Control of and Freedom From Pain

Many of our aches and pains are a direct result of our sedentary lifestyles. These conditions often begin to show themselves when we stress ourselves in new activities, become over tired or they may just come on their own.

It is becoming a common belief that these pains in our back, neck, knees, etc. are a result of our body being out of sync and telling us something is wrong. Through stress or injury, or lack of consistent stretching to keep our muscles loose and supple our bodies become out of symmetry. Muscles that don’t get stretched on a continual basis begin to pull our body out if its normal balanced stasis. This starts to put stress on the supporting structure of our skeleton and, instead of our body load being spread evenly over support structures it gets spread to one side or the other. Parts of the body that were built to share the load find themselves carrying a greater proportion of the load. These spots begin to deteriorate and send out help signals on the way of pain.

An easy example is our spine. It is designed to carry our weight in a gentle s-curve which places the load squarely across the surface of each vertebra. This curve is maintained in its proper shape by the strength of the back muscles counterbalancing the strength of the abdominal muscles. Our back muscles get a daily workout in general just keeping us upright and as in our everyday activities, we lift things, move ourselves up and down as we get out of chairs, etc. Our abdominals unfortunately don’t get this rigorous work out unless we intentionally focus on it. Our back muscles are constantly working and strengthening; they need a conscious effort to stretch them to help them relax and stay supple. Our abdominals are loose and relaxed; they need us to consciously work at strengthening them. If we don’t continually focus on these two needs:

Our back muscles strengthen and tighten pulling our spine out of its proper s-curve

Out abdominals loosen and weaken allowing the spine to slip out of its proper s-curve This results in the body mass being shifted to the edges of some of the vertebrae which causes overloads resulting in degeneration and pain. If we don’t do things to counter this lack of symmetry we are destined to a life of pain and agony.

This example of back pain is one way we put our bodies out of symmetry. We also do this by slouching in chairs as we watch TV or read books, working at a job station that causes us to do most of our effort in a one-sided fashion, receiving an injury that causes us to favour one side of our body and carry the load more with the other. Just being left-handed or right-handed causes us to do things unevenly. There are many things that we do or have happen to us that may cause us to lose the healthy symmetry of our body structure. If we allow this state to continue some part or parts of the body take more of a load then they were designed to carry. This results in pain which, if unattended become chronic pain and then a disabling condition.

At this point I’m going to tell you a short story about a good friend of mine; Phil. He is an avid skier and it was on the mountains of Alberta, B.C., and the North West States that I have shared some tremendous times with him: but enough about that.

Phil had tremendous back problems. Each morning before skiing he would literally role out of bed onto the floor and work at limbering up his back enough to be able to move about in a normal manner. We would then ski the day away. Did I tell you that he had a tremendously high pain threshold?

Phil was this way when I first met him and for several years from that time. He read a great deal about his condition and was quite an expert on everything about it except making it go away. He had been to several doctors and had undergone various treatments including acupuncture. He was at a point of desperation and was seriously considering undergoing spinal fusion as a last resort to overcoming the pain.

It was at this point of desperation that he happened upon a life-changing discovery. My friend Phil did not go through with the spinal fusion surgery. He did however, go on to control and conquer his back pain.

It wasn’t magic and it wasn’t complicated. What he came upon was a book that changed his life. His changes were so positive that the rest of us, learning of the book, investigated, and have used the information to help us as well. My wife has found help for many of the pains caused by her arthritis. The book has been so helpful to me and to many of my friends that whenever someone complains of pain form other than an recent injury or over-done workout the book title is the first thing that crosses my lips. We have all passed the book around among friends and made it known to acquaintances who have suffered from pain. In our circle it has indeed become the bible of pain control and freedom.

The Book was called “Pain Free” by Peter Egoscue. If you are interested in reading about him click here. The important thing is that he has developed the”Egoscue Method” which he has used to help the unknown to the likes of Jack Nicklaus. **His basic belief is that most of our pains are a result of our posture and the fact that our bodies have lost symmetry as a result of injury or just learned bad posture.

In his book he gives us a recipe for evaluating our body type. By body type it refers more to what degree of asymmetry one is at. He basically categorizes us unto 3 body categories. Once this is established he gives us a routine of activities specific to our particular body category. The routine is a mix of stretching and strengthening activities designed to help bring your body back to its natural symmetry. If you follow these routines it is amazing the improvement it will bring.

He, at this point, has written at least four books on the topic of being pain free, he has several clinics around the US, athletics training camps, the Egoscue Research Institute which is dedicated to providing the resources necessary for the research and education in the fields of physical health, self care and functional independence. He also operates Pain Free Radio from which you can either receive Pod Casts or download and listen to archived shows from this Site. Information about these can be found on his Web Site. These Podcasts gives you an insight into the type of person he is and the work he is doing.

From his PainFree Site you can find examples of how to evaluate the posture condition 1, 2, or 3 that your body is in and from there select a menu to use to help correct the condition. At this spot he three menus; a pain fee menu (to ease the pain) an office menu (self explanatory), and and active menu (to strengthen needed ares to maintain symmetry). NB Read the Free Menu updates overview before you start. He also has traveling clinics in the US. You can access the schedule from this spot.

Pete Egosque appears to be a man on a mission to "treat chronic musculoskeletal pain without using drugs, surgery, or manipulation, enabling people to enjoy a pain-free active life."

Of particular immediate interest to us is a Site in which he lists the areas of the body in which you might experience pain. Click on the appropriate body part and a pop-up appears with description and picture of two good exercises to help alleviate the pain. This is an excellent start if you have pain. If you are experiencing chronic pain I would recommend the book however as it gives you a much more thorough plan to eliminate the source of the pain. The book "Pain Free"; I wouldn't be without it. If you have chronic pain I truly believe it is worth your time to investigate further.

Until then . . . in pain or not . . . . . . you still . . . look . . . marvelous!

To read the rest of this article: http://myhealthandfitnessstrategies.com/2007/08/06/control-of-and-freedom-from-pain/

Bill Jensen operates http://myhealthandfitnessstrategies.com/ a blog all about fitness of mind,, body and spirit. He loves giving away free things and is now giving away free membership to his monthly newsletter. You are not going to believe what you get when you sign up and it's all free!

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