Words of Wisdom

I don’t usually open forwards, but for whatever reason, I opened this one. I’m sure glad I did, and I wanted to make sure I shared it with you. Ninety-year-old Regina Brett celebrated her birthday by resubmitting her most popular column to Cleveland’s, The Plain Dealer. I love the folks of Regina’s generation. They have such a different outlook on life. They grew up in the Great Depression, many have lived through two World Wars, they experienced the Civil Rights Movement, not to mention many other huge landmark events in American history. I used to love talking to my wife’s great-grandfather. He died just short of 103 years old and was one of the last hourly employees of the Studebaker company. I would ask him simple, open-ended questions about his past and then just sit back and listen. I feel like Ms. Brett would keep me just as captivated.

Enjoy and learn.

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Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.
It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.
My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch..
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27. Always choose life..
28. Forgive everyone for everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life.. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come….
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.“

The Truth About Scoliosis

This is a great post from Matt Whitehead in our Portland clinic about scoliosis. We see A LOT of clients with scoliosis. Just yesterday I talked with a new client about scoliosis because he, his wife and one of his children all have it. We talked about the structural implications of scoliosis: pain, decreased function, fatigue due to inefficient movements. But, we also talked about the internal organs and how they are at risk as well. Scoliosis can lead to circulatory problems, respiratory problems, and digestive issues, just to name a few.

A lot of clients have had surgery recommended to help ‘fix’ the problem, but they don’t understand that surgery is doing nothing more than treating the symptom and masking the underlying problem. One of the common procedures is to implant a metal rod in the back to help ’straighten’ it. We have actually seen clients who have had a rod placed in their back only to have it break because of the insane amount of pressure that is still being place on their spine. Unfortunately, no one paid attention to the shoulders sitting above the spine and the hips sitting below the spine. If they would have addressed the body as a unit, as one system, they would have prevented a lot of wasted time and money, and a lot of unnecessary pain.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from scoliosis, this post is a MUST READ!

Can the Broken be Fixed?

I believe so. Honestly. Whether it’s your faucet, your brakes, or your knee, I believe in things being fixable. I came across this blog post by Lindsey Nobles and it really got me thinking. I don’t know Lindsey, nor do I know her story, but as a result of her story, she now has a new (and from the sounds of it, healthier) outlook on life. Her post today is about how we don’t appreciate what we have until it’s broken. Isn’t that so true?

It’s amazing how we focus on the negative and rarely the positive. For example, the car brakes down and it’s going to cost $1000 to fix, yet there’s no mention of the hours, days, and months we’ve driven it without any problems. When all systems were ‘go’, we didn’t think a thing of it, nor appreciate what we had in a perfectly running car.

Lindsey puts it as simply as one probably can: “We take perfection for granted.” WOW! That speaks, doesn’t it? Perfection is exactly what we have with the human body. There are no design flaws. It’s a perfect creation, and yet, only when it’s ‘broken’ do we snap to attention to address the problem. Of course, if you know anything about Egoscue or have read any of the other posts here, you know that I don’t believe your knee pain means your body is ‘broken.’ Instead, it’s simply your body’s way of getting your attention. Just like your car, it’s alerting you to the fact that something isn’t quite right, and extra attention is needed. The good news is that BOTH are fixable.

Lindsey, if you happen to read this, let me say ‘Thank you’ for your post this morning. There is so much truth bottled up in your words. It took your iPhone breaking (which, as a fellow Mac user, sucks, by the way!) to allow you to reflect and bring you to a new level of realization. There is a lot of wisdom in your words, and I hope those reading your post will be changed.

The Body is AMAZING

We see clients suffering from all types of chronic pain. Knees, however, seem to be a consistent symptom. For a lot of clients, their cartilage is wearing away. They are told they need a knee replacement, and they usually walk in our doors hoping to ‘delay the inevitable’. Their knee is bone-on-bone, they get an x-ray to confirm the doc’s hunch (now we have proof!) and there’s no other choice but to get a new joint, because, after all, you can’t regrow cartilage. A knee replacement is the client’s ‘health destiny’, and the sooner they realize that, the sooner they’ll get back to daily activities after they have it replaced. Sounds typical, right? Perhaps you’ve even had the talk with your orthopedic surgeon.

When Pete released Pain Free back in the early 90s, he made the claim that you can regrow cartilage and took a LOT of heat for saying so. Everyone thought he was crazy and dismissed his theory. If you don’t have a copy of Pain Free, here is what he has to say on page 107:

As for the ‘irreversible’ cartilage loss, why of all the tissue in the body would the cartilage by the only one that does not regenerate? The answer is that it does regenerate. Laboratory experiments in Sweden have shown that under the right conditions cartilage, like any tissue, can be grown. Moreover, sports medicine practitioners have long recognized that athletes increase their cartilage density and shock-absorbing capacity during proper training.

Once again, he was crucified for this statement. In his own words from Pain Free for Women he says, “That statement drew a barrage of criticism from doctors, researchers, and physical therapists. When cartilage is gone, they scolded me, it’s gone, and nothing short of a miracle will bring it back.”

Well, if it’s a miracle they want, then it’s a miracle they’ll get. Thanks to Rick Mathes in our Austin Clinic for providing these x-rays (read his full blog post about this client HERE). We had a client working with one of our therapists who was told he had to have his knee replaced. Take a look at the first picture from April, 2004 and you’ll understand why the doc suggested it:

To help explain what you’re looking at, it’s as if you are facing this client. His right knee is on your left. Notice that on the far left hand side of the image there is decreased space between the femur (upper leg bone) and the tibia (lower leg bone). Loss of cartilage, right? I agree. This guy is surely headed for a knee replacement…or is he?

Take a look at the second set of x-rays from July, 2005, just a little over a year after the first were taken. Notice the uniform spacing between the femur and tibia. It’s a miracle! The cartilage is regrown! While I agree the cartilage is regrown, I don’t believe it necessarily qualifies as miraculous. Instead, I believe the client took charge of his health and put faith in his body that it can heal itself. What a remarkable difference, and all without going under the knife. When you switch from being symptom-focused (i.e. loss of cartilage and needing a knee replacement) to being cause-focused (i.e. why did the cartilage degenerate?), a lot can happen. Change the position of the knee joint, give the cartilage room to grow, and it will.

I love that there is finally ‘proof’ that Pete was right all those years ago. The body is an engineering miracle. It’ll heal itself if you just give it an opportunity. Keep moving!

In Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today is MLK Day, and I can’t think of a better way to honor Dr. King than to watch his speech again and reflect on those powerful words that he delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

I’m somewhat of an American history junkie, and it baffles me to think that the Civil Rights Movement was such a short time ago. Doesn’t seem like it’s been that long, because it hasn’t been. Dr. King was a trailblazer. A risk-taker. Most of all, a leader.

I have to share a great post that I read this morning. There is such great wisdom in it.

Please do yourself a favor and read Michael Hyatt’s “Eight Leadership Lessons from Martin Luther King, Jr.” Michael is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers here in Nashville. Thomas Nelson Publishers is the largest Christian publishing company in the world and the seventh largest trade book publishing company in the U.S. It’s a great company with a great mission and from what I can tell through his writing, a great leader.

I love what Michael had to say about Dr. King’s speech:
I have only scratched the surface. This speech is full of lessons and deserves careful study. I would encourage you, in the spirit of this holiday, to sit down with your family and watch the entire speech. It is less than eighteen minutes long. It will change forever the way you understand Martin Luther King Day.

I couldn’t agree more. Sit down tonight and reflect on Dr. King’s words. I can’t wait until my son is old enough to understand the ramifications the words that were spoken on that day.

Tricks or Treats?

Matt Whitehead from our Egoscue Portland clinic sheds some light on why you hurt, and this is an especially great post for runners to read. The article he is referring to was in the NY Times last week and talks about the many ‘treatments’ individuals experience in physical therapy. Matt discusses what sets Egoscue apart from physical therapy and has included some great testimonials from runners who have worked with Egoscue. Here’s a taste of what he has to say:

The problem is the beliefs we have coming in are not allowing us to find the true cause because they are blinding us of the truth. If your doctor or physical therapist believes running is “hard on the body” and has “too much impact for your joints” then you are going to conclude running just isn’t good for you and you should stop running if you want to save your knees. But what happens when you quit running? Your knees might feel better for a couple months or years but later on in life they start hurting worse. You (and all your doctors, physical therapists, etc.) blame this on the running you used to do and finally you decide to get your knees replaced. Everyone involved in this scenario had the same belief coming in that running is “hard on the body” and has “too much impact for your joints.” This belief never allowed you to open your eyes to what was really causing the pain and thus you never found an answer to your pain (and we all know the knee replacement didn’t fix the problem because you are still limited in what you can do with your new knees).

Pretty eye-opening and hopefully focus-changing for those of you battling pain. Be sure to read the rest of the post HERE.

Disappearing Varicose Veins

I know it’s winter so you aren’t running around outside in your shorts or skirts, but as soon as January is over most folks around here make the change to spring and all that comes with it. It might be more of a mental change (hope?), but February brings the reminder that short and swimsuit season is just around the corner! So, how are those varicose veins treating you? For some of you they might be physically painful, but for the vast majority of you I would venture to guess that they are more painful to the eye than anything else. I’ve had clients who are embarrassed to wear shorts in the clinic because of what their legs look like due to their varicosities. If they aren’t comfortable in a one-on-one environment, think how self-conscious they must get in public.

I’m sure you’ve heard several reasons why you have them: prolonged standing, pregnancy, age, obesity, etc. But have you ever stopped to actually think through these ’causes’? And, have you ever thought about why you have them on one leg and not the other? Or, why they are worse on one ankle or knee than the other? Think back to the ’causes’ from above. Wouldn’t all of these ’causes’ result in the varicosities being equal on both sides of the body? Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you’re standing with two leg, your varicose veins should be the same. My wife has birthed one child and our second is one the way. Varicose veins? Nope. My sister has birthed two kids. Varicose veins? Yep. So, is pregnancy really to blame? I don’t think so. And, what about ‘age’ being a cause? If age is to blame, your varicosities should look exactly the same on both sides of the body. If one knee has more varicose veins than the other (and if age is the contributing factor), that would suggest that your knees are different ages…right? And, when age is used as a ’cause’, I always sit back and wonder when I’ll turn that magical age and be given the ‘gift’ of varicose veins! Is it 32, 47, 51, 65? And then there’s obesity. While I agree that being overweight isn’t healthy, I don’t believe it’s a determining factor with varicose veins. If it is, and your varicosities aren’t equal on both sides of your body, that means that one side, or knee, or ankle, is ‘fatter’ than the other. That just doesn’t make sense.

So, enough about the actual veins. Let’s get to why I’m writing on this subject. I’m writing to give you hope that you don’t have to have them! No, I’m not talking about getting them injected with saline. And, I’m not talking about expensive and uncomfortable compression socks. I’m talking about actually getting rid of them: getting to the “WHY” behind having them in the first place.

For those of you who know about Egoscue or have read my articles before, you know we look at the body from a posture perspective. We look at ‘position’ of the body rather than ‘condition’ of the body. The good news is that your circulatory system and varicose veins are no different!

Take a look at this photo:

Does anything look ‘off’ to you? First of all, notice the difference between the varicosities when comparing her left and right legs. Her veins are much worse on the left leg than the right. Obviously there’s a huge difference in the before and after photos. It looks like the treatment worked, but expand your view. Look at her knee and foot/ankle position. Notice the different angles her femurs (big leg bone) are sitting at. Her left femur is at a much greater angle toward the knee joint, and as a result, the tibia and fibula are now traveling down at an angle toward the ankle joint/foot. Keep in mind that the femur should be sitting directly above the tibia in a straight line. Also take note of the direction her knee caps are pointing. They should be pointing straight back toward the camera. And, her feet should be pointing at the camera as well. Notice that her knee caps and feet not only turn out, but they turn out at different angles. Her left foot and knee cap are pointed to 11 o’clock while her right foot and knee cap are pointed to 2 o’clock. This is a recipe for disaster!

The circulatory system can’t function properly in this environment. Think about your circulatory system in terms of a highway. Now, imagine that highway under construction. If you take four lanes of traffic and reroute everyone to a one-lane side road, things will slow down. Yes, things will be moving, but there will be a serious traffic jam! Your circulatory system is no different. With the ankle and knee joints in a compromised position (‘under construction’), you are now asking four lanes of traffic to take to the backroads. Yes, you’ll get to where you’re doing, but there will be a slowing down; a domino effect.

It’s not the fault of standing too long, being pregnant, age or obesity (or even a faulty valve). It’s nothing more than a posture problem. Remember: position vs. condition. So, how do we correct the cause, rather than treating the effect? Honestly, it’s simple. The e-cise below, called Supine Groin Progressive or “The Tower”, will help reconnect the kinetic chain and get your ankle, knee, and hip functioning as a unit again. The Tower is THE key aspect of our therapy. It’s the most powerful e-cise we have. It’s designed to bring the ankle, knee, hip and shoulder joints back to their proper position while allowing the muscles of the body to return to their proper length and tension. If you don’t have the Tower, you can find it at www.therapyzone.com. For those of you struggling with any type of chronic pain, it will most definitely help that as well.

As always, don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions. Keep moving!

New Research on Running Barefoot

I just got Christopher McDougall’s “Born to Run” for Christmas, and I can’t wait to dive into it! I’ve heard amazing things about the book, and I’m a huge advocate of barefoot running. The latest study, published just last month, further propels the thinking that, “less is best” when it comes to your shoes. Ladies, did you know that your running shoe causes more stress on your lower load joints than a high-heeled shoe? Pretty fascinating study. Read more here.

Burst Training

I’ve been doing some research on burst training after some friends of mine turned me on to it.  I gotta admit, it’s a very interesting concept.  Here is burst training in a nutshell: When you workout, you are either burning fats or sugars.  When you are finished working out, your body burns the opposite of what was burned during your workout, and continues to do so for the next day or so.  So, if you are in your ‘fat-burning zone’ during your workout, then you will be burning sugars for the day or two following.  Sounds good, right?  What if I told you that sugars are stored in your muscles, and instead of burning fats for two days after your workout, you are instead burning the muscles that you’re trying to build?  Sounds not-so-good, right?  Here is where burst training comes in.  Research is showing that shorter intervals (bursts of any exercise for 20-60 seconds, repeated for 3-4 sets) get you in your sugar-burning zone.  If you’re in your sugar-burning zone during your workout, that means that you will be burning fat (while holding onto the muscle) for the day or two following your workout.  I’m guessing I now have your attention!  And, the TOTAL time of your workout will be about 10 minutes, including resting in between the sets.  That’s my kind of workout!

You can find burst training videos and sample workouts at healthyoates.com compliments of Nathan and Jenni Oates.  They have a remarkable story and are all-around great people.  Let me know what you think.  I’ll keep you posted as I embark on my new burst training journey.  Keep moving!

The Magic Mouth Guard?

This article caught my eye in the NY Times the other day.  The claim is that new technologically advanced mouth guards can actually increase your performance, make you stronger, jump higher, run faster, leap over buildings in a single bound, etc., etc.  Basically, as the subject of the article claims, the mouth guard makes you “Superman”.  The research indicates that as this mouth guard realigns the jaw into a more relaxed position, the athlete is then in a better position to get more oxygen into his or her lungs, and the body performs better.  While I don’t doubt the validity of this statement (actually, I agree with it 100%) or the statistics, I am a little leery about the artificial repositioning of the jaw/head to achieve the results.

Why not realign the whole body, rather than just spot-treating the symptom area?  Why not make sure the shoulders and hips are properly aligned so as not to compress the diaphragm?  And, let’s make sure the knees and ankles are doing their jobs from the ground-up to help provide a solid basis of support for the hips and shoulders.  Let’s take a real-life example from one of our clinics in Japan.  This is a before/after picture that absolutely blows my mind.  This is the difference in ONE VISIT.  She is a rice farmer and spends her days hunched over.  Look at the impact it has had on her body.  You think she doesn’t have some breathing issues, let along chronic pain?

Now, for an image that might resonate a bit better with you, think of the position of a cyclist.  Let your mind take you back to Lance Armstrong during the Tour de’France.  If you’ve clicked on the link to the full NY Times article above, you’ll notice the subject of the article is a cyclist.  Look at the position he’s in.  Wouldn’t it make sense that someone with a rounded upper back and a forward head like the person pictured above would have breathing issues?  The same is true for the subject of the article, it’s true for Lance Armstrong, and it’s true for the vast majority of us walking the streets today.  Our postures are compromised, and are bodies are becoming more and more inefficient.  In both examples–the Japanese client, and the cyclist–the thorax gets compressed, the lungs get compromised, the head comes into hard cervical extension in an attempt to look straight ahead, and the end result is extremely inefficient movement, but in this case specifically, inefficient breathing.

Now, I’m not saying that Lance Armstrong or the subject of the article aren’t amazing athletes.  You and I both know they are.  For my money, he’s arguably one of the greatest athletes ever.  What I am proposing is that I believe Lance can get even more from his body.  Bold statement?  Yes.  True statement?  Without a doubt.  For as good as he is, his body is moving inefficiently.  Check out these two pictures, and I’ll show you what I mean:

In the running photo, notice his everted (duck footed) left foot, and everted left knee.  If he’s running north/south (i.e. straight ahead), why are his knee and foot traveling east/west?  I’m also seeing an elevated right shoulder and his upper body is laterally flexed to his left.  Once again, he’s running north/south with an upper body that’s traveling east/west.  If the femur is externally rotated, the primary hip flexor muscle (iliopsoas), which attaches to the femur, the pelvis and the lumbar spine, isn’t working properly, and because the diaphragm attaches to the lumbar spine at essentially the same place as the psoas major, we can assume he isn’t breathing properly.  All we have to do is connect the dots…it’s just that simple.

Let’s take a look at the bike photo.  Left knee and foot are still pointed out to the side, although the degree of eversion is less here due to Lance being clipped into this pedals.  But, that begs the question: Where is the difference being made up?  His knee and foot want to evert, they just can’t.  Is he compensating in his hips?  Shoulder?  Mid-back?  Opposite side of his body?  Where is he compensating so that his body can get him from point A to point B?  I’d love to find out, because I guarantee it’s happening somewhere.  And, notice that if you look directly over his left shoulder, you can see the arch in his mid-back.  He’s extremely developed in his erector muscles (the muscles that run up and down his spine).  They are doing a HUGE amount of work for him; most likely more work than they are designed to do.  From the Egoscue perspective, this spells trouble.  It could result in hip pain, a herniated disc in his low back, even a torn rotator cuff, but regardless of the symptom location, it’s most likely on its way.

The bottom line is, don’t treat your symptoms, but instead cure the reason they are there. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself for it.  You’ll be pain free, limitation free and moving MUCH more efficiently.