UPDATE OF PREVIOUS REVIEW
It's two years later and I can honestly say that I regret the fact that my review of the Foundation book is so prominent and has been influential to so many readers. I spent over half of the past two years immersed in practicing the Gokhale Method: I took every class available at the Gokhale Method Studio in Palo Alto and I spent a week there taking the teacher training. I came away from the experience with much improved posture...I look better, probably move better in some respects, and am more aware of posture in general. HOWEVER, there were no "8 steps to a pain free back" for me. Indeed, my painful sciatica condition of some 7 years was not changed one bit by my lovely, better posture. Maybe it was just my experience but I seriously doubt it. Anyway, long boring story short: I picked up the Foundation book about 6 weeks ago because another Gokhale Method teacher recommended it to me. Imagine that...given that I had reviewed the book but NEVER attempted the exercises. Well, after a mere 5 weeks of dedicated practice of just ONE of the Foundation exercises (the back extension) I have been PAIN FREE for the past 4 weeks. This is the first time I have been pain free for that long in many, many years. I feel a profound strength in my lower back muscles that I have never felt before. My back isn't popping....isn't shifting at individual disk levels and I don't have sciatica running down my leg into my foot. As for my conclusion below that the Foundation is intended for more athletic people, I'm just not sure about that: 5 weeks ago when I started do this one exercise I hadn't had much exercise in 3 years because I was in too much pain to do much of anything. I would not have described my condition as anywhere close to "athletic". I don't want to say much more than I already have here. I felt I owed it to readers to update the review below. I came close to deleting it and maybe I will eventually....for now, just take it with a large grain of salt. I strongly recommend Foundation Training (great videos on YouTube) to anyone with back pain. Bite off just a little...start small and work up. Maybe, like me, just a little bit will help a lot. I'm off now to ride a horse....something I"ve hired someone else to do for the past three years.
PREVIOUS REVIEW
I have read both "Foundation" and "Eight Steps to a Pain Free Back" in great detail and thought I would give it a try to compare them from my perspective. Let's start with the simple: both books are well written, beautifully illustrated (both on high quality paper) and careful about providing the reader good information. Broadly speaking, the main difference between the two books for me is that Foundation seems more directed (though not exclusively) at athletes, people that are already in pretty darn good shape. I would say that again, in general, the exercise regime recommended Foundation requires a relatively significant level of conditioning. The pictures throughout the book bear that out: everyone looks very buff and no one appears to be much older than 40. OK, make that 30! I think the Gokhale Method is directed toward people that are athletic but also those that are not in great physical shape...old, young, really all ages. You can see that in the pictures in the book...short, tall, heavy, old, babies. I think this because the Gokhale Method involves smaller, more incremental movement that you can do sitting, standing and walking...it's not a set of specific exercises but more a way of moving all the time (though In "8 Steps to a Pain Free Back" there are a set of more rigorous exercises in the back of the book).
The second and perhaps more important difference between the two books lies in their approach to what is the natural and most mechanically advantageous shape of the spine. Foundation assumes the ideal of an "S" shaped curve in the spine and does not address any other ideal. In contrast, the Gokhale Method views the "S" shape as a more recent cultural development that started only in the past 80 years or so (8 Steps provides a historical/anthropological discussion of this cultural shift which I will not go into here...I find it FASCINATING). So prior to the 1920's Esther Gokhale would say that people had more of a "J" shaped spine...one that is relatively without curve until you reach L5-S1. In order to preserve the wedge shape of the L5-S1 curve, the Gokhale Method encourages movement that will, over time, restore the "J" shaped spine. As I understand it, the shape of our spines have not evolved in 90 years...that would not be possible. But our IDEA of what the spine should like as evolved...in unfortunate ways that increase the potential for back pain. If this interests you, get the book...I don't want to go into it any further here.
A view into how an "S" shaped spine versus a "J" shaped spine so dramatically informs movement can be seen in how the two books approach an idea they have in common: the importance of bending at the hip instead of at the back. The photos on pages 64, 86, 102 of the Foundation book (for example) illustrate an approach to bending called "The Founder". Compare these photos to Chapter 7 in 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back. The Foundation book instructs a form of hip-hinging that the Gokhale Method would criticize as encouraging an exaggerated sway in the upper lumbar spine (around L1-L2). The Gokhale Method advises maintaining a straighter, almost plank-like spine when hip-hinging (of course, this depends on each persons flexibility...especially in the hamstrings). Both books encourage an anteverted pelvis (meaning the opposite of a tucked pelvis): The Gokhale Method would caution against over anteverting the pelvis (sticking your bum out too far) to the point of creating a sway in the back because of the resulting disc compression. Finally, if you are still reading this, another significant difference seems that the Gokhale Method focuses a lot of attention on developing all the gluts but in particular, the gluteus medius because so many of us do not develop it sufficiently. As I understand it, when you don't have a well developed glut med, you tend to recruit other muscles inappropriately which, in turn, can exacerbate lower back pain (not a doctor so someone else can weigh in here). 8 Steps devotes an entire chapter to "Glidewalking": a recipe for copying the natural gait found still in many non-industrialized countries where people experience a phenomenally low incidence of back pain compared to the US and more technologically advanced cultures. Foundation focuses on the glutes as an important component of developing core stability and does an good job of identifying the anatomy necessary to engage core muscles...uses easy to understand and simplified, intelligent descriptions.
OK, finally, gotta say I loved the photos in the Foundation with the overlay of muscles...very cool. Also great: the nutritional information included at the end of the book. All in all, I'm more interested in the Gokhale Method because I want to change the way I move entirely, not just have exercises (even if they successfully alleviate back pain...which I have, of course...or I wouldn't have read these books or written this tome!)
So there you have it S vs. J. Gentlepersons, start your engines!
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