Oregon Exercise Therapy Blog | Egoscue Blog - Oregon Exercise Therapy

Studies Show Meniscus Surgery No Better Than Placebo

2/24/2025

When you have knee pain and go to your doctor or physical therapist for evaluation, getting told you have a meniscus tear after a thorough evaluation or MRI is very common. You might be told you need surgery to fix the meniscus tear and then you'll be pain free, but is this true?

The most common surgery for a meniscus tear is an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (which also happens to be the most common orthopedic surgery performed in the United States). The procedure uses small scopes to remove torn meniscal fragments and trimming the meniscus back to a stable rim. This is supposed to allow your meniscus to return to doing its stabilizing and shock absorbing job without causing you pain or limitation. But does the surgery really work?

New Research on Posture using Advanced Computer Modeling

1/29/2025

New research was published recently that uses Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) to investigate what muscles are involved in upright posture and imbalances like forward head posture (FHP) or dropped head syndrome (DHS).

Forward Head Posture

Visual of the thoracic and cervical spine with forward head posture

What is THUMS?

THUMS, developed by Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc, is an advanced computerized model of the human body that has been used for crash testing along side regular physical crash test dummies. THUMS can simulate many different human aspects of human form from skin to bone to muscle to internal organs, allowing researchers to understand the extend of injuries people might suffer from any type of accident.

Why this research was done

The researchers wanted to figure out a way to measure what muscles are responsible for maintaining good upright posture and what muscles are not working correcting that cause certain posture imbalances. In the introduction to the study they discuss the challenge of this:

Although muscle activity can be measured using electromyography (EMG), this method is limited to a small number of muscles on the body surface. Muscles involved in spinal movements, such as the flexion and extension of the head and neck are located deep within the body, making it challenging to measure their activity and placing a significant burden on study participants during experiments.

They go on to say:

Conversely, predicting muscle activity through simulation using a human body model is useful for understanding the mechanisms underlying the development of DHS and the effects of rehabilitation. Recent advances in the construction of human body models using computer simulations and finite element (FE) analysis have enabled a detailed analysis of the complex dynamics of the musculoskeletal system. This study aimed to determine the effect of individual muscle activities on the maintenance of an upright posture using a human body FE model to elucidate the mechanism underlying the onset of symptoms related to spinal asymmetry.

How Does Playing on a Sports Team Benefit You?

1/16/2025

Playing on a sports team has many benefits for your body and mind and this is regardless of your age (yes adults can benefit greatly as well as kids).

Some benefits of playing sports on a team include:

improved muscle tone and bone density
improved self esteem and confidence
learning to work as a team for a greater goal
learning to help and accept help from others
decreased depression and anxiety
and many more!

Learn more:

Walking and it's amazing health benefits

1/16/2025

Walking has so many health benefits and no you don't need to walk 10,000 steps a day to see these benefits. Even modest increases in the number of steps you take a day can lead to many wonderful benefits. Learn how and why walking is so powerful and how neighborhoods and cities can be designed to help people get more steps.

Learn more:

Exercise may be the most potent medical intervention ever known

1/16/2025

Exercise causes a mirror image reversal of disease.
The moderate stress exercise causes prepares our bodies to deal with the stress of everyday life.
Exercise reduces the risk of heart disease by 50%, the risk of most cancers by 50%, reduces the risk of back pain, and helps people sleep better.
Exercise causes the heat shock response that causes improvements in the heart, lungs, and muscles, but also in the kidneys, adrenal gland, brain, and intestines.

Key takeaway: 1 minute of exercises buys you 5 minutes of extra life!

Learn more:

The Profound Benefits of Heavy Weightlifting on Bone Health with Dr. Peter Attia

1/16/2025

Related to my last couple blog posts about bone density and how to build and maintain bone density with jumping and heavy weightlifting, below is a video where Dr. Peter Attia interviews the head researcher of the LiftMOR study Belinda Beck, Ph.D. about the study and how to apply the principles to your life.

Some key topics they discuss are:

How strength training can lead to improvement in posture and height
How strength training can reduce fall risk and fracture risk, especially in older people
How strength training not only leads to improved bone density and quality, but also improved grip strength, balance, back extensor strength, and quality of life overall

Learn more:

Building Bone Density and Bone Quality with Heavy Lifting

1/9/2025

I've talked about how important bone density and bone quality are throughout our lives and how you can build and maintain bone health with heel drops and drop jumps. Another great way to build bone health is with heavy weight lifting.

"Heavy" is the key word. For bone mineral density and bone quality to increase, you need to lift heavy weights. In my previous article about building bone healthy with jumping, I talked the higher the G forces produced, the more positive the bone adaptations will be. The same goes for strength training or weight lifting - the heavier the weight/higher the force, the more positive changes we will see in bones.

Building Bone Density and Bone Quality with Jumping

11/22/2024

Bone density and bone quality are essential to a long healthy life. Lowered bone density and bone quality increase risk of fractures and negatively impact quality of life. Bone is living tissue that is constantly getting broken down and rebuilt. If we are breaking down bone faster than we are rebuilding it, we end up losing bone density and quality and can end up with osteopenia or osteoporosis.

During childhood, bone density and quality are built naturally through physical activity or exercise. What types of physical exercise? Exercise or activity that creates high G-forces, specifically forces over 4 Gs.

Lower Back Pain

10/29/2024

Back pain and especially lower back pain is one of the most common problems people deal with. Over 620 million people deal with back pain every year worldwide and back pain causes people in the United States to lose over 83 million work days a year. Back pain costs billions in health care every year with lower back pain costing over $50 billion a year.

Back pain can be very debilitating and the most common treatments people use are over the counter pain killers, rest, heat, massage, physical therapy, injections, muscle relaxants, acupuncture, antidepressants, and surgery. Most of these only treat the symptom of back pain and do not fix the underlying cause of back pain.

Neck pain and posture

7/11/2024

Neck pain will affect 7 out of 10 people in their lifetime and can be quite painful. The most common types of neck pain include:

muscle pain or spasm
nerve pain
bone or facet joint pain
referral or radicular pain

If you have neck pain, you might have been diagnosed with any of the following:

herniated disc or prolapsed disc
spinal stenosis
degenerative disc disease or bone spurs
osteoarthritis
whiplash
facet syndrome
fibromyalgia

It's important to remember that the diagnosis doesn't tell us what caused the problem or how to fix it. Let me explain...

Lets say you have neck pain and were diagnosed with a herniated disc. That's great information to have, but it doesn't tell you what caused the herniated disc. You can treat the herniated disc, but if you don't find and fix the underlying cause of the herniation you're just kicking the bucket down the road.

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

Storybrand Website Design by Red Door Designs

Photos from mynameisharsha, Jon Grado