The Golden Bear talks about Egoscue

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus has been a longtime Egoscue client.  He’s written forwards for Pete’s books and is a firm believer in the power of the Method.  He’s currently hosting The Memorial Tournament at Murfield in Dublin, Ohio and mentions his work with Egoscue in a pre-tournment interview.  Here is what Jack had to say:

“I work with Egoscue for the body and he teaches you to be responsible for your own health, in your own physical health. And I guess that’s been — and I’ve done his exercises for over 20 years and he teaches you to understand yourself.”

You can read the full interview here.

Another Blogger’s Story

I came across this blog yesterday. Sounds like she’s definitely getting some relief from Pete’s Pain Free book. If you haven’t read the book, I would go so far as to say it’s a must read. You can find it in any major bookstore or at amazon.com. Read the first three chapters and then go to the chapter of whatever hurts–back, knee, headaches, etc.

Keep moving!

http://ctytri.sweat365.com/2008/05/12/pete-egoscue-might-just-save-my-life/

John Lynch and Egoscue Offseason Workout

Denver Broncos All-Pro Safety and future Hall-of-Famer John Lynch is out to prove the naysayers wrong.  Some believe that Lynch is past his prime.  Some believe that he doesn’t have much, if any, left in the tank.  Some would love not seeing #47 on the field for his 16th season next year.  The good news is that none of them are actually John Lynch.  Lynch was recently featured in the Rocky Mountain News and discussed his career and offseason Egoscue workout.  Lynch has been coming to Egoscue since he was in high school at Torrey Pines HS just down the road from out Del Mar headquarters.  This offseason he headed back to San Diego rather than staying in Denver to train with the team, and it sounds like the decision is paying off.  Best of luck to John and all the members of the Egoscue family who are working hard to stay out of pain.

Lynch trying to disprove skeptics

Lynch believes his play this year will silence detractors

By Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky/2007

John Lynch is “training to be the best I can be this year” and isn’t making any commitments about whether his 16th season in the NFL will be his last. “We’ll see again next year,” he said.

John Lynch has found another muse beyond his usual offseason, self-motivation tactics: doubt.

It’s not his own misgivings but the skepticism of others that drives the Broncos safety as he goes through three daily workouts, seven days a week.

Lynch is convinced there’s a segment in his own organization that believes his time as a full-time player has perhaps come and gone.

And while he has been down this path before, when a neck injury led to his release by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004, the vibe feels different this time.

Having to take a pay cut in early March just to stay in Denver was one signal about his current standing in the organization’s eyes. Even more telling was the cold shoulder he believes he received from some within the organization after his decision to return.

Both, he said, let him know how he’s perceived at this juncture of his career.

“I think there’s a split among the staff,” Lynch said Wednesday after recognizing the academic, athletic and community achievements of young student leaders at his “Salute the Stars” program’s annual banquet. “Some were happy for me to come back and some didn’t say anything — which tells you something.”

Lynch believes coach Mike Shanahan is in his corner, “but there were some people who probably felt they were better without me” or, more succinctly, that he had become a “situational player.”

Lynch, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, including each of the past four seasons, admitted that running into such resistance was “hard to figure out” and that it “woke me up a little.”

But he said he’s not blind to his advancing football age, acknowledging that while “there are things you lose,” hard work and experience can help combat those deficiencies.

Lynch is combating his skeptics by trying to whip himself into the best shape of his life.

“You don’t get your feelings hurt, because if you’ve been around this long, it’s going to happen,” he said. “You look at the great players, Hall of Fame players, it’s happened to and it’s just the nature of the beast in this game. But while your feelings aren’t hurt, your pride hurts a little. And I’m going to show them — that’s my attitude.”

Lynch, 37 in September, likely will be a starter at a minicamp that begins May 19, but it more reflects his accumulated time on the Broncos roster than his roster standing. Hamza Abdullah, free-agent pickups Marlon McCree and Marquand Manuel and draftee Josh Barrett will get their chances to impress this summer, and the best two will win out.

“I’ve never been afraid of competition. But it’s a little different in that the last 12 years of my career, I’ve had a job and it was someone’s job to come and beat me out,” Lynch said, adding he has been assured he’ll get a fair shot at a full-time job. “This year, I don’t think at this position there are any jobs. There are four or five guys and they’re saying, ‘Have at it.’ It kind of fires me up.”

Lynch is working out in San Diego, apart from the Broncos’ offseason strength and conditioning program. But he stressed that has more to do with family issues and a comfort level with his longtime personal trainer, Pete Egoscue, than any issues with the team.

Lynch said he has Shanahan’s blessing and Broncos strength coach Rich Tuten, whom the safety said he admires, also is on board with his regimen.

“I kind of wanted to get back to my roots,” Lynch said.

And the goal of his workouts?

“I’m trying to turn back time. I’m doing everything I can to do that. And while Pro Bowls aren’t everything, I have made the last four and it wasn’t a fluke. I can still play the game at a high level and am ready to play it at an even higher level this year.”

As his charitable foundation extols, life is about striving for extraordinary things. He’s taking a page from that philosophy and trying to apply it to his longtime profession.

“For a guy to play at an All-Pro level in his 16th year is uncommon,” he said. “But I think I can do it.”

Lynch won’t put any limitations on his moving forward. There will be no farewell tour because, even if he were to call it quits after this season, which he could, it’s his belief it’s counterproductive to enter a season with the mind-set the end is coming.

“I’m training to be the best I can be this year and we’ll see again next year. I’m not going to make any commitments,” he said. “People say all the time, ‘This is going to be your last year.’ But I don’t know that.”

Pushing the limits

John Lynch has worked with former Marine Pete Egoscue as his trainer for more than 20 years and they’ve resumed their partnership this offseason. Core fitness and postural alignment are chief principles toward delivering total-body health under Egoscue’s regimen. Among the items on Lynch’s to-do list:

* Daily workouts at 5 a.m., 11 a.m. and after dinner.

* A varied approach to fitness, including items such as bear crawls on the beach, running hills, yoga, intensive stretching, obstacle course and barefoot drops in the sand.

* More pull-ups than perhaps he has done in his basement, Rocky-style.

New Study on Those in Pain

This study suggests that 25% of people are in pain.  I would argue that the number is actually MUCH higher.  I’ve heard anywhere from 67%-75% of people are in pain.  It’s unfortunate that they are living that way.  There are no design flaws in the body, and you are designed to live pain free.  If you fall into this 25%-75%, give us a call.  We can help.

More Than 25 Percent of Americans Experience Pain

Newswise — Based on a random survey of nearly 4,000 respondents in the United States, Arthur A. Stone, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University, and Alan Krueger, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Economics and the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, report than more than 25 percent of American men and women experience daily pain. The researchers also report strong connections between the experience of pain and levels of income and education. Their study results appear in the May 3 issue of The Lancet.

The research is premised on evidence that people in the United States spend very large amounts of money for relief of pain. In fact, the authors note that more than $2 billion to $6 billion was spent on non-prescription analgesics in the U.S. in 2007. They said that pain is also a major reason for seeking medical care and purchasing prescriptive medicine. In addition, decreased labor force participation is “estimated to cost over $60 billion a year in lost productivity.”

“Although much is known about the pain experienced by those with chronic illnesses, until now relatively little was known about pain in the entire U.S. population,” says Dr. Stone. “Our assessment approach allowed us to get accurate information about pain at several carefully selected times from the previous day,” explains Dr. Stone, which enabled the researchers to address several new questions about pain, daily activities, and respondents’ personal characteristics.

Drs. Stone and Krueger conducted a community-based telephone survey via random-digit dialing to contact more than 10,000 people. In total, the researchers interviewed 3,982 people. The diary-survey involved phoning respondents and asking them to reconstruct the previous day. Three episodes from that day were randomly selected and information about pain, emotions, and current activity was obtained. The respondents were also questioned about their quality of life, occupation, education and whether they had a disability that limited their work. To make the study results representative of the U.S. population, the data were adjusted with sample weights developed by the Gallup Organization.

The summary of the research findings showed that 29 percent of men and 27 percent of women reported feeling some pain at sampled times – an indication that more than one quarter of Americans experience at least some daily pain.

The authors also illustrate an association between pain and lower income and less education. They wrote: “Those with lower income or less education spent a higher proportion of time in pain and reported higher average pain than did those with higher income or more education.”

Dr. Stone said that the link between pain and levels of income and education in the study supports other findings that illustrate better health is associated with higher socioeconomic status.

Additionally, the researchers wrote, “The average pain rating increased with age, although it reached a plateau between ages of about 45 years and 75 years, with little difference between men and women. Satisfaction with life or health and the pain indicators tended to move in opposite directions.”

In an accompanying commentary to the article in The Lancet, Juha H. O. Turunen, Ph.D., Department of Social Pharmacy, University of Kuopio, Finland, expressed his enthusiasm about the study and the use of the dairy-survey to provide specific, tangible information about how pain affects daily life.

Struck by the link the study established between pain and income level, Dr. Turunen wrote: “The average pain rating was high among those with the lowest incomes, and among blue-collar workers. The difference compared to white-collar workers also remained during non-work hours of the day. Such a disparity emphasizes the need for pain preventing measures such as better ergonomics and better availability of occupational health services for jobs with high physical strains.”

According to Dr. Stone, “The study results expand our understanding of pain in the United States and supplement more traditional assessment approaches with a very detailed perspective on the pain people experience on a daily basis. This suggests new avenues of research that may ultimately lead to improved treatment of pain.”