I had not heard of the Egoscue Method for pain-free living. Fortunately for me, my family has. I had moved from Colorado to Southern California where I suffered a herniated disk in my low back that had
gotten worse and worse over a 3 month period during
which time I went through many chiropractic
treatments, acupuncture, physical therapy offered by
my HMO and finally an epidermal of cortisone. All of
the above provided me with no real substantial help
and I was being referred for back surgery by my HMO.
I was even considering decompression treatment costing
almost 7,000 out of pocket (which I could not afford
and which would not have corrected the cause of my
problems) when my family in Colorado suggested I fly
back to Colorado and look into treatment from the
Denver Egoscue clinic.My family had been listening to
Pete Egoscue on the radio call-in show and were
impressed by what they heard. So since I had
deteriorated to the point of not being able to take
care of myself and was in terrible pain every day
which made it impossible to work, I felt I had nothing
to lose and agreed to fly back to Colorado to try the
Egoscue Method. My family flew me back on a Sunday
and arranged for an appointment for the next day. The
first day I hobbled into the clinic helped by my
daughter to see what Egoscue is all about. Krista
greeted me and explained the program to me and I
agreed to come for two weeks. That first day I could
not move enough to remove my shoes, and could barely
sit in a chair or lay down on the massage table they
have for people who find getting on the floor next to
impossible.
From the photos she took I could see my
left hip was extremely rotated, my neck was way
forward of where it should be and my shoulders were
not level. My knees were extremely painful and my
left leg was too weak to hardly walk on at all and my
left foot dropped when I tried to walk. Simply put, I
looked like an impossible mess! And I felt rather
that way also. I didn't care how I looked and all I
could think about was pain. Anyone who has lived with
severe daily pain knows that cognitive functions
become difficult Krista worked out some very
modified exercises and stretches to give me a place to
start. She was very enthusiastic, positive and
encouraging. I felt maybe, just maybe she could help
me. For the first time in three months I felt a
glimmer of hope that something, anything could
actually help me. I diligently did these prescribed
stretches etc even though to do them hurt and was very
difficult, even with the modifications. Krista
explains the point of each stretch very well which I
liked because I am a very nuts and bolts type of
person and want to always know how and why. I got to
love the way Tracey would say "good" or "that is what
we want to happen", any time I would say "now it hurts
here" or "now I feel wobbly" or whatever else i might
say. This actually gave me confidence to try to move
or stretch parts of my body that I was afraid to move
for fear of further injury or pain. I had gotten
worse and worse over 3 months and felt that I should
probably stay still to avoid making it worse or to
avoid more pain. This is very much the wrong approach
I found out.
Well, I decided to give this Method a
fair shake and every day did the exercises as
prescribed without fail even when I didn't want to or
when I was very sore from doing them (especially at
first) In two weeks and 3 visits I found I felt a lot
better and could feel and SEE the improvement in the
next set of photos taken. I was SO encouraged by the
obvious improvement that came so quickly that I was
re-energized to not miss a day of doing the stretches
and moves that each menu had me do. I tried even
harder since I could see that there was a lot of
benefit to me to do the menus. Many days (as many as
I could get rides) I would come into the clinic to do
my practice and either Krista or Tracey would watch me
and make corrections if I wasn't doing the menus
correctly or TOO FAST as Krista continually and
sweetly reminded me. These two women are very
wonderful and helpful and I truly believe they and
the Egoscue Method saved me from back surgery, a life
of being disabled and not able to work and from a life
of pain and depression. It feels like a miracle to
me. Now, one month later, I can get up and down from
the floor and am surprised and happy at the range of
motion I now have again. I have enough menus to keep
on getting stronger and stronger without boredom. I
couldn't be happier. I went from feeling totally
hopeless to feeling like I can continue to be in
charge of my destiny. My very weak left leg is much
stronger than it was only 4 weeks ago and getting
stronger daily. All I can say is WOW! This is way
too much a SECRET. Now I know I can grow older (I am
now 56) and continue to be active and pain free. That
kind of hope for the future sounds wonderful to me.
Thank you Tracey and Krista and the Egoscue Method!
