01-24-2016, 02:57 PM
Hello brothers and sisters,
Being young(ish
) and in good health, I realized that I've been holding back a great resource that will probably resonate with many of you that I haven't shared before. So I consider it my honor and duty to recommend this amazing book, Pain Free, to anyone who suffers from chronic pain.
The author, Pete Egoscue, has a refreshing and unique take on the state of our health industry, medicine, and how we take care of ourselves and our bodies. He states repeatedly that doctors start with the least likely cause of dis-ease and work their way down, often (if not almost always) missing the most obvious. That people get costly and damaging corrective surgeries, which can leave them in worse shape, instead of simply addressing the root problem -- thus needing more surgeries years down the road.
I doubt Mr. Egoscue knows of the LOO, but if you read this book, you'd see that the views are most definitely 'aligned' with an "all is connected" point of view. Got hip pain? It's not just your hips bothering you -- your whole body is a network.
Basically this book is a series of exercises that are really low-stress stretches. (Well, for me they're low stress -- I understand that they can be quite painful if you're in bad shape.)
I'm inspired to share this today, because I was quite ill this past weekend and suffered a terrible migraine. A migraine so bad I was vomiting ... I do not take medicine, much to my girlfriend's chagrin. She thinks I'm too proud and stubborn to take pills -- and she's right! I don't trust the medical or pharma industry at all, and think the use of medicine robs us of our own ability to heal!
So I suffered through a terrible migraine all of Friday like the big dumb male that I am. And I woke up on Saturday still suffering; in fact, the migraine had worsened. And then, duh, I remembered I have Pain Free. I looked through the index, and sure enough, there's a section on migraines.
What does Egoscue have to say about migraines? ... the muscles that control our eyes, when cut off from their oxygen and thus hemoglobin supply, get all out of whack. They relax too much, they contract too hard, trying to find that 'normal' balance that they can't quite achieve. The result is, you feel the overwhelming stress in the form of an unbearable headache, light sensitivity, etc.
This makes sense, considering my sinuses were aggravated: I can imagine that the mucus in my sinus cavities were restricting bloodflow, until the aforementioned symptoms took place.
OK, so Pain Free had me do four stretches to restore the flow of blood to the head: Static extension (2 mins), static back (5 mins), air bench (2 terrible minutes lol), squat (1 min).
And the migraine was gone. Yes, that fast. (And I cursed myself for not remembering I have this book earlier.) Actually, the migraine was greatly alleviated during the first 30 seconds of the very first stretch, static extension.
OK ... I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell you on something here. I'm not in any way related to Dr. Egoscue, nor do I benefit from sales of his books, haha.
But I do strongly believe in his method. It has saved me time and again from issues -- which again, thankfully, haven't been bad or serious in my life. But I do know several people in my personal life who have corrected serious issues with it. And I also know a physical trainer who specializes in this method -- and gets hired by professional sports teams to work with the athletes. (Who, he tells me, are some of THE most out-of-shape m-f'ers in the world, no matter how jacked they look. Food for thought, eh?)
If you're in chronic pain, I suggest you give this a try. Please understand, though, that it takes time to undo years of damage. You have to do these stretches consistently, daily. Don't misunderstand my personal anecdote to mean that all your problems are 10 minutes' worth of stretches away from being fixed. It's not the case when you're talking years of cumulative damage.
That's a big stumbling block for our culture, I think. We've become so obsessed with quick fixes, and not taking any responsibility in regards to our health. It's ridiculous that ~30 minutes of stretches daily should be considered 'too much' or unbearable, IMO, but many people just can't follow through. I've seen it in my own family who suffer from pain but lack the discipline to give this a try. (Those same people are also on a cocktail of pharma pills which I believe are killing them slowly, but what can you do, baby steps.)
On the other hand, my girlfriend's family swears by this book -- her grandpa completely turned his health around 20 years ago after getting cancer, and wakes up at 5 AM every day to do his stretches. The guy is one of the healthiest people I know at 75 years, including my 30-year old peers! Stands straight as a board. If you look at pictures of him 25 years ago you wouldn't even guess it's the same person.
Alright ... that's all I gotta say for now ... I'm sure you can find stuff on the Egoscue method on youtube, google etc whatever, so you don't even have to buy the book necessarily. But I know a lot of you are suffering from pain and if just one of you can be helped by this, then it'd be great.
Feel free to ask questions if you have any, and I'll answer as best I can!
Being young(ish
) and in good health, I realized that I've been holding back a great resource that will probably resonate with many of you that I haven't shared before. So I consider it my honor and duty to recommend this amazing book, Pain Free, to anyone who suffers from chronic pain.The author, Pete Egoscue, has a refreshing and unique take on the state of our health industry, medicine, and how we take care of ourselves and our bodies. He states repeatedly that doctors start with the least likely cause of dis-ease and work their way down, often (if not almost always) missing the most obvious. That people get costly and damaging corrective surgeries, which can leave them in worse shape, instead of simply addressing the root problem -- thus needing more surgeries years down the road.
I doubt Mr. Egoscue knows of the LOO, but if you read this book, you'd see that the views are most definitely 'aligned' with an "all is connected" point of view. Got hip pain? It's not just your hips bothering you -- your whole body is a network.
Basically this book is a series of exercises that are really low-stress stretches. (Well, for me they're low stress -- I understand that they can be quite painful if you're in bad shape.)
I'm inspired to share this today, because I was quite ill this past weekend and suffered a terrible migraine. A migraine so bad I was vomiting ... I do not take medicine, much to my girlfriend's chagrin. She thinks I'm too proud and stubborn to take pills -- and she's right! I don't trust the medical or pharma industry at all, and think the use of medicine robs us of our own ability to heal!
So I suffered through a terrible migraine all of Friday like the big dumb male that I am. And I woke up on Saturday still suffering; in fact, the migraine had worsened. And then, duh, I remembered I have Pain Free. I looked through the index, and sure enough, there's a section on migraines.
What does Egoscue have to say about migraines? ... the muscles that control our eyes, when cut off from their oxygen and thus hemoglobin supply, get all out of whack. They relax too much, they contract too hard, trying to find that 'normal' balance that they can't quite achieve. The result is, you feel the overwhelming stress in the form of an unbearable headache, light sensitivity, etc.
This makes sense, considering my sinuses were aggravated: I can imagine that the mucus in my sinus cavities were restricting bloodflow, until the aforementioned symptoms took place.
OK, so Pain Free had me do four stretches to restore the flow of blood to the head: Static extension (2 mins), static back (5 mins), air bench (2 terrible minutes lol), squat (1 min).
And the migraine was gone. Yes, that fast. (And I cursed myself for not remembering I have this book earlier.) Actually, the migraine was greatly alleviated during the first 30 seconds of the very first stretch, static extension.
OK ... I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell you on something here. I'm not in any way related to Dr. Egoscue, nor do I benefit from sales of his books, haha.
But I do strongly believe in his method. It has saved me time and again from issues -- which again, thankfully, haven't been bad or serious in my life. But I do know several people in my personal life who have corrected serious issues with it. And I also know a physical trainer who specializes in this method -- and gets hired by professional sports teams to work with the athletes. (Who, he tells me, are some of THE most out-of-shape m-f'ers in the world, no matter how jacked they look. Food for thought, eh?)
If you're in chronic pain, I suggest you give this a try. Please understand, though, that it takes time to undo years of damage. You have to do these stretches consistently, daily. Don't misunderstand my personal anecdote to mean that all your problems are 10 minutes' worth of stretches away from being fixed. It's not the case when you're talking years of cumulative damage.
That's a big stumbling block for our culture, I think. We've become so obsessed with quick fixes, and not taking any responsibility in regards to our health. It's ridiculous that ~30 minutes of stretches daily should be considered 'too much' or unbearable, IMO, but many people just can't follow through. I've seen it in my own family who suffer from pain but lack the discipline to give this a try. (Those same people are also on a cocktail of pharma pills which I believe are killing them slowly, but what can you do, baby steps.)
On the other hand, my girlfriend's family swears by this book -- her grandpa completely turned his health around 20 years ago after getting cancer, and wakes up at 5 AM every day to do his stretches. The guy is one of the healthiest people I know at 75 years, including my 30-year old peers! Stands straight as a board. If you look at pictures of him 25 years ago you wouldn't even guess it's the same person.
Alright ... that's all I gotta say for now ... I'm sure you can find stuff on the Egoscue method on youtube, google etc whatever, so you don't even have to buy the book necessarily. But I know a lot of you are suffering from pain and if just one of you can be helped by this, then it'd be great.
Feel free to ask questions if you have any, and I'll answer as best I can!
