Egoscue Commentary: Pain Free: Chapter 3

This continues my summary and commentary on the literature put out by the Egoscue Method

'Pain Free' by Pete Egoscue.Chapter 3: The Egoscue Method: getting personal to stop chronic pain.

This chapter focuses on the practical aspects necessary to implement the Method in your life. And, it hammers home points introduced in earlier chapters.

OK, everyone repeat after Pete: "Bones do what muscles tell them to do" (p.30)

Now, everyone: wake up to your pain. Ouch. Start to listen to the subtle variations in your body. Instead of quenching them with caffeine and television until all hell breaks loose. Stand up straight and focus.

Muscles remember. Imagine your first date, yeah, you remember that, don't you? Well, muscles remember how to run, jump, do backbends. Why do they remember? So that you can know what you can or cannot do right now. Just like your first date. You remember so that you will know what to do on the second date, if there is one. Another term for muscle memory is 'kinesthetic sense'. The Method re-introduces healthy, positive, aligned memories to your muscles. It's like going on a first date again, except this time your date arrives on time with flowers! Another important aspect of the Method is that it requires you, and only you. You are not subject to anyone else's 'higher knowledge'. You've got enough, don't let other people push your muscles and bones around when you can do it yourself.

How do you learn the Egoscue Method? Here is how Pete plans it out: 1. Your head: read the book, try to understand the concepts. 2: Your body: apply it to yourself, feel and recognize the changes that take place 3: Use it to understand how and when your body is functional and or dysfunctional in daily life.

Pete emphasizes that pain and dysfunction are not normal. It is not normal to suffer aches and pains on a daily basis, no matter your age. Pete reminds us of a principle that most statisticians at biomedical research centers neglect to take into account: even 'normal' controls that are dysfunctional are not necessarily normal. Let's drop the stats and focus on posture.

Pete makes a very important philosophical point: If we look for causes of problems via XRays and MRIs, we will find them. Not because they are there, but because we can only see what we look for. It has been a conundrum in the physical sciences for the last century but has not yet transferred to the biological / medical sciences.

What are the e-cises? E-cises are muscular retrainment. They are good stuff. Trust me.

Thank you Pete, for your ability to develop and design the Egoscue Method in the face of an inverted and dangerous medical psychology.