Category: Exercise

What causes injuries?

7/26/2022

The cause of injuries has been debated for centuries with the blame often going to:

bad luck
old age
overuse
genetics
overtraining
not wearing supportive shoes
running or jumping on hard surfaces
nutritional deficiencies
poor technique
not cross training
incorrect warm-up

In cases not involving blunt trauma, injuries and pain are caused simply by dysfunctional joints. Healthy or functional joints maintain joint centration during movement and return to a neutral starting point immediately after movement.

Joint centration is another way to saying optimal joint alignment. This is the most beneficial or optimal alignment of the joint surfaces to properly support the body and external forces and allow the desired movement. Joint centration allows balanced distribution of loads on the joint surfaces and supporting structures.

Injuries are prevented, or at least minimized, by maintaining healthy joints. How do you know if you have healthy joints?

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New Egoscue ePete 2.0 software

2/21/2019

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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.

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New Egoscue client iPhone and Android apps

2/21/2019

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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.

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Ecise of the Month: Cats & Dogs

10/31/2018

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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.

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Why Runners Need to Strengthen the Upper Back

10/30/2018

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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.

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E-cise of the Month: Walking

6/7/2018

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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.

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What is a successful exercise program?

1/9/2018

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In this blog post I'm going to talk about the components of the successful exercise program. When I talk about successful, I'm not talking about helping you lose 15 pounds over a month or two, or helping you drop 2 dress sizes, or getting you in shape for your wedding.

Successful to me is a lot less about short term visual goals and a lot more about long term health and wellness. If you're overweight, losing 15 pounds is great, but if you don't keep the weight off for good, it had little to no real benefit to your life.

Successful exercise programs help you:

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E-cise of the Month: Bear Crawl

12/28/2017

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This month I am going to highlight the Bear Crawl. The Bear Crawl is an amazing e-cise that almost everyone can do, but many people do it incorrectly.

When done correctly, the Bear Crawl has many benefits and can improve movement, posture, and performance. When done incorrectly, the Bear Crawl can reinforce bad movement patterns, poor posture, and cause pain and injury.

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10 Things That Hijack Your Baby's Physical Development

12/12/2017

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Nature designed a beautiful and fool-proof way for newborn infants to develop into strong and capable children and then adults. A newborn human baby goes from completely helpless to walking in the first year of life because of this beautiful process. During the first year of life, this process involves 10 sequential yet overlapping phases of physical development which I discussed here. When this process happens as nature intended it, we get healthy, strong, and happy toddlers.

There are however 10 things that can hijack your baby's physical development which can mean your baby is not as healthy, happy, or strong as they could be. When this development is hijacked, your child might be more susceptible to injury, obesity, and chronic pain throughout life.

What causes injuries?

New Egoscue ePete 2.0 software

New Egoscue client iPhone and Android apps

Ecise of the Month: Cats & Dogs

Why Runners Need to Strengthen the Upper Back

E-cise of the Month: Walking

What is a successful exercise program?

E-cise of the Month: Bear Crawl

10 Things That Hijack Your Baby's Physical Development

Move it or lose it!

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