How Do Know If Posture Alignment Therapy is For Me?

Ask yourself the following questions.

1.  Is your Massage Therapist constantly having to work on the same tight muscles?

2.  Does your Chiropractor have to constantly manipulate the same areas of your spine/body?

3.  Do your chiropractic adjustments last a few days or less?  Have you wondered why?

4.  Have you been told you have a difference in you leg lengths and need shoe inserts to correct it?

5.  Have you gone through repetitive rounds of physical therapy that was helpful while in treatment, but did not last once your treatment ended?

6.  Have you had surgery or physical therapy to address a pain issue only to go through the surgery and subsequent physical therapy only to feel worse than when you started?

7.  Have you forced your way through massage, chiropractic or physical therapy just to get out of it because it hurt and made you feel worse versus better?

These, are just a few examples of common indicators that there is a muscular imbalance in your body.  They can be fixed with Posture Alignment Therapy!

Posture Alignment Therapy in The Egoscue Method is suitable for everyone and can benefit people of all ages and all abilities.  

 Posture alignment exercises addresses the imbalance within our blue-print design. The exercises are designed to provides the body with correct neurological stimuli and ultimately treat the body as a whole integrated unit.

Look at the following pictures as compared to the first.  Do you see yourself in any of these?  Are you in pain?

Good posture promotes efficiency of the body. If we look at movement, good posture allows muscles to perform optimally. If a muscle is held in its ideal length they will work more effectively. Also if the skeleton is supporting the weight of the body then the muscles don't have to work as much to maintain alignment. This reduced demand leads to greater endurance as the muscles can focus more on movement.

    Good posture can prevent pain. If you have poor posture, your bones are not in good alignment. This poor alignment causes increased strain on the muscles, joints and ligaments that fight to hold upright.Faulty posture also causes muscles to fatigue quicker than normally expected, this can lead to muscle strains and chronic pain symptoms.

Muscle imbalances and resulting poor posture can lead to:
  • Chronic/acute back pain
  • Spinal dysfunction
  • Joint and disc degeneration
  • Rounded shoulders and resulting shoulder pain
  • Protruding abdomen
  • Muscular imbalances
  • Nerve compression
  • forward positioning of the head
  • Herniated Discs
  • Chronic/acute Neck pain
  • Knee pain/joint degeneration
  • Hip pain/joint degeneration
  • Sciatica
  • Piriformis syndrome
  • Shoulder/Rotator Cuff Pain
  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  • Numbness In The Extremities
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Scoliosis
  • Chronic Muscle Tightness
  • Loss of Flexibility
  • TMJ Pain
  • Headaches
  • Excessive Menstrual Pain
  • Foot/Ankle Pain
  • Heel Spurs
  • Tennis Elbow
  • Circulatory Problems
  • Digestive Problems
  • Respiratory Problems
  • Chronic Sports Injuries
  • Vertigo/Balancing Problems
  • And Many Others
When there is dysfunction in any area of the body the body will compensate and ultimately experience pain. When any of the four major load joints is out of balance, the body will compensate in order to remain upright and mobile. The human body is amazingly versatile! It will recruit any part of the musculoskeletal system it needs to in order to maintain mobility. Unfortunately, we begin to utilize muscles for movement that were primarily designed for support, its support system then becomes compromised.

Because the body works together as a unit, no one part will operate in isolation. Frequently the site of pain is a symptom of dysfunction elsewhere. Back pain, shoulder pain, wrist and even foot pain for example, can often be a symptom of improper engagement of the hip and pelvic musculature.

By changing what is happening at the hips, the symptomatic pains will be relieved. When the body moves back into alignment, and undue stresses begin to release, the internal organs will return to optimal function and noticeable improvements can often be found in the cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive systems.

Clients report the added effects of feeling taller, straighter, more relaxed and at the same time have far more energy. All of this contributes to an enhanced quality of life. And a life that is PAIN FREE!

At Pain Free Posture MN you will have the additional benefit of Photo and Gait analysis for use in evaluating your progress. This gives you a visual 'marker' of how your menu of exercises is helping you change your body into an optimal and efficient postural position.

The link between posture and health

When the nerves are stretched and unable to communicate properly, they not only fail to communicate properly with the core postural muscles, they also communicate poorly with the organs and glands of the body.

Often restoring postural alignment allows pressure on the nerves to relax and restore and provides an environment where all your body's systems can once again work properly together.

The gentle yet highly effective corrective exercise techniques of Posture Alignment work can help with most types of musculoskeletal pain and injury and offers an empowering alternative to manipulation, surgery, and pain medication.  Posture alignment is a complete alternative to other pain management modalities, such as physical therapy, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic.





Ask yourself these following questions:

  • Has a doctor or chiropractor or physical therapist told you there's "nothing more they can do to help you with your pain" and that you'll have to accept that it's just a normal part of aging?
  • Do you keep visiting your chiropractor, massage/athletic therapist, or other bodyworker for the same aches, pains and muscular imbalance without it "holding" or achieving long lasting results?
  • Have you placed your pain relief in another persons hands and given them the responsibility for making you well to no avail?
  • Has your quality of life gone down because pain keeps you from living your life and doing the things you love to do everyday?
  • Are you still in pain in spite of drugs, cortisone injections, surgery, joint replacement, physical/athletic therapy, chiropractic and other forms of treatment?
  • Have you eliminated activites you love to do because of pain?
  • Have you changed how you perform basic tasks because of pain or physical limitations?


If you answered 'yes,' to any of the questions listed above, then Posture Alignment Therapy is for you!  

Need some more convincing?  Take the following tests.


Test #1 - The Talking Feet Test

Take a small walk aroung the room then stand in your normal position and close your eyes. Close your eyes and focus in on your feet. Do you feel the weight to be more on your left foot, more on the right or evenly balanced between the two?

Now compare one foot to the other. Do you feel the weight to be more on your heel(s), more on the ball(s), or are you evenly balanced between the front and back? Is the weight the same on both feet or different?

Can you feel body weight on the inside or outside edge of the foot, or is it spread equally across the entire foot. Is it the same or different when comparing one foot to the other?

Now open your eyes and look down at your feet. Are your feet located directly underneath your knees and hips, pointing straight ahead at a 12 o'clock position?

If not what time are they showing/where are they pointed (e.g. 11 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 1 o'clock)? Do they point out or in equally as compared to one another, or are they at two completely different time locations?

 

Test #2 - The Window To The Pelvis

Now you know which way your feet point. Let’s move up and visually assess and look at your knees. What are they telling you?  Are they facing straight ahead or are they presenting differently from one another.  Many different variations can occur.  They can turn out, turn in, or each can do the opposite.  And as with your feet, if they turn out or in, do they both turn out equally, or does one turn more than the other?

The knees tell us an awful lot about what’s happening in your body and with your posture… You could call them the window to the pelvis.
 

Test #3 - The Mirror Doesn't Lie

Look at yourself in the mirror. From a standing position, do your feet turn out or are they positioned differently than one another?

Look at your hips. Does one look higher or more forward than the other?

Do your clothes hang evenly on your torso?

Are your shoulders level? Or does one appear closer to your ear or the to the mirror as compared to the other?

Is your head centered directly over your breastbone? Or does it tilt or rotate more toward one side or the other?

Try standing on one leg. Can you stand and balance with ease one one leg without losing your balance? Did you wobble? Did you lean to one side or rotate your hips and/or shoulders?

Now switch legs and try it again. Is it the same? Harder? Easier?


Regardless of your past or current physical condition, if you take charge of your health and work to put your body back into its' correct vertical load, symmetry and balance, your body will have a chance to naturally heal and restore itself according to it's blueprint design.

The Body Should Be Balanced and Equal Front to Back and Side-to-Side. If you appeared out balance then Posture Alignment Therapy is for you.

The gentle exercises and stretches taught at Pain Free Posture MN are appropriate for just about anyone. Whether you are in pain, find yourself getting injured frequently or just don't feel like you're not moving the way you used to, this program can work for you.

The most important predictor of success with this method is your commitment to your daily menu of exercises and a willingness to change. If you are motivated to take charge of your physical health and get yourself out of pain, this method is for you. While the exercises are designed to restore your body to proper balance and function, you are the only one that can do them. Your muscles requires daily stimulus to restore their function. It takes commitment on your part to make this program work.
 


"In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die, and the choices that we make are ultimately our responsibility."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt