Disclaimer: This is a very long post about chronic pain relief in general, and the Egoscue method specifically. Grab a drink and a snack, give it a read, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Sporting a knee brace to keep my knee warm and 'restricted' during sports.
For the last 16 months, I’ve embarked on a part-time medical voyage to battle some nagging patellar (knee) tendonitis that just won’t go away. I haven’t actually traveled out of the local area, but I have visited more specialists and done more research than I would have ever thought possible of myself. The fact of the matter is, I just don’t think surgery is necessary to heal this up, so I’m making sure no stone is unturned in my search for a surgery-alternative relief.
A while back my knee started flaring up during a softball game. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but the inflammation didn’t let up the next day, or the next week, so I made an appointment with my family doctor. He checked to make sure it wasn’t something major, and eventually honed in on it being patellar tendonitis. He assigned some exercises to help alleviate the pain and left it at that. In short, the exercises and stretches didn’t work, and I went to an orthopedist to take a more detailed look. After x-rays and an MRI, this new doctor verified that the family doctor was correct. He then laid out a solution path, advancing forward only if the previous treatment failed. In order, they were:
- Physical Therapy – Failed after 8 weeks, 3x’s per week
- Cortisone Injections – Failed
- Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) – Ongoing?
- Surgery – No Thanks
I went through his first two recommendations without success. During this time, I started thinking about other options that he may not be recommending. After some research, I discovered Iontophoresis, Prolotherapy, Cissus (courtesy of the 4 Hour Body), and a number of other alternatives. None of these did the trick for me, per se, but I did have some temporary relief with Iontophoresis and I’ve had one treatment of PRP that I believe may have provided some slight improvement (I was told to do three full treatments, but I wanted to test some other things out before doing the next two).
During this search, I came across something else that seemed almost too good to be true: Egoscue. I read of how it cured people of sore hips, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, knee pain, back pain, and the list goes on and on. Egoscue is, according to their official website:
A unique and very effective program designed to treat musculoskeletal pain without drugs, surgery, or manipulation. Egoscue is a process which involves a series of stretches and gentle egoscuecises (“e-cises”) designed specifically for each client. This process strengthens specific muscles and brings the body back to its proper alignment and functioning the way it was designed—pain free.
I’ve done some peripheral research on Egoscue, and I also did a 45 minute consultation over Skype with John Elder or Egoscue Tennessee. During this consultation he took a look at me, my posture, and my knee, and we went through a few “e-cises” so that I could see how appointments would generally go. I was impressed with the analysis and I’ve decided that I’m going to proceed with Egoscue. To move forward, you have 2 options: You can either read the best-selling Egoscue book and go along at your own pace, or you can sign-up for a plan and visit a local Egoscue clinic (or have appointments over Skype). While I would love to visit a clinic as I like to have visual instruction, the price-point at this time is a bit much for me considering how much money I’ve already spent on physical therapy, prolotherapy, PRP, etc with no pay-off (my wife probably won’t go for another “crazy” treatment!). So, I’m going to buy the book, put it to use in my life, and hopefully get better and improve my body overall – we’ll see! (I’ll post my progress, thoughts, and results right here on MyFiveFingers.com over the next few weeks and months.)
Does this have anything to do with FiveFingers or Minimalist running? Yes, stay with me. When I met with John, we talked extensively about FiveFingers. He wears them everyday and recommends them to all of his clients. Egoscue is about posture and ensuring your body is properly aligned: two things that we all know FiveFingers helps with. After talking a lot with John about Egoscue, his patients, FiveFingers, treatment, and everything else, I asked if he could obtain a few testimonials for me to share with all of the readers here. He reached out to some of his patients, particularly those who are now VFF wearers, and provided me with contact information for those who were willing to share their stories. Without further ado, I’d like to share the stories they sent to me. If you have a story about Egoscue or any other “alternative” methods for pain relief, please share the details in the comments at the bottom of this post.
My Egoscue Experience by Sabrina
Egoscue has made it possible for me to be able to continue what I love to do. I am currently into my 28th year of my body building/figure amateur career. What seemed to be the way to health and fitness, or at least looking physically fit, was slowly robbing me of my flexibility and mobility. I am currently at the 1 1/2 year mark of working with John Elder at Nashville Egoscue and can’t imagine where I would be now if I had not been introduced to Pete Egoscue’s “Pain Free” book. I had already tried many other conventional methods of pain or symptom relief for my spondylolisthesis L5-S1, with no success.
John of the Nashville Egoscue Clinic helped me to see that it was my postural dysfunctions that were causing my health issues of pain, numbness, tightness, and general discomfort. Since using Egoscue, my cardio and training are less of a chore. My body doesn’t have to labor as hard to move anymore.
On one of my visits to the clinic, my husband and I decided to go shopping and possibly purchase a pair of those funny looking shoes that I kept finding John wearing. We went and bought our 1st pair of Vibram FiveFingers and I haven’t trained in anything but FiveFingers since. I like my clothing outfits to match my shoes so I now have all three Bikilas, two pairs of TrekSpots and one pair of Classics. I’ve also recently been looking at the new Komodos.
Between Egoscue and wearing FiveFingers, I can honestly say that I sometimes feel like I’m walking on air. These two items seem to work together. Being postural balanced is now one of my goals. And I’m hoping that with restoring correct functional posture, I will be able to better improve my physique.
I am also getting the added benefit of looking younger while feeling younger. I truly feel blessed by God to have found Egoscue. I have been patiently working through my menus and feel so fortunate to be able to improve my health.
Relieving Back & Leg Pain with Egoscue by Kristen
In March of 2008, I was in the middle of training for my third half marathon, and as usual, the peak mileage brought with it some pain. I had previously attempted to fight off foot and shin problems during this point in the training by changing shoes, adding support, etc., but this time I began experiencing pain in my calves that, as I continued to train, seemed to travel up my legs to my lower back. Even the most supportive shoe wasn’t helping. Eventually, I had back/leg pain all the time, and quit training 2 weeks before the race.
The following year became a long and tedious quest for pain relief. I feel like I exhausted every medical option available, including two chiropractors, an orthopedic surgeon, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, and a sports medicine doctor. I was passed back and forth among these individuals and had several diagnostic tests that only revealed a slight disk bulge in my lower back. I tried two rounds of physical therapy, chiropractic adjustments, active release and graston techniques, core strengthening exercises and had several types of pills thrown at me by doctors, which was very frustrating because it seemed to me that medicating myself would just be masking an underlying problem and not fixing anything.
Nothing helped, and the health care professionals that were trying to help me were stumped. I was also told to stop running and exercising, because as the doctor’s saw it, running caused my injury, so resting would heal it. As the months went on, my pain actually got worse and I began to cut more and more activities out that seemed to bother my back/legs. Months into this injury, I would come home every night from work and lay on the couch with an icepack on my back, hoping that the more I rested, at some point this pain would go away. As the spring racing season approached, I couldn’t believe what I had become in the past year.
In March of 2009, I had one last option to try and get out of pain. My husband’s boss struggled with back pain and gave me a book to read that helped him tremendously – “Pain Free” by Pete Egoscue. I read it from cover to cover, and the Egoscue Method made a lot of sense. I tried some of the e-cises from the book but felt that I needed a little more direction and encouragement if I was really going to commit to trying this. So I made a three hour trip to Nashville to see John Elder at the Egoscue Clinic.
The first visit was really eye-opening. John assessed my posture and showed me how many deviations I had from what a functional body should look like. I went through my first menu of e-cises and felt a lot of muscles “wake up”; it was great just to be moving again. While I didn’t leave my first visit pain free, I could tell something was different – we walked around Nashville for hours and my back felt a lot stronger than it had in months. Over the following months, I did most of my Egoscue appointments online via Skype instead of making the three hour drive to the clinic, which worked out really well. During the first few weeks, my lower back pain decreased tremendously and I started walking regularly. Soon I had the confidence to add more movement into my day, and, if anything, moving helped my pain. It was not the running and the movement that caused my pain initially, rather it was trying to move using a dysfunctional body. Months of trying to get out of pain by minimizing my movement as much as possible actually contributed to my deterioration.
Now that the e-cises were training my muscles to function properly, moving was a way of giving them a chance to be used as they were meant to be used. I slowly began introducing running back into my routine, and what amazed me was how efficient my stride was and how much faster it seemed I could run with less effort before trying Egoscue. I quickly found that my feet were fighting my overly supportive shoes, and I gave my body a chance to utilize my muscles/feet/arches by switching to a shoe with minimal support. Seven months after my first visit, I ran my first road race, and it felt amazing. While it took me a while to see improvement in my leg pain, and I even felt increased pain during some weeks as my body adjusted and changed, John never gave up on me like those who had in the past. It was great to finally figure out the underlying cause of my pain and to address it appropriately.
A little over a year after starting my journey with Egoscue, I decided it was time to give Vibram FiveFingers a try, as John was raving about them. If running in shoes with minimal support was helping me be pain free and keeping my body functional, then VFFs seemed to be an even better option. I was about 7 months pregnant at the time of purchase, so I wasn’t really doing much running, but I did a lot of walking in them and wore them to work regularly where I was on my feet frequently (editors note: See our article on FiveFingers as comfortable pregnancy shoes here). I still vividly remember breaking out my VFFs for a walk shortly after having my baby – my back was aching from so much sitting around with a newborn. We had friends in town and I walked around all weekend in my VFFs, and helped my back pain tremendously.
As my Egoscue ecises teach my body proper muscle function and alignment, my VFFs then help me to maximize their effect by allowing my feet to do their job, thereby allowing the rest of my body to be more functional. Currently, I am back to walking in my VFF Sprints now that the weather is warm, and they are once again providing a great enhancement to the effectiveness of my Egoscue ecises. I have returned to running after having a baby and am in the process of restoring my body after childbirth, which I couldn’t imagine doing without Egoscue. Once again, Egoscue has proven to be my reliable approach to being pain free as I recently pushed through knee pain and am now pain free. I don’t fear pain anymore because I truly believe I have found the approach to address the underlying cause of my musculoskeletal pain.
Healing Plantar Fasciitis with Egoscue by Kathryn
Before visiting the Egoscue Clinic and John Elder in Franklin, TN, I had suffered from plantar fasciitis in my left foot for about 13 years. I had tried literally every pain relief option out there from physical therapy, custom orthotics, cortisone shots, wearing a boot to sleep in, wearing special shoes, avoiding walking barefoot, and even orthotripsy (high levels of ultrasound admitted while under general anethesia). I had resigned myself to living with the pain and not being able to walk around barefoot or in shoes without some sort of arch support. After having had a successful college tennis career, I was very discouraged to be unable to play tennis or go for a run without pain.
To say that I was skeptical of finding an answer at Egoscue is an understatement. When I first met John, he asked me if I thought that my shoulder issues ( I had rotator cuff surgery after college) and my foot pain were related. I kind of laughed at him and said no because the two had happened at different times in my life under different circumstances. He went on to prove me wrong. John explained the Egoscue concept of pain and injuries occurring when the muscles in our body are not functioning properly together. One of the first things that John had me do while in the clinic that day was to walk across the floor barefoot with my hands clasped behind my head. I was amazed to find that while walking in that position, my foot did not hurt at all! I was intrigued at that point and decided to give it a shot.
John gave me a series of excerises (e-cises) to do at home which would bring the body and muscles back into proper functioning position. I was to do the e-cises daily for a week and then return for a new set the following week. During this process, I also began wearing the Vibram Five Fingers which John had recommended to me as well. They helped to strengthen my foot which had become weak from so many years of wearing orthotics. I wore them at home for several weeks and then as my foot got stronger I was able to begin trail running in them.
I am now happy to report that the Egoscue daily e-cises together with wearing the Vibram Five Finger shoes has resulted in the total healing of my plantar fascitis. I no longer need orthotics, I can walk barefoot without pain, and I am back to running on regular basis. It took a few months of faithfully doing the e-cises for me to see results but the results did come and now, a year and a half later, I am still pain free. I would highly recommend Egoscue and the VFF shoes to anyone who is struggling with chronic foot pain or any other chronic pain. I know that I am just one of many who have found success with this method.
What are your thoughts on Egoscue? Have you had success in finding relief for a chronic injury using something other than surgery? Please share your experience, questions, and thoughts in the comments below.
Dan G.
April 10th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Hello,
I’ve just recently begun working with an Egoscue therapist over the internet. Let me first give a little background information on my situation.
In 2009, I had an injury to my ankle while running. The injury healed within a few days, but it apparently threw my alignment off. After the injury healed, I attempted to go on a long walk, but after 30-45 minutes, my knee started having excruciating sharp pains. I stopped the walk, but there was inflammation for about a week afterwards. Eventually it calmed down, and I assumed all was well. But as it turned out, this problem returned every time I tried to walk. I eventually went to a doctor, but this was of no help. I tried resting for almost 3 months, but when I went back to walking, the problem was still there, and this time I somehow tweaked the injury when it was still in an irritated state.
At this point, instead of returning to normal after a week, it continued to get worse. Eventually, after a couple of months, the inflammation became unbearable. I finally figured out that if I walked like I was 105 years old, it would slowly improve. Unfortunately, it took about 3 months. When I thought my problem might finally be over, it turns out that the inflammation obliterated the cartilage in my knee. Within a couple of months, I found myself unable to walk again and this time with no prospect of it improving with rest. I went to a doctor, a graduate of Harvard Medical School in fact, at one of the best orthopedic hospitals in the US. He told me that nothing could be done and I was instructed to go to a pain clinic. At the age of 26, I found myself facing profound disability for years or perhaps the rest of my life.
After I found out about Egoscue, I first tried some E-cises in the book, and eventually got a therapist online. It has taken a while, but I believe that I am finally getting into better alignment. Amazingly, today, I am now able to walk with only occasional twinges of pain. My knee is very sore and stiff, and I don’t suspect that this will change much any time soon, but remember, I couldn’t walk at all without crutches before this. So far, all the claims made about this method have been true. Can cartilage regenerate? I don’t know the answer to that for sure, but I’m going to find out over the next 12-18 months. I believe that it must for me to be fully pain free. But what this has already done for me is remarkable.
If your problem is with your knees, ask your therapist to put the Progressive Supine Groin (The Tower) with towels on your menu. I believe that this has been the most important E-cise so far.
I’m not expecting this to be panacea, but given the preliminary results, I’m willing to invest a lot more time into this. I may never be the same again, but having been given no other hope, this is my best shot right now of reclaiming something of my former self.
Good luck to you with your own recovery and I’ll be following your blog!
ron
May 17th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Calling Egoscue a ‘cure’ is probably not a wise idea. I am sure it has its uses, which I am looking at for my own set of pains, especially plantar fasciitis. I think the Egoscuens would be wise to not claim too much too quickly about the therapy’s success. Next thing you know some people will be claiming that it saved their marriage, it improved their IQ and it solved the problems of the universe. Cult like adoration for something should be avoided.
There’s no doubt in my mind that motion therapies like Pilates or Tai Chi or Yoga could bring the body back into alignment (if that’s what needs to be done), albeit at a much slower pace. But that pace might just have a more solid foundation.
The Egoscue method seems like a short-cut to a pain-free existence, which would please me, or any sensible person, just fine. But I plan on following it up with other motion therapies.
I’m crossing my fingers at the moment. I’ll get back here and share my story; either way that it might turn out you’ll hear from me.
Ron.
heather
October 02nd, 2011 at 1:18 pm
I have come to the Egoscue Method after a twenty five year yoga and pilates practice. The brilliant piece that Egoscue recognizes and addresses is how compensation patterns distort the body’s structure and cause pain. You can stretch or strengthen till the cows come home and it will not change these patterns. Only a systematic and individually applied set of movements will help the body correct it’s dysfunctional firing patterns.
Jason
January 11th, 2012 at 10:42 am
What your thoughts on basketball shoes?
Byron
February 29th, 2012 at 7:16 am
Five months ago I started working with the folks at Egoscue in San Francisco for back pain caused by stenosis and disc problems. I was impressed by the enthuiastic reviews online and the fact that nobody seemed disappointed by their results.
Unfortunately, I haven’t found the success that others describe. My pain is definitely better, by about 30 % . But it hasn’t gone away and remains the most negative influence in my life. I can’t afford another $1300 set of consults, so I’ll continue on my own and also look for other help. My advice is (1) don’t expect to always get the miracle progress that some people report and (2) be sure that the individual practioner really knows his/her stuff. I changed people midway through my training and it made a big difference. I wonder where the unspectacular stories about Egoscue are, and if everyone else out there has reached Nirvana with Egoscue.
Andy Stewart
March 18th, 2012 at 7:52 am
I started reading “Pain Free” a few weeks ago in the hope that it might help me to reduce the chronic pain from hip arthritis. I really want to avoid a hip replacement if possible and the anecdote about Jack Nicklaus was very encouraging. I’ve been doing the e-cises prescribed for hip problems for two weeks, but the results have not been particularly encouraging. I get only the slightest and briefest lessening of pain after the exercises (far less than Byron’s 30% above), and get far better results from my daily swimming routine of 400-500 metres. obviously I don’t expect instant success, but I’d hoped for some indication that it would be worthwhile continuing with the exercises, especially in the light of some of the anecdotes in the book where remarkable improvement has been achieved in only 1-3 hours.
I have to confess that I ‘ve had to abandon one of the hip exercises, the “supine groin stretch” because it is induces excruciating pain radiating down the entire length of the leg. There’s nothing in the description of the exercise to suggest it might be painful or what to do if it is.
All that Pete Egoscue writes about joint alignment makes sense, but I don’t see how I can achieve proper alignment however many exercises I do, be cause the limiting factor is in the range of movement in my joints. For instance, since I damaged my left knee by stressing it too much two years ago (causing meniscus damage) I cannot completely straighten my left leg. If I sit on the floor with legs outstretched the left knee sits high, and if I press it downwards it refuses to move, though it’s not painful.
On the right side, my leg will lie straight until I lie outstretched on my back, when the degenerated hip joint forces the leg to arch up at the knee and the small of the back to arch up. This appears to be why the “supine groin stretch is so painful”.
I will carry on with the Egoscue method for a while, but I’ve yet to be convinced that it’s the answer for someone with serious joint degeneration. In fact so far none of the positive testimonials I’ve read on the internet include any cases where someone has avoided hip surgery through the Egoscue method.
Ron
March 30th, 2012 at 11:32 am
Andy Stewart
I’m so sorry to hear about your problems. I am not too sure that the alignment therapy of the Egoscue method is right for you. I am sure the most logical approach to it is to do the Egoscue Method before you get into such troubles. I am afraid that it’s probably not going to solve problems of your magnitude, IMHO. Nevertheless, if I were you I would not do anything without proper medical advice, only because you obviously are in such a severe state.
One thing that the book doesn’t get into well enough (at all?) is the fact that you are supposed to change the e-cise routine (menu) every week as your muscles (body) are affected by the routine. Also, that it’s not easy to pick the e-cise in the right order. They have Egoscue Centers in many parts of the world, especially America. Maybe you can look them up and ask for some advice. The cost is usually around $1,500 for 8 menus that last 8 weeks. You can even be treated over Skype.
Many Egoscue centers have people who are well trained in other therapies and they go to an Egoscue School to learn the art and science of the method. This last bit of information suggests that the book is only a generalized recommendation for a possible therapy routine and part of the book is obviously an advertisement that Egoscue exists.
As for me I have forgone getting treated with Egoscue at the moment. Right now I am practicing Tai Chi (Taijiquan) and it has helped me immensely. Since my last writing my body has gone downhill a bit more than expected. Tai Chi is well known for its curative powers and it has proven no less true for me.
If you read my last comment I told people I’d write back and mention my progress, and this is part of it. I was sure I was going to do the Egoscue Method but it proved too expensive for my meager budget. Maybe someday I’ll try it even if I’m feeling very healthy. I even see ‘masters’ of the art with alignment problems.
Good Luck
Ron
(same ron who replied above on May 17, 2011 )
Andy Stewart
April 03rd, 2012 at 5:18 am
Ron, thanks very much for your comments. You may well be right that the Egoscue methods are unsuitable for me, though several of the case studies in ‘Pain Free’ lead one to think that the techniques are suitable whatever the condition of one’s spine or joints.
I have stopped doing the exercises in the package presented in the ‘menus’ because something there was exacerbating the nerve pain in my leg. When I stopped, the intensity and frequency of the nerve pains diminished. However I have found certain individual exercises beneficial, particularly any that involve stretching.
Incidentally, in case anyone should be considering it, I’ve found that acupuncture is remarkably effective. I live in Thailand, where there are plenty of good practitioners and its relatively cheap at $16 a session. It’s not a cure for chronic problems, but the pain relief is substantial.
Ron
April 27th, 2012 at 9:28 am
Andy
Ron
April 27th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Andy, I am afraid you fell for the idea that one therapy could be suitable for all physical problems. Books tend to over-state their importance. I figure it’s a matter of sales rather than the underlying reality of the practicality of success in self help therapies. In order to get the book onto the shelves it must include in it a treatment for a wide variety of ailments. The game for us mortals is to figure which ones are somewhat real and which ones are totally bogus.
That’s why it took me so long to discover Egoscue as I did my due diligence reading all I could on the internet. There’s a lot of positives about it, except it’s a bit disingenuous as to the potential of expert therapeutic instruction, let alone just what you can get out of the book.