Oregon Exercise Therapy Blog | Egoscue Blog - Oregon Exercise Therapy

New Pain Free book by Pete Egoscue!

12/14/2021

Pete Egoscue rewrote his best-selling book Pain Free and recently released it. Much of the book is rewritten and new and defiantly worth checking out.

"The ideas that Pete Egoscue brings to the world of nonoperative orthopedics are thoughtful, insightful, a bit controversial but undeniably USEFUL! In this book you will find very practical and quite often amazingly effective advice for dealing with joint pains and contractors. I have used many of Pete's thought-processes (and E-cises) in caring for my patients over the years; they work quite often, quite well. This is a short, easy-to-read, and actually pretty interesting book-buy it, read through-sooner or later you're going to need it!"

- Scott V. Haig, M.D., assistant clinical professor of orthopedic surgery, Columbia University, author of Orthopedic Emergencies: A Radiographic Atlas

"We have seen firsthand how Pete Egoscue's method has cured people who suffered with chronic pain for years. He helped transform Sonia from a young mother with debilitating back pain to a strong, confident, active woman. Our entire family and network of friends have relied on The Egoscue Method to help our bodies achieve their original design, thereby freeing us from pain and unleashing our full potential. The same can happen for you. No one knows the body like Pete Egoscue. He is a genius, a marvel, and a movement, and this book can literally and legitimately change our world, one body at a time."

- Sonia and Paul Tudor Jones

Buy your copy of Pete Egoscue's new Pain Free book here.

Tips for Improving Your Posture at Home - Q & A with Experts

10/21/2021

I was featured as an expert in a recent article published on Porch.com talking about tips for improving your posture at home. Below is an excerpt and link the full article:

From working in a home office to cleaning, follow these simple tips given by our experts for good posture at home and watch your life improve, remember to stay active and do some stretching and the correct exercises as often as possible to keep your body limber and strong.

How can you improve your posture?
Wearing minimalist shoes can significantly help improve your posture. This is because traditional shoes raise the heel anywhere from 14-25mm, whereas zero-drop or minimal-drop shoes can range from 0-6mm on average. A more flexible sole may seem counterintuitive, however, the supple footbed does not restrict the foot’s natural movement and encourages full range of motion not just of the feet, but also the hips, knees, ankles, and pelvis. When you switch to minimalist shoes, it’s likely that you’ll start to notice improved posture when you stand or walk, as well as reduced pain in the back, knees, and hips.
Andrea Canavan from Lems Shoes

What are the long-term risks of bad posture?
Stresses on the body’s internal processes, hunching over will put pressure on the abdomen area and the chest, which will lead to poor digestion. Limiting oxygen supply is also a factor in poor posture, when you open your body out, it allows your body to breathe in more effectively reaching the vital organs. Bad posture over time will lead to a misaligned spine, known as vertical subluxation. This means the spinal discs are prone to degrade, constriction to blood vessels and you’re more likely to be linked to conditions such as arthritis in different areas of the body such as the knees. Over time stress and strain to bones, joints, and ligaments is very common.
Max Swire from Back Pain Help

What are the most common posture related issues?
The most common posture related symptoms are lower back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, and knee pain. Posture imbalances cause these symptoms are thoracic flexion (rounding of the upper back), forward head posture, swayback (hips forward of the ankles and shoulders behind the hips), and anterior pelvic tilt (pelvis tilted down in the front). When addressing these posture imbalances to help eliminate pain and improve performance, it is important to treat the body as a unit. This means even if someone has forward head posture and neck pain, we don’t want to just focus on the head and neck but look at the rest of the body to figure out the underlying cause of the forward head posture. In this case, we will often see thoracic flexion and swayback posture. Swayback posture is usually caused by weakness in the hip and pelvic muscles and because of this weakness the hips don’t have the strength to support the spine and upper body. This causes the hips to move forward and the upper back to take over the stability work of the body.
Matt Whitehead from Oregon Exercise Therapy

Continue reading here.

Zoom therapy during COVID

2/11/2021

Since March 2020 the United States and the rest of the world have been dealing with the coronavirus and COVID-19. We have all been dealing with staying at home, working remotely, having our kids at home for virtual school, wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding social gatherings, missing seeing family and friends in person, and trying to deal with the same everyday stresses. Businesses have closed. Many people have lost their jobs. Some have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Others are dealing with long-term effects of having had COVID-19.

One thing we shouldn't have to deal with on top of all the above stresses, is musculoskeletal pain.

The way most of our lives have changed in the last year has meant decreased physical activity. Many of us have been unable to go to gyms regularly, meet with running, hiking, or cycling groups, go to our yoga studios, and because we've been on lockdown or just staying at home we are walking and moving much less than ideal. This decreased movement can lead to lower back pain, knee pain, tension headaches, achy shoulders, and neck pain. Many people have been unable to get their regular massages or acupuncture, see their osteopath or chiropractor as usual, haven't been able to do Pilates, yoga, or see their personal trainer weekly, and this is exacerbating their pain symptoms.

But this doesn't mean you have to live in pain until COVID-19 is gone and life is back to normal.

You can do online live Posture Alignment Therapy over Zoom from the comfort and safety of your home! I've been seeing clients 100% online since March 2019 and have helped hundreds of people improve their posture and eliminate their pain using Zoom video therapy.

Virtual or video therapy works the exact same as in-person in-clinic therapy.

It's a one-on-one hour long appointment where we discuss your pain, evaluate your posture, perform functional tests and gait analysis, and walk you through personalized e-cises. I've been doing video therapy with clients for over 15 years so I'm very experienced in doing therapy this way, but clients who are brand new to this idea have been blown away with how effective and easy it is. I just email you a Zoom link which you click at your appointment time and that's it. After your appointment I email your ecise menu to you which includes pictures, descriptions, and videos of all your therapy exercises.

You don't have to live in pain another day. Contact me today for your free 30-minute posture evaluation on Zoom.

Luckily vaccines are being distributed and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully soon we can start getting back to eating at restaurants and bars, reopening our businesses, traveling, and most importantly seeing friends and family again. In the mean time, get and stay pain free with Zoom video therapy.

New clinic location!

2/28/2019

Oregon Exercise Therapy has moved to a new clinic location. We are still in downtown Portland, but now in the Terminal Sales Building at 1220 SW Morrison St. Ste 1115, Portland, OR 97205.

My new office includes 270 degree views of downtown Portland, Mount Hood, and the West Hills.

Daytime looking east - too cloudy for Mount Hood

Nighttime looking east

Daytime looking west

Nighttime looking west

While I no longer have free parking at my building (bummer), there is lots of street parking, close by garages (like Smart Park at SW 10th and Morrison St.), and the Max and Streetcar super close.

New Egoscue ePete 2.0 software

2/21/2019

The Egoscue Posture Therapy software called ePete which has been used by Egoscue therapists around the world for almost 2 decades has undergone a major update and is all new. ePete 2.0 is best-in-class modern technology now used by Egoscue Clinics and Egoscue Institute certified Posture Alignment Therapists around the world including Oregon Exercise Therapy.

ePete 2.0 allows your Egoscue therapist to create highly sophisticated personalized ecise menus designed to restore your posture and eliminate your pain allowing you to live a pain free and active life.

Your Egoscue menus created with ePete 2.0 are viewable on the new Egoscue client iPhone and Android/Google apps. Learn more about the Egoscue client apps here.

New Egoscue client iPhone and Android apps

2/21/2019

Egoscue has recently updated their proprietary posture alignment therapy software called ePete. With the update of ePete, there has also been an update of the client mobile phone apps used to view your personalized Egoscue menus created by Oregon Exercise Therapy. Download your Egoscue iPhone app or Egoscue Android/Google app today.

Client login screen - enter your email address and password to login

Client menu screen - this page will list all your Egoscue menus. Click on a menu to view it.

Click on an ecise within your menu to see sets, reps, and time for the ecise.

Click on "feedback" to give feedback on each ecise as you do your menu. This sends feedback directly to your therapist.

Click on "images" to see a picture of the ecise.

Click on "videos" to watch a video of the ecise.

Click on "instructions" to see detailed instructions of the ecise.

Click on "favorite" (the star in bottom right) to add the ecise to your list of favorite ecises.

Download your Egoscue iPhone app or Egoscue Android/Google app today.

Ecise of the Month: Cats & Dogs

10/31/2018

Cats and Dogs is a wonderful ecise that I highly recommend everyone do daily. Cats and Dogs reminds our pelvis and spine to flex and extend and it unlocks our body from the constant flexion many of us spend our days in. Cats and Dogs also restores symmetry and balance to our bodies by reminding both hips, shoulders, and sides of our back to do the same thing. Many of us are one-side dominate which creates rotation and/or elevation of our hips or shoulders, and cats and dogs can help restore balance. I recommend doing at least 10 cats and dogs every morning and evening, but feel free to do them anytime you want.

Start on your hands and knees with your fingers pointed straight ahead.
Be sure your hips are directly above your knees and that your shoulders are directly above your hands.
For the Cat position: Pull your hips under, push your upper back toward the ceiling, and pull your chin toward your chest as you breathe out.

For the Dog position: Roll your hips forward to put an arch in your lower back, collapse your shoulder blades together, and look up as you breathe in.
Move slowly back and forth between the Cat and Dog positions 10 times.

Related articles/videos:
Swimmer's posture
How posture affects lung capacity
Neck curvature and car accidents
Cats and Dogs

Why Runners Need to Strengthen the Upper Back

10/30/2018

I was interviewed for an article about upper back strength by mapmyrun and provided three simple exercises to improve posture and upper back strength and function which will allow you to run more efficiently and help prevent injury.

Check out the entire article and try the exercises today and notice how it impacts your running.

Related articles/videos:
How shoulder posture affects running performance
Running strengthens intervertebral discs
Running warm-up and cool-down
Does running help or hurt your knees?

Correct Toes and Barefoot Style Shoes

6/22/2018

Have you ever dealt with pain from bunions, hammer toes, plantar fasciitis, or Achilles tendonitis?

Do your feet get tired or sore by the end of the day?

Are you dealing with corns, calluses, blisters, or ingrown toenails?

Do you have balance issues, feel unstable, or frequently sprain your ankles?

These are all very common side effects that come from losing good foot posture and function which can be caused by not-ideal footwear and the loss of foot/toe strength and mobility.

E-cise of the Month: Walking

6/7/2018

Walking is almost as essential for human health as drinking water and eating food is. The human body is designed to walk and walking helps maintain our physical, mental, and emotional health. Every movement a baby makes from birth to 1-year-old is to help prepare for walking. Walking is essential to for brain development, immune response, digestion, and circulation.

Walking has been shown to lift our mood, boost creativity, increase metabolism, improve sleep, boost brain power, decrease pain, and decrease stress. Walking, like other exercise, can add up to seven years to our life and is considered a miracle drug because it helps prevent cancer, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, and many other problems.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS HAVE TO SAY

I really just wanted to express my gratitude for what you do and your great help. And, great help it was!! When one is in constant great pain for as long as I was and so desperate for help...words cannot express what I want to say....how can I thank you enough? You helped change my life.
– Carrie

I feel soooo limber and free in my hip movements and relaxed in my low back. Outstanding and I'm very impressed with the pdf's and the videos, great support to the client. Wonderful job, keep up the great job. – Mike

It is amazing! I've been in pain for 5 years and worked with other therapists and no one has been able to help me. Working with you I am 95% pain free! It feels so good to not have any pain and be able to walk and do things I haven't been able to do for years. Thank you so much! - Joni

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Photos used under Creative Commons from mynameisharsha, Jon Grado