My Egoscue adventure began when I first came to grips with having chronic pain. I had always led an active lifestyle, walking four miles a day and doing various aerobic and toning exercises. But over time I got “too busy” to exercise and spent several weeks working ten hours a day with few breaks for lunch or walking. My right knee started to hurt and was constantly swollen. When the pain spread to my low back and reached the point where I wasn’t able to sit for longer than 30 minutes at a time, I had an MRI. This revealed two herniated disks.
I saw various specialists but none of them could tell me the cause of the pain. Instead, they treated the symptoms with anti-inflammatory drugs and steroid injections. Meanwhile, the pain spread from my low back to my right hip. I saw more specialists, all advocating the same futile treatment. I was even told that I shouldn’t be in that much pain but because I was that I should see a neurosurgeon to discuss back surgery. I knew the low success rates of such surgeries and decided not to explore that option. But now I was completely frustrated and not sure what to do next.
A few days and several prayers later, a friend at church asked me how I was doing. I fought back my tears as she listened to my frustrating story. Then she told me about Pete Egoscue’s book, The Egoscue Method: Health Through Motion. I checked out the book from the public library along with another Egoscue book, Pain Free. After reading both books, I found the theory sound. I began doing the E-cise Menu for my condition as outlined in the book. For the first time in many months, I finally experienced relief! I had originally feared that my pain was the result of my body “falling apart” due to all my years of exercising. Imagine the relief and joy I felt to discover that it had all been due from a lack of motion -- not too much of it -- that had taken me from health to chronic pain! Hope was restored!
I began getting personalized therapy by attending the Dallas Travel Clinics with my husband, Ralph, who also suffered chronic pain. The one-on-one therapy program proved to be as effective as we had hoped it would be. I quickly improved and saw my pain subside and my function improve. Egoscue had given me my life back! Ralph’s enthusiasm for The Egoscue Method continued to take root as well, and he became a certified therapist. He was soon offered a job as an Egoscue Therapist in Austin and I was offered the position of office manager. We gladly accepted these new challenges, even though changing careers for me was difficult and the move from Dallas was demanding.
Realizing the benefits of increased knowledge for not only me but also our clients, I even became a certified Egoscue Posture Alignment Specialist in July of 2007. I have gladly exchanged suffering with pain to now sharing about my painful past as a beacon of hope for others. I love to see once hopeless people change into active participants in their lives once again.
My Egoscue adventure began when I first came to grips with having chronic pain. I had always led an active lifestyle, walking four miles a day and doing various aerobic and toning exercises. But over time I got “too busy” to exercise and spent several weeks working ten hours a day with few breaks for lunch or walking. My right knee started to hurt and was constantly swollen. When the pain spread to my low back and reached the point where I wasn’t able to sit for longer than 30 minutes at a time, I had an MRI. This revealed two herniated disks.