Peter Egoscue

'Pete Egoscue has totally changed my life. Never have I experiacned such complete pain relief as I have following the Egoscue Method.'-Jack Nicklaus

'Pain Free is based on a very sound understanding of human physiology. It shows how we can break the circuit of pain and naturally heal one of the most significant disabilities of our time.'-Deepak Chopra

Strarting today, you don't have to live in pain. That is the revolutionalry messaage of theis breakthrough system for eliminating chronic pain without drugs, surgery, or expensive physical therapy. Developed by Pete Egoscue, a nationally renowned physiologist and sports injury consultant to some of today's top athletes, the Egoscue Method has an astounding 95 percent success rate. The key is a series of gentle exercises and carefully constructed stretches called E-cises. Inside you'll find detailed photographs and step-by-step instructions for dozens of E-cises specifically designed to provide quick and lasting relief of:
Lower bck pain, hip problems, sciatica, and bad knees
Migraines and other headaches, stiff neck, and sore shoulders
Shin splints, sprained or weak ankles, and many foot ailments
Bursitis, tendinitis, and much more
Plus special preventive programs for maintaining health through the entire body
Here's how to regain the greatest gift of all: a pain-free body!

Contents

List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
One Chronic Pain: The modern danger of ignoring an ancient message
Two The body's design: a first-class mechnaism battered by second-class treatment
Three The Egoscue method: geting personal to stop chronic pain
Four Feet: The care of the sole
Five Ankles: The circuit breaker
Six Knees: Good news about bad knees
Seven Hips: United we stand
Eight Backs: Close up on the far side
Nine Shoulders: Locked in the box
Ten Elbows, wrists, and hands: The moving finger...
Eleven Neck and head: On the level
Twelve Sprits injuries and peak performance: Play or pay
Thirteen Pain free: The right to move
Notes
Index… (plus d'informations)

The first thing I noticed when reading this book was that the title was a misnomer since it doesn’t help people to overcome pain in general: it addresses only musculoskeletal pain, not pain from chronic disease.

However, the author did impress me with his knowledge and if I were a millionaire and had need for help with any of the complaints he’s knowledgeable about, I would cross the ocean to consult him. (I doubt whether many others have his level of knowledge and expertise.)

The only complaints he mentioned that I suffer from are heel spurs and corns.

I couldn’t find anything about what I could do about my heel spurs, and as regards corns I became in doubt as to whether what I have are in fact corns, or calluses, though my foot therapist says they are corns. We’re not told what to do about corns either.

He tells us that calluses and corns are not to be blamed on our shoes or walking too much. But no explanation about what actually is to blame, except that with one particular client it was a hip misalignment; and more friction will be generated by less and less movement.

There are lots of incomprehensible illustrations. For example, there is one showing “load-bearing joints” both “dysfunctionally and functionally loaded”, but I can’t see the difference. There’s one purporting to show functional and disfunctional knees, and one showing a ”nonbilateral” body. He also gives us a figure “showing” a group of people exhibiting “sagging” dysfunctional effects in different ways. I can get nothing out of these diagrams.

There are also photos showing “E-cises” to treat pain and correct the problems, but I can’t always understand all one has to do.

Neither could I understand the text!

I’m not saying others won’t be able to understand these things. But I at least couldn’t.

The author writes as though the only kind of pain is musculoskeletal pain, which is obviously far from true.

He does give us much information. He warns us that pain (the pain that he has knowledge of) is warning us of the danger of acute motion starvation. “Our systems are in a dysfunctional state – they are not being refueled by motion.”

He includes examples of his patients’ problems and how he solved them.

His E-cises work on restoring proper design motion to the joint that’s afflicted with chronic pain. They will probably be useful to some, perhaps many.… (plus d'informations)

A good book which stresses the need to keep moving if you want to keep your health. He also stresses taking responsibility for your own health, and not expecting some pill or surgery to be as good a 'fix' as you could do by changing some lifestyle.
He writes in a conversational style that is easy to read. I'm not sure if I agree with all his explanations for how our bodies work (he uses analogies a lot), but I do think his approach is effective for a majority of modern complaints. I'm not very good at making a self-assessment, as he suggests, by looking in a mirror but if someone else can help me identify the areas where I'm not aligned, his exercises are described and illustrated.… (plus d'informations)