The impact of postural changes affects individuals in different ways and at different rates. A person’s age, activity level, occupation and weight are just some of the factors that will help determine where and to what extent a person will be affected anatomically. What is certain is that a given individual is highly susceptible to specific symptoms. The process begins with an alteration of normal joint mechanics. This alteration, or compensation, leads to a decrease in performance. That decrease in performance could be expressed in the way you deliver a curve ball to a person having difficulty rising from a chair. Often these changes go unnoticed because the body unknowingly avoids the pain stimulus or the extra muscular demand. The mechanical changes eventually manifest themselves into a variety of pathologies and disorders if allowed to continue. These can include, but are not limited to, inflammatory responses to overstressed tendons and bursa, non-congruency of joints surfaces, unequal loading of the intervertebral discs, laxity of ligaments, muscle pain and ischemia.
These problems are not limited to the musculoskeletal system. As the foundation of the body is removed from its most efficiently functioning position, the nervous, circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems can all be affected. The internal organs can become misarranged or compressed, neural pathways are disrupted or impinged and venous and arterial blood flow can be compromised. Any one or a combination of these scenarios can contribute to a multitude of medical problems.
When The Egoscue Method is presented with a symptomatic patient, our initial assessment is markedly different than that of an orthopedist or physical therapist. Conventional procedure would entail evaluation of exactly which structures are involved and then developments of a plan to provide symptomatic relief through all available modalities (i.e. drugs, electric stimulation, therapeutic exercise, massage, etc.) Then a plan for rehabilitation would focus specifically on the affected area and, if applicable, the joints above and below. Our assessment is to ignore the symptom as it relates to the cause of the pain. As mentioned previously the symptom never dictates our approach to
therapy, but it is instead a temporary limitation. The body is a highly integrated structure. By focusing on an area of pain or abnormality (i.e. edema, muscle tension), we are ignoring the rest of the factors in a very large equation. The compensation that has occurred as a result of the individual’s dysfunction has appeared as a symptom in another area of the body. It is possible that the cause of a particular symptom is a structural/mechanical problem on the other side of the body.
When The Egoscue Method is presented with a symptomatic patient, our initial assessment is markedly different than that of an orthopedist or physical therapist. Conventional procedure would entail evaluation of exactly which structures are involved and then developments of a plan to provide symptomatic relief through all available modalities (i.e. drugs, electric stimulation, therapeutic exercise, massage, etc.) Then a plan for rehabilitation would focus specifically on the affected area and, if applicable, the joints above and below. Our assessment is to ignore the symptom as it relates to the cause of the pain. As mentioned previously the symptom never dictates our approach to
therapy, but it is instead a temporary limitation. The body is a highly integrated structure. By focusing on an area of pain or abnormality (i.e. edema, muscle tension), we are ignoring the rest of the factors in a very large equation. The compensation that has occurred as a result of the individual’s dysfunction has appeared as a symptom in another area of the body. It is possible that the cause of a particular symptom is a structural/mechanical problem on the other side of the body.