Friday, 29 August 2008

Day 26: 29th August 2008

Sorry haven't posted for about a week, had a lot going on personally, have only missed one day, side tracked a bit, let things get to me, but good friend of mine woke me up and reminded me that you can't lose focus when on the road to recovery, no matter what is going on in your life, you need to keep focus on your health and ensure the pain doesn't creep back in, as this would make the situation worse with pain.

Anyway, have noticed I am getting longer, and longer periods without pain, sometimes I can go nearly all day at work 9am-5pm, without any pain, maybe a slight twinge here and there, but nothing major at all, or even that minor...It feels weird to not have my best friend around as much these days, his name is "Pain" he used to be with me all the time, wherever I went he was there, whatever I did he was there.......I don't see him so much these days....He is still there if I try to do too much too soon, but on a daily basis I don't see much of him....lol

Pain levels about a 2-3 daily now, as long as I don't walk too much, or over exert I'm great, at this moment now while at work...(shhhh don't tell the boss!!!) I have no pain whatsoever, no tension, nothing....It's great :)

Friday, 22 August 2008

Day 19: 22nd August 2008

Is it really only day 19??? It feels like I have been doing my Egoscue therapy for much longer...

I did my e-cises as soon as I got in from work, as I said yesterday it has become like clockwork now, I get in and I don't have to force myself to do them anymore, it's like I get home and it's the equivalent of watching my favourite TV show I never miss it, and it's just not effort to watch it....lol

Pain is the same, the e-cises are getting better, and I feel I am getting stronger as well, particularly the hooklying abductor presses, I feel my outer hips feel alot more stronger, when I first started out, I could not feel my outer hips doing the work, but now I can, and it feels much stronger, and a more solid contraction, only 40% effort is used, but it feels much better.

Once again I woke this morning, with no pain, and when I got out of bed, no pain or twinges, and I just feel so much taller in the morning, so much so, that when I get in my car, I have to re-adjust my rear view mirror as it is too low, but by the end of the day I have to move it again, which just goes to show we are taller in the morning, than at the end of the day, and by the end of the day our muscles will get fatigued from sitting alot during the day, but as I get stronger and more functional I'm hoping this will not happen and I can remain taller throughout the day. I have even had someone at work, say have I grown the other day, which just goes to show I am standing much more upright and as I said before, this is without consiouscly trying to.


Thursday, 21 August 2008

PAIN FREE RADIO

Please check out http://www.painfreeradio.org/

Pain Free Radio is a radio show brought to you by Pete Egoscue, he does the show every Saturday for 2 hours, where he receives calls from people who are usually in pain, and he guides them through and shows them what they need to do to become pain free, then he usually sends them a free copy of one of his books.

You find past radio shows on the website above as well.

You can also subscribe to the podcast through I-tunes, and it will download it automatically everytime a new show becomes avaliable.

Please check it out, it's free!!!

Day 18: 21st August 2008

Well 3 days now into my new menu and things still feel great, had a little bit of tenderness in my left hip, but this is due to a new hip exercise which is a bit more difficult, so it is just due to my muscles being used in a different way again, reawakening my muscles!!

I've not had a flair up now for coming up to a week now, so steady progress is being made, I am trying to reduce the amount of long distance walking I am doing, or shopping with the Girlfriend (great excuse my the way guys...lol) I just feel that if I were too walk too much, it will set me back, and cause a flare up, and but my muscles in spasm, and that is the last thing I want right now!

I've also made the decision to not drinking at the weekends too much, I find that if I do, then what happens is that my pain levels drop or become non existant which is great, it means I can have a great night out, and dance and stand without any problems, but what happens is that alcohol dehydrates the body, and a dehydrated body and more specifically dehydrated muscles are your own worst enemie, it can cause alot more pain and stiffness in the muscles and joints. Also when I awake the next morning I feel like I have run a marathon, my whole body aches and it takes 2 days to get relief and allow my QL muscle to relax!

They say it takes 30 days to make something a habit, well I feel like it's started already, I'm finding the e-cises not so much trouble to perform now, it's starting to become a part of my day now, I don't have trouble finding the time, because they are helping it is more motivating to want to actually do them, recently I've been wanting to perform them more than once a day, but I have stopped myself, just because something is good for you doesn't mean more is better!!!
Overall my pain levels are about a 3 this week, as I said no major spasms, I've had slight discomfort or tenderness, but compared to what I was dealing with before, a bit of tenderness is nothing!!!


Tuesday, 19 August 2008

2nd Appointment:

I went for my 2nd appointment last night, it has been 2 weeks since my initial assessment. Matt started by asking me how I have been, he went through the symptoms I was orginally experiencing and asked me how they are now, what is aggravating them, and what seems to be worse? Which exercises I liked and disliked? (I think this gave him an indicator as to what e-cises I still needed to do, and if I liked them, then they were obviously not challenging me anymore)

He then asked me what I expected from this session? Matt really likes to get me thinking.....Hmmmm what did I expect from this session? I had to think??? Then I decided......It was to possibly include some new exercises, as some of the exercises had become easier, to achieve some pain relief, and to be able to continue my progress on a steady path!

He then took pictures again to compare my psoture from last time, obviously the posture changes are going to be the last significant changes to occur, I pain is disminshing and I am getting less and less twinges and able to move much better, and as he said its what I feel that matters, the improvement I feel in my body, not so much the external factors such as posture, you need to look for those small improvements, it will help you to soldier on and stick with your menu of e-cises and realise that you have to complete them every single day!!

I have not got some new e-cises to my menu, he has taken out some of the e-cises, and changed them up, and the supine groin progressive that I was finding difficult he has added back in, but while in this position if I get that discomfort feeling, then I am to perform 2 upper back e-cises, this is just to distract me from the discomfort as when I was performing the supine groin before, I felt the over whelming feeling to move, it was too uncomfortable, so the idea is to distract my mind from those feelings, and then relax and then when it returns to perform another ser of the overhead extensions and reverse presses.

We went through the new program and I felt slight numbness in my left leg afterwards but on my drive on the way home, I felt great, no problems at all, I woke up this morning and I still feel great 4 hours later, and no twinges of pain yet?! :) I will complete my new menu when I get in from work, and will post tomrorow how it goes, I can see it's gonna be a new challenge and I look forward to it, bring it on : )

Monday, 18 August 2008

Day 15: 18th August 2008

Feeling really good again today, I'm at work right now, I have a slight bit of burning between my shoulder blades right now, but that is because it has been hectic in the office this morning, and I find that when I am under stress with work, I get alot of tension through my shoulder blades!! Apart from that I feel great, I did my e-cises late last night, about 11:00pm, and the static wall stretch is defiantely improving, I hated this e-cise at first as my left hamstring was so tight and it would ache like crazy, but last night I was able to get it straightened out really quickly, which is a great sign of my hamstrings re-lengthening, it felt great to see my left leg straighten out, rather than be bent at the knee due to the lack of flexibility in that leg before, still got a long way to go, but it's a sign of great improvement : )

I'm seeing Matt tongiht for my 2nd appointment, am really looking forward to it, and for him to see the improvement I have made, still have the side shift, this is going to take a while to correct, but if the e-cises are getting easier and the pain is subsiding It is all heading in the correct direction, and it is just a matter of time, and effort.

I will post tomorrow how the session tonight goes, and what changes if any are made to my menu of e-cises.

Saturday, 16 August 2008

Day 13: 16th August 2008

I'm feeling great lately, much less pain, not so many twinges in my hip, laying in bed is getting easier, and the e-cises are definately getting easier. I'm going Monday for my re-assessment and as I said before I'm guessing Matt will add or exchange some of the e-cises for more difficult ones, otherwise if you continue to do the same exercises over and over, your body cannot adapt, even upping the reps or sets will also do this.

I won't lie and say it's easy to find times to do the exercises, currently I am doing them when I get in from work at 5:10pm, for and hour and this seems to be working best for me, the mornings I am too tired, where I go to bed late, and in the mornings I feel great, and when I perform the e-cises for a few hours afterwards I do feel a little bit tender, so it's easier to do them in the evening, that way I feel great at work, and then after a long day sitting at the computer, I feel a bit tired and achy, but I force myself to do the exercises when I get in from work, and it's totally worth it, I can unwind my body!! The last 2 mornings I have woke up with no pain whatsoever, it's been great, but also weird because I cannot remember the last time I woke up without pain!!! My pain level on a whole the last 2 days has been about a 3-4 : )

Last night I did not get a chance to do them when I got in from work, had dinner then went straight round a mates and we went pub, i drove so got home about 12:45am and I had the decision to either go to bed, and just forget about the e-cises and do them in the morning, but then I thought about last weekend, when I missed both days, and remembered the pain I was in, so I decided to get on the floor and do my e-cises, an hour later I felt great, tired, but great....lol....Not so much great body wise, but a great feeling of commitment and was really pleased with myself for doing them late at night, I could have so easily have not done them, but I know in order to keep progressing and getting better I must do them everyday!!!

Becoming pain free is all about taking responsibility as Pete Egoscue says and also dedication and consistency, you need to be willing to commit an hour a day to the e-cises no matter how busy or tired you are, you just got to suck it up and get on with it, there will be times when it will be easier to go to bed, just chill in front of the TV, or just simply "Can't be asked" but who said becoming pain free would be easy?? It will be worth it in the long run, I promise you : )

"With each step I take, I am further from my starting point, closer to my goal, and stronger than I were a moment ago"

Thursday, 14 August 2008

Day 11: 14 August 2008

The E-cises are definately getting easier, not so tight in certain exercises and finding them easier to perform each day. I'm also finding certain movements during the day easier such as getting in and out of my car, and bending down to tie my laces, the silly little things we take for granted until we have pain!!

When I started the e-cises I started to get a little bit of tingling and numbness back in my left leg which worried me, but I think that was just from working certain muscles such as the piriformis and this was maybe causing a bit of light spasm, because the muscle has not been used, and therefore putting pressure on my sciatic nerve.

My pain levels have dropped to about a managable 4-5 at the moment, but I've not been walking as much recently and walking is the worst thing for me in terms of pain, because of my postural dysfunctions walking isn't going to help me, as I walk biomechanically wrong at the moment, as I start to correct these dysfunctions I will start walking more, at the moment too much walking causes a flare up and sets me back.

I got thinking yesterday, if the bulging disc is causing my pain as the doctors believe it is, and other professionals, then why does it not hurt 24/7??? The disc is pressing on my nerve 24/7 is it not? It does not move at all or go back into place, so surely if this disc was causing the pain then i would have pain all the time?! This to me has really made me think about how just because you have a bulging disc does not mean it is the disc that is causing you pain!! There have been studies done on groups of people who have no back pain whatsoever and yet after the MRI's 85% came back with a bulging disc?! Explain that to me....I'm trying to find a link to the study that was done, if I find it I will post it online.

I'm feeling very positive today, onwards and upwards : )

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

MRI Scans

Here are my MRI scans that were taken on 7th February 2008 confirming a significant bulge at my L4-L5 level.

Left side view


Front view
(Look at the curvature of my spine!!!)

My pictures

Hi


These are my pictures that were taken about 2 months ago, as you can see I have a significant side shift, and several other postural dysfunctions!!!






Update:

Hi

Sorry I haven't posted recently been very, very busy socially and at work.

Unfortunetely Saturday and Sunday I did not get round to performing my exercises, I am so dissapointed at myself, but I wasn't at home at all, woke up at about 8am on Saturday and was out the door at 8:30am, and was driving for a long time, to a wedding, and was at the wedding all day, and reception afterwards so was completely knacked, I guess sometimes life gets in your way, and it is impossible to do the exercises, Sunday I got up late and was out straight away as well, and did not get home till 9:30pm by this time I was just completeley shattered and decided on an early night!

I feel really bad for missing my exercises, I will not let this happen again, Saturday I had nowhere to possibly perform the exercises, and the majority of my e-cises are to be done on the floor.

Obviously because I didn't do my e-cises my pain levels increased to about a 7-8, which spurred me onto to not get too demotivated and just jump back on the horse and carry on, so Monday I did my exercises and they were fine, I really noticed an improvement since Friday when I did the exercises, I'm a little achy after doing the exercises, but then once I am at work, I feel great, I'm definately getting more mobility and as I said before my shoulders feel more protracted back, and not slumped forwards.

Each day I complete the exercises I feel they gradually get a little easier to perform, or I notice i get a better contraction on my muscles, and the static wall stretch is getting easier as well.

Overall things feel great and 18th August I have my review with Matt and I think he will be giving me some new exercises to challenge my muscles even more so.

So 3 days straight now I have performed the e-cises and I am back on track, I am not going to allow what happened this weekend happen again.

Thursday, 7 August 2008

Egoscue Videos

I found these videos on the net, shows quiet alot of the e-cises used in Egoscue. But please don't start just doing the exercises randomly without either reading the book or visiting a Therapist as it could cause you more harm.

Here's the links, take a look at the different types of E-Cises.

3 Position Toe Rasies - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_business.php
Ab Crunches - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_golf.php
Airbench - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_golf.php
Assisted Hip Lift - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_outdoor.php?activity_id=16
Cats and Dogs - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_golf.php
Cobra on Elbows - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_running.php
Counter STretch - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_tennis.php
Crocodile Twist - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_golf.php
Cross-Crawling - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_outdoor.php?activity_id=16
Downward Dog - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_running.php
Free Crunches - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_fitness_women.php
Frog Abdominals - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_walking.php
Frog Pullover Presses - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_fitness_women.php
Grafity Drop - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_golf.php
Hip Flexor Abdominals with Pillow - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_tennis.php
Kneeling Groin Stretch - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_outdoor.php?activity_id=16
Kneeling Counter Stretch - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_firefighting.php
Pelvic Tilts - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_fitness_women.php
QLO Stretch - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_basketball.php
Runners Stretch - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_running.php
Sitting Abductor Presses - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_tennis.php
Sitting Cats & Dogs - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_business.php
Sitting Floor Twist - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_snowshoe.php
Squat - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_outdoor.php?activity_id=16
Standing Elbow Curls - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_walking.php
Standing Overhead Extension - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_tennis.php
Standing Quad Stretch - http://www2.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_business.php
Static Back - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_everyday.php
Static Extension Position - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_golf.php
Static Wall - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_everyday.php
Static Wall with Splits - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_running.php
Supine Foot Circles & Point/Flexes - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_running.php
Supine Groin Progressive - http://www.thorlo.com/ws6/ego_everyday.php


I also found another video showing the Supine Groin Progressive with the Tower, my therapist is lending me one to use at the moment, only avaliable in the US though :( But I might try and make one.....TRY being the main word....LOL

Click here to view a 13 minute video

3rd Day: 07 August 2008

I did my menu of exercises first thing this morning...Wahoooo...lol...They definitely seem to be getting easier, especially the static wall, my leg is straightening out a lot quicker now, cannot wait till it lays straight against the wall, knee locked out instead of bent, and then start moving butt closer to the wall, at the moment I can only get about 2ft away from the wall.....Yes very tight hamstrings...lol

The Supine Groin Progressive is still really hard to do, get a fair bit of pain, it's not improving, so I rang Matt today my Therapist and he has told me to drop the Supine Groin Progressive from the menu and until our next visit on August 18th, as it seems to be making things worse, leg in spasm a bit after the exercise.

I got a comment from a colleague today, she said I look much more upright not so slouched bent over, I knew I felt more upright, can feel my shoulders pulled back already, without consciously thinking about it : )

So tomorrow I will start the menu without the Supine Groin Progressive and see how it goes, see if there is any relief, but I'm definately feeling better, my movement seems better, and as I said more upright!


2nd Day: 06 August 2008

Okay well I woke up late this morning, had a late night the night before, really annoyed at myself for not getting up earlier and doing my exercises....grrrrr....Went to work, had some pain in my left hip flexor, but tried to get up as much as possible during the day, to ensure I was not in flexion for too long without movement.

I had planned on doing the exercises when I got in from work, but had to go and pick my girlfriend up from the station and could not do them when she was around, the Egoscue Exercises need your full attention, need to be in a quiet room, or some music on with no distractions, well I feel this is the best way, to ensure that you remember to breathe and take the exercises slowly.

After taking the girlfriend home I was battling the decision to do the exercises when I got home or not, it was already 11:45pm, but I made the decision to just do the exercises, it's only my second day, if I start slacking now, it will get more difficult to get in natural habits of performing them daily....So at 11:57pm I started on my exercises, I played some calming Reiki music I managed to find off the net, it is really relaxing and helps to block out other noise and thoughts as well, and helps me to deep breathe.

I can tell the exercises are already starting to get easier, the ones I am having problems with are the Static Wall and Femur Rotations ones, it's due to lack of flexibility in my left hamstring, but when I have my left leg up, I find my left hip flexor starts to tighten up, goes rock solid, but after a few mins it starts to relax, and the tension eases up.

I am having problems with the Progressive Supine Groin Stretch, the right leg is fine, I could lay like that for about an hour, but the left leg......It starts to really ache, it becomes overwhelming, like I need to move, I it's not so much painful, it's more a dull ache, it's really hard to explain the feeling, all I know is that I find it hard to lay in that position, I start to get aches/pains, top of the hip, then just above the knee, and it moves around, I guess this is just a sign of how deconditioned the illiopsoas is on my left side, and how much in spasm it is in usually. I'm going to call my Practioner to inform him of this problem, and if maybe I should start out only doing each level for a little while and then progress for longer periods of time? I'll post on what he says.....I'm guessing he may just say over ride the discomfort and achy pain..... :(

Despite this problem I feel posititive, I feel more upright, I feel my muscles working again, and the soreness is just an indicator that my muscles are working and haven't been worked in some time!

Tuesday, 5 August 2008

Day 1: 05 August 2008

I woke up feeling quiet good this morning, slightly achy from the exercises yesterday during the assessment but not too bad at all :)

I woke up extra early today, an hour earlier than usual, I'm usually terrible at getting up in the morning, but I know that I really need to do these exercises before work, it will make the day easier and I will be in better alignment.

The Menu of exercises I am doing are as follows: (Please note these exercises are for my dysfunctions and only mine, please do not try to copy as you will more than likely cause yourself harm and could make problems worse)

1. Abduction/Adduction - Feet Close - 5mins (This exercise promotes pelvic stabilisation through femur rotation)
2. Hooklying abductor presses 1 x 20 (Promotes lateral hip stabilisation)
3. Hooklying Knee Pillow Squeezes 1 x 20 (Promotes bilateral pelvic stabilisationn through the adductors)
4. Frog (Promotes lumbar/pelvic extension

(Repeat the previous 2 exercises (2,3,& 4) a further 2 times (alternate 3 sets of each in total)

5. Hooklying Reverse Presses - 3 x 10 (Hmmm does not say what this exercise does, but I know it is to engage the shoulders blades together, will speak to Matt and find out)
6. Hooklying Pullovers Halfway - 3 x 10 (Promotes extension of the thoracic spine and scapular rotation)
7. Standing Chest Openers Unilateral - 2 x15/side (This does not say what it does either, but I believe it is to open up the chest and pull the shoulders back)
8. Hooklying Abdominal Crunches - 2 x 25 (Promotes engagement of the trunk flexors)
9. Assisted Hip Lift Position - 1 x 1min/side (Promotes bilateral pelvic stabilisation through external femur rotation)
10. Cats n Dogs - 1 x 10 (Promotes bilateral spine flexion and extension while loading the shoulder and hip joints)
11. Static Wall with Splits - 1 x 2mins (Promotes bilateral hip and lumbar flexion to re-establish the muscular chain between the trunk and pelvis with an emphasis on pelvic stability and erector engagement)
12. Static Wall Femur Rotations - 2 x 10 (Promotes thoracic extension while limiting the rotation ability of the lower load joints with an emphasis on hip stability)
13. Static Wall - 1 x 1min (Promotes thoracic extension while limiting the rotation ability of the lower load joints)
14. Standing Quad Stretch - 1 x 1min/side (This exercise stretches the muscles of the hip and repositions the pelvis)
15. Supine Groin Progressive - 10mins/level/side (Promotes elongation of the hip and groin muscles. The effect of this action will create a chain reaction of muscular response in the upper body)
16. Airbench - 1 x 1min (Promotes proper function of the lower load joints while stabilising the opposing pelvis)

As you can see it is a fair few exercises, and takes about 45-60mins to complete. please refer to Pain Free and Health Through Motion books by Pete Egoscue for pictures of the exercises. I will try and see if I can get the pictures posted up here.

When I did them this morning, there was no major problems, the one I find really difficult is number one, extreme tightness in my adductors and the outside of my calves. Also the static wall exercises are very dificult as I have very limited flexibility in my left hamstring, the left leg will not straighten out, it fairly bent, but Matt said this will gradually over time lengthen and I will be able to straighten my left leg, and then get my butt closer to the wall.

I also find the Supine Groin Progressive very uncomfortable when performing it on the left leg, very comfortable feeling, but I need to ride out the discomfort this just goes to prove how tight my hip flexors are, and over time this discomfort feeling will diminish....Hopefully ;)

Afterwards I felt really good, for most of the day I felt my shoulders were retracted and I felt more upright and not so round shouldered.

On a scale of 0-10, 0 being no pain, 10 being the worst pain, I would say I have been about a 3-4 today, but I haven't been too bad recently either, not done much walking so my pain levels have been low anyway.....Well low compared to what I would normally deal with....lol

I have to do another set of 3 of the above exercises in the evening after work:

1. Abduction/Adduction - Feet close - 5mins

2. Supine Groin Progressive - 7mins per level today, did 2 levels

3. Airbench - 1min


I will try and post tomorrow if not the day after....

The Initial Assessment...

I met Matt Waters for my first Egoscue Assessment last night, I was slightly nervous for some reason, I'm not sure why, maybe because I feel this is my last chance saloon, as I have exhausted all other alternatives.

Before the assessment, last week Matt got me to fill out a form, with questions like "List all past injuries, no matter how little or insignificant they are? i.e - Twisted ankle as a kid", "Where is your pain currently?", "What aggravates your pain?", "What eases the pain?". We went over these answers last night and he wanted to find out more about the knee problem I used to have when I used to play Sunday League football between the ages of 11-15 (Soccer to you guys in the U.S :p )

He also asked me "What do I expect to get from doing the Egoscue Method?" Hmmmm good question I thought??? I felt like I was in a job interview....lol.....But I liked the question, I knew the answers, I want to be functional again, I want to be able to walk without pain, bend, squat, jump, run, move, I don't want to plan around things, "Am I able to do this?", "Will this cause me pain?"....I want to be spontanious again, I want to be a 23 year old, not an 80 year old, I'm sure my grandad moves more functional than me??....lol...

He has also suggested I check out a book called "The Miracle Man" by Morris Goodman, it's about a guy who nearly broke every bone in his body and could not speak, was paralyzed, doctors said he would never walk again, or live a normal life, and 8 months later he walked out of hospital!! He wants me to read this as it is a fantastic example of how you need to also get your mind in the right place, as well as concentrating on your body you need to ensure your mind wants to heal as well, a quote that I love is this:

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude"
- Thomas Jefferson


I am definately going to look into getting this book, apparently you can't get it on Amazon.co.uk but it is avaliable on Amazon.com.

Say cheese :)

After the questions he got me to stand up with just my shorts on, and face straight ahead, he took pictures of me from the front, back and both sides, and then checked my pelvis, ASIS on both sides, and then checked my PSIS, and then checked them against each other on both sides, to check for any excessive forward tipping of the pelvis. He noted that my left hip is very high (Which is strange because I lean to the right, and have a very tight right QL, and you would think it was my Right hip that was high!), he also checked my knees, and the direction in which they were pointing, and also my shoulders, he noted that I have upper body rotation (Left shoulder more forwards than the right).

He also got me to stand on one leg, on both sides, and also to try and bend over and touch my toes....I couldn't even move more than 6", without pain in my left leg :(

He then went off and printed the pictures......Massive side shift to the right, (I knew this anyway, but it does look impressive everytime I see it..lol), he said we can't address everything in one go, because it will be too much, we need to get me stacked up correctly, basically he means from a side point of view, you should be able to drop a plumb line from the head, shoulder, hip, knee and Ankle, in my case, it's like a zig zag (I will post up my pictures later on for you to take a look...They ain't pretty...lol)

This took about an hour altogether, and so we moved onto some e-cises (The term used in Egoscue for the exercises), the idea behind each exercise is to start to awaken muscles that have been switched off, and when performing each of the exercises he would ask me straight away what did I feel? Egoscue is very much about getting in touch with your body, listening to your body, leanring the difference between good pain and bad pain, and working out which muscles are doing the work, while also taking deep abdominal breathing, it's really hard work to remember to breath, count and work out which muscles are working and how I feel......Well it's hard work for me...lol

Some of the exercises he has had to modify them for me, because I have no lumbar curve, certain exercises force you to flatten your back into the floor and we do not want this, very bad for me, need to retrain my lumbar curve.

Certain exercises address the upper back, the legs, & of course the lower back, the reason for this is because the body is a unit, it works together, it does not work independantly of each other, and this is a key focus of the Egoscue Method.

Some of the exercises caused me discomfort, not pain but discomfort and he said this is a sign of those muscles that are just not being work properly, or even at all, and I may experience some soreness over the next few days as my muscles get used to the program.

At the end of the session I did have some discomfort, but It felt good, I was starting to use my body properly and I cannot wait to get stuck into the exercises, and start experiencing some relief and more mobility :) Matt is a great guy, very understanding and a great listener, I think were gonna get on great, and I look forward to working with him more, I have my next appointment booked in for 18th August, which is 2 weeks time, in the mean time, if I have any questions, or any problems, then to contact him by phone or email and he will address the issues or modify the exercises if needed.

The program he has set out for me is 45mins long and I have to complete this first thing in the morning, after waking up, so it sets me up for the day, and I have to ensure I take my time, no rushing the exercises, it's all about listening to my body and not over doing the exercises. I also have to perform the Progressive Supine Groin stretch (I'll talk about this, and explain this in a later post) in the evenings and hold each level for 5-10mins on each leg, so I'm looking at an hour in the evening as well, it's going to require alot of my time and effort, but I am 110% willing to put in the effort, Egoscue System is all responsibility and I believe in the system and I believe in myself, How can you expect relief and improvement without hard work??





Monday, 4 August 2008

Why am I writing this blog???

Hi Everyone, Welcome to my blog.....Let the fun begin : )

The reason for me starting this blog is to record my experience with the Egoscue Method, for those of you who do not know what The Egoscue Method is then please go to http://www.egoscue.com/.



I will be having my first appointment Monday 4th August 2008 (That's today...lol) and the session will last about 90minutes, during this time my therapist will be taking pictures of my posture, front, back and both sides in my normal relaxed posture, observing my posture from all angles and also getting me to perform some functional tests to see how my body behaves in certain movements. With the findings from these tests and my posture, he will create a customized program (or as they call it in Egoscue a customized Menu of exercises) that will address all my postural issues, and he will take me through each exercise individually, ensuring I carry them out correctly.

The Egoscue Practioner I will be seeing is Matt Waters and he is based in Surrey England, please checkout his website http://www.upwardspiral.co.uk/