Egoscue back stretches

July 3, 2009 - 4:42am | 4 posts

tldumont

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08/16/2010 - 4:38pm

Egoscue back stretches

Are you familiar with either the Peter Egoscue Method or the Pain-Free Program by Anthony Carey? Both of these books have a stretching exercise where you lie on your back with your calves resting on a footstool so your hips & knees are at 90 - 90 degree angles. Then you just lay there for several minutes allowing the hips to settle to the floor and relaxing tight muscles in the hip, spine & pelvis areas. I've tried this several times & it does seem to feel good. But I wonder if it actually would cause an incorrect pelvic position?

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July 3, 2009 - 1:34pm | 1 post

Anonymous (not verified)

Hey, Zoey - Before I found Esther's book, this was something I tried. I worked through the chapters that were appropriate for my pains and it did seem to help some. Drawbacks: when one body part would stop hurting, another would begin hurting (must be I had poor alignment throughout), so I would always be on one chapter or another. The maintenance chapter definately did not keep me pain free. Also, that pose you mention did not help my latest ache - hip pain. It seemed to make it worse. That's when I gave up on Egoscue's books. I also had the book for women, and of what I was able to do, it caused hip pain and neck pain. Just my experience with the book.

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July 6, 2009 - 2:43pm | 1 post

Esther Gokhale

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09/10/2008 - 8:36pm

From the Egoscue students I have worked with, I have the following impressions: 1. We are together in being against the pelvic tuck. 2. The Egoscue description of correct pelvic positioning is extreme by my standards and often results in a sway, about which they don't seem to say much . 3. It can take many, many minutes (15 - 90) every day to follow the Egoscue prescriptions, and the expectation is that you be very dedicated to lying there with your foot in a tower or whatever else the recommendation of the day is. Given how pervasive the pelvic tuck recommendation is, it's laudable for anyone to recognize that tucking the pelvis is plain wrong. But I think there's more to the solution that just going the other way in an extreme manner. Also, I think you can learn to relax your pelvis in a good alignment just going about your daily life differently (as described in 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back) - and this doesn't take any time out of your day, My two cents.

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February 15, 2013 - 10:38am | 1 post

rmathes

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02/15/2013 - 10:28am

I apologize for commenting on an older thread but I thought the topic was important enough to merit it.

First, full disclosure: I'm the clinic director of The Egoscue Clinic in Austin, TX, one of Pete Egoscue's licensed clinics.

Now, back to the post: I have a LOT of respect for the Gokhale Method and I think it is very complementary to Egoscue. For some people, Gokhale might be all they need to get and stay pain free, and if so, that's terrific! Where I think Egoscue can be an effective complement to Gokhale is that with some people, because of years of dysfunctional motion patterns, they've programmed their posture into such a state where they can't actually do the movements that Gokhale prescribes in a functional way. I've seen clients who try to do what is taught but because their bodies are so posturally imbalanced and dysfunctional, they can't functionally and organically make those movements.

So where I see Egoscue complementing Gokhale is that our corrective exercises, when properly selected and instructed, can reintroduce the motion patterns the person's body is missing and restore their ability to move their bodies in a functional way. Where I see Gokhale complementing Egoscue is now the person can have some great cues and strategies for taking their newly functional body and continuing to reinforce sound position and function. I think they integrate very powerfully and positively together. I don't look at them as in competition or conflict in any way.

Re Ms. Gokhale's statement that she finds our ideal pelvic position to be 'extreme', my guess is that is a misconception in some fashion. I would love to communicate with her directly about that. I think our conception of a neutral pelvis is pretty, well, neutral. I don't want to see a client stuck in either a posterior or anterior position. both will distort spinal curvatures, just in different ways.

Just wanted to add this perspective. I think Ms Gokhale has done the world a great service with her materials and work, and I recommend them to our clients.