The Eight Laws of Physical Health - Egoscue Style

This is my continued commentary on the Egoscue Method literature.

From 'Pain Free' by Pete Egoscue, Chapter 2.

The Eight Laws of Physical Health

1. VERTICAL LOADING.

The necessity of gravity for physical health. The skeleton must be vertically aligned by good posture.
Think about the muscle and bone loss that occurs with astronauts in space.
What implications does this have when we decrease our gravitational load by sitting,
biking, and engaging in non-impact activities? I started swimming at the age of 18 after suffering severe knee pain 'resulting' from years of tennis (or bad posture, according to Egoscue). All those years of swimming were years spent falling in love with a sport, but also seriously ignoring increasing dysfunction in my body. Now, there is even more work to do. Keep this in mind - do not swim away from pain. You cannot.

2. DYNAMIC TENSION

The tension between the front and back of the body. The back holds the body erect and the front causes the body to bend forward. All physical activity needs BOTH actions.
Overworking just the front side can lead to an overextended back side and a contracted
front - think about the 'computer posture', it is very similar to the 'muscle gym
posture'

3. FORM AND FUNCTION.

Bones follow muscular commands. Period.
Think about it. When you take a breath, your brain sends a signal to your muscles via neuromuscular interactions, which cause expansion and contraction of the lungs (and all sorts of other biochemical reactions). Here's the point: the brain tells the muscles what to do, the muscles tell the body what to do. Therefore, if we move muscles in an appropriate way, all else will be good.

4. BREATHING.

Oxygen is important. 'Nough said.

5. MOTION

All systems are interrelated. Movement makes the systems work together. Motion equals life, stillness death. This is true at every level from the nanoscale to the astronomical. You are not the exception :)

6. BALANCE

You want motion, right? To get motion, your muscles need to balance your body in a vertical loading position. In other words: vertical loading + balance = proper motion

7. STIMULUS

The body is always reacting. ALWAYS.

8. RENEWAL

Actually, this is a rephrasing of the stimulus law. Your body is reacting and changing itself consistently with respect to its environment. It's up to you to get the inertia going in the right direction.

***OK, so I completely agree with the above laws. But, I have to add in these variables into the mix: social interactions, psychological environment, current life status, nutrition, spirituality, (fill in your own 'law' of a successful life here)***

I think that physical health is a reflection of our accumuluated reaction to our total environment.