let’s get her out and on the floor crawling… Where she’s designed to be!

If, on the other hand, it’s too late and the walker has already been and gone, don’t fret! You can’t turn back the clock and you were simply doing what you thought was best. The thing to do now is to ensure that your child gets lots of unrestricted, free play.

Play that requires them to run, hop, skip, jump, crawl, roll, tumble and all other fun things that they are designed to do.

We’ll be talking more about unrestricted play in a later post, so watch out for that and check back tomorrow for our post on shoes!

Until then…

This Way Up!

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life - Baby Step #4

They may look cute, cool and groovy, but are devices like the Backpack Baby Carrier, that keep your little one vertical, so good for their health?

Well, the short answer is no, not really.

As we’ve been talking about the past couple of days, horizontal is where good health is at. Nature has made our design perfect… And that’s not just the functions that She has given us, but also the manner in which those functions are built.

You see, if babies were designed to be in an upright, vertical position, they would be! But they weren’t designed that way. If your child is unable to be upright without a helping hand and by being propped, she isn’t ready to be there yet! (And as we know, she will be ready in her own individual time).

So if backpack carriers aren’t so good, what is the best way to carry a child around?

Well, women from other cultures use a sarong or other such piece of cloth that allows their baby to lie horizontal. In addition to the child being kept in the most beneficial position, it also has the added benefit of being able “to not only hear, but feel the vibrations of their mothers’ words and songs”. *

The mother-child bond that has been built from the moment of conception continues to be built outside in the big wide world… This bond building between mother and child is priceless.

Modern day sarong-type carriers are now on the market and are becoming increasingly popular. As well as keeping your child in a horizontal position and close enough to feel your heartbeat and vibrations, they are also extremely convenient for breast-feeding.

Tomorrow’s baby step #5 will be talking about the thing we love to hate the most… Baby Walkers!

It’s gonna be a good one!

* Reference: Pain Free for Women – Pete Egoscue

*

Four Pillars of Support

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life -Baby Step #3

In the previous two posts on “Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life”, we talked about building functions by keeping her horizontal until she’s ready to go vertical and the importance of tummy time.

After she’s spent time on her tummy, she’ll be up on all fours crawling before you know it! This is yet another really important aspect to building those functions that we’ve touched on already.

Crawling is one of the first stages of development and it continues the process of building strong muscles around the hips and pelvis – not to mention the shoulders and spine – that will be able to support her properly when she comes to stand.

Skip this important stage and the foundations to the rest of her life will be shaky to say the least.

Think of it this way, depending on how active she turns out to be, she can expect to be taking in the region of between 5,000 and 10,000 steps every day… If she lives to the UK life expectancy of 78, she will have taken between 142,350,000 and 284,700,000 in her lifetime…

Put into easier to read words, that’s somewhere between ‘one hundred and forty-two million, three hundred and fifty thousand’ and ‘two hundred and eighty-four million, seven hundred thousand’ steps in an average lifetime!!

It kind of illustrates the importance of properly functioning muscles around the hips, does it not?!

And proper functioning hip musculature all starts with the importance of crawling… And wiggling, shimmying, shaking, reaching up, reaching out, rolling, pouncing, bouncing and any other type of movement you can think of!

As we talked about yesterday, creeping, or dragging along on the belly, usually starts first and can start anytime after about the age of six months. This is a great way to activate musculoskeletal system functions.

To give a helping hand to those functions developing, try scattering her favourite toys around the room, so that they are just beyond her reach. This will encourage creeping, which in turn will build those strong and healthy functions.

And we know that strong and healthy functions mean a far greater chance of living life without chronic back, hip, shoulder or any other type of joint, pain.

Remember, keep those toys just out of reach; toys that are too close wipe out the need to explore and will leave her rooted firmly to the spot.

In tomorrow’s tip, we’ll look at some of the dangers of going vertical before time with devices such as the backpack baby carrier.

Talk to you then.

*

Tummy Time!

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life - Baby Step #2

In the first of the “Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life”, we talked about building functions by keeping her horizontal until she’s ready to go vertical.

A really important aspect to building those functions is by allowing your child time on her tummy as much as possible.

From about the age of two months is when a baby is usually ready to roll over on her own. If it hasn’t happened by then, don’t force it… She’ll do it when she’s ready – the important thing to remember here is that a child’s rate of development is as individual as the child itself.

There is no ‘right’ time to be crawling, or ‘right’ time to start walking or any other ‘right’ time… Everything will happen in the child’s own good time.

When your child does initially go on to her tummy, as she tries to pull herself forward, she’s unlikely to get very far and will probably become a little frustrated. It’s at this point that well-meaning parents often feel sorry for their little one and turn her onto her back again…

That frustration is very good for her and will cause her to ‘dig her heels in’, which is going to build strong and healthy muscles. We’ll talk more about the importance of this in tomorrow’s post.

Play gyms and other such devices, while great for keeping the little one occupied while Mum and Dad tend to other necessities, aren’t very conducive to ‘Tummy Time’. By their very nature, they tend to require babies to be on their back, which is great some of the time… Just so long as there’s enough tummy time to balance things out.

One important aspect of tummy time is that it helps to create a healthy spine with curves in all the right places. Given what many people’s spines look like nowadays, you could be forgiven for thinking that they are designed to be shaped like a ‘C’ or an inverted ‘J’…

However, your spine, my spine and everybody’s spines are designed to be a beautiful elongated ‘S’. They are designed so that there is an arch in the lower back, an outward curve for the upper back and a sweeping curve in for the neck.

Remember, strong and healthy muscles built today mean a far greater chance of a life without back, hip and other joint pain tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, that’s when we’ll be back with the next instalment. We’ll be talking about the importance of building strong and healthy muscles.

Talk to you then.

*

A Horizontal Baby Is A Healthy Adult

Nine (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life - Baby Step #1

Life can be manic, can’t it?

Rushing around from here to there… There’s always something that needs to be done.

There are some things, however, that simply can’t be rushed, one of which is nature.

You see, nature has got it perfect – the way that we as humans have been designed, the way that the seasons roll into and out of each other, and the way a baby goes through its stages of development, for example.

One of those stages of development for a baby is to be horizontal until she is ready, in her own time, to be vertical.

Notice I said “in her own time”?

That’s because many well-meaning parents want to get their little one up and running before a lot of essential development has taken place.

So what’s the “essential development” that your baby needs then?

Quite simply, she needs to develop functions that will support her when she finally gets to that stage of standing unaided. Not only will these functions support her, they will also give her an infinitely better chance of a life free from pain… Well into old age!

We’ll talk more about developing functions in your child in the remaining “Eight (Baby) Steps On How To Give Your Child The Absolute Best Start In Life”.

Until then…

*