This is Part 2 in the Egosuce blog series
As I stated in my prior post, my eagerness to use the Egoscue Method to treat my recurring running injuries led me to Matt Whitehead from Oregon Exercise Therapy.
Although Matt lived too far away from me to schedule an appointment at his office, he told me that he would still be able to help if I described my injury history and sent at pictures of the front, back, and side of my body.
I e-mailed the photos to Matt with a description of my past and current running injuries. It was actually amazing to summarize the injury issues that I have experienced over the last few years.
1. Right Upper Trapezius/Neck Area: I have had persistent pain in this area for the last five years that restricts running. The pain gets especially bad about 10-15 minutes into a run and flares up when I do any track workouts or tempo runs.
2. Right Mid and Low Back: My right back, including the erector spinae and quadratus lumborum muscles, is very tight and gets sore during runs.
3. Torso Rotation: I have been told that, when running, my torso and shoulders rotate considerably to the left and do not rotate as much to the right.
4. Hips: I have had left sacroiliac joint (si-joint) pain for a long time. The pain often is worse during runs or when I lift heavy objects.
5. Left Knee: Throughout my running career, I have had major bouts of “runner’s knee” in my left inner knee. It is especially bad during speed workouts.
Wow! And to make things even worse, I have been actively trying to deal with these issues (without success) with multiple physical therapists, chiropractors and massage therapists.
After receiving this information and the photos of my posture, Matt provided me with the following “menu” of Egoscue exercises (called “e-cises”) to combat my dysfunctions:
- Kneeling Aztec: Should help with decreasing rotation throughout your body
- Standing Glute Contractions and two types of Ankle Squeeze exercises (kneeling and prone): To help with getting my femurs and pelvis to line up and work more symmetrically
- Quad Rotations and Quad Lifts: To help get the hip flexors to work evenly and stabilize my SI joints
- Foot Circles and Foot Point/Flexes: Restore normal range of motion and strength to my ankles and balance my hip function
- Supine Groin Progressive: Restore proper length and tension to my hip musculature and load joint position
- Airbench: Stabilize my hips and pelvis symmetrically and balance quad strength and load both sides of my body evenly
The goal of the e-cises is to combat my hip disparity (imbalance in SI joint stability/mobility, hip flexors, IT band, etc) that causes my upper body to compensate for (torso rotation, right shoulder dropping forward and down, etc).
Even though I have not started the e-cises yet, it was really interesting that Matt’s plan is to combat dysfunctions throughout my entire body instead of limiting treatment to places where I have pain. However, this makes sense because the body is an integrated, connected system.
After performing the e-cises everyday for a week, I’ll provide Matt with an update and e-mail four new pictures of my posture. Check back for more updates.
Visit Oregon Exercise Therapy for more information about the Egoscue Method.
Disclaimer: This post is part of a collaboration with Oregon Exercise Therapy. All opinions are my own.