Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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66 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book relieved hip, knee, and shoulder pain for me., July 26, 1999
By A Customer
I must add my endorsement to those of others. Last summer, after two back operations, and hundreds of hours of physical therapy, and facing the prospect of beginning school in chronic pain that required me to lie down for several hours a day, I saw Mr. Egoscue's book. I tried the exercises, doing them exactly as he instructs. Within a few weeks, I noticed significant improvement, and not only in my back, but in chronic knee and shoulder problems. I kept up with the exercises, and, after about six months, I found I could do things I hadn 't been able to do for over ten years--like swim, lift weights, ride a bike. . . I'm not completely pain-free, but I credit the exercises in this book for returning me to about 80% normal. I continue to do the maintenance exercises daily. I'm completely convinced by Mr. Egoscue, and this is after trying conventional medicine and every alternative in the books and quite a few not in the books. His approach works far more effectively than anything else I've tried, from surgery to herbs. I recommended it to a friend who called me one morning in severe back pain--two weeks later she, too, was calling it a miracle. I'm in danger of becoming a bore at parties, because whenever I hear anyone with any kind of chronic musculoskeletal problem I spend about half an hour extolling the virtues of Mr. Egoscue's method. It works!
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48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scientific Perspective on the Body, September 20, 1999
By A Customer
I'll add my voice to the others extolling the virtues of the Egoscue Method. What really impressed me, as an engineer and scientist, was Pete's recognition that the body must obey structural laws, just like a skyscraper. Buildings are designed so that weight is transferred through the girders, not the joints. In people, muscles position our girders (bones) so that they transfer weight effectively. When our muscles weaken from lack of use, the bones aren't positioned correctly. Our personal skyscraper begins to sway, and the wrong joints or muscles are forced to compensate. This causes or allows the myriad of ailments Pete describes, because the wrong joints simply cant bear the load -- knees wear out, backs hurt, etc. Don't think this program is easy. You must pay attention to detail when you do the exercises. It is hard, long work. Muscles that have weakened for years dont strengthen overnight. But feeling good, controlling your own health -- isn't that worth it? After five orthopedists and two chiropracters, it is for me.
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69 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
wow almost, December 20, 2001
By A Customer
This book is used as a textbook for a physical education course at the Northern Virginia Community College. The course name and description are:
Topics in: Functional Training
Course covers postural and joint movement assessment & specific exercise techniques to correct deficiencies of strength development or range of motion that may cause injury ond discomfort.Although I have not started the course yet I have read the book and tried some of the exercises. For me the section on shoulders was most relevant. As a weight trainee I had been having difficulty fully extending my left arm above my head while lifting. One of the diagnostic movements in the book suggested that I had a tightness and/or misalignment in the shoulder that could be the problem. Performing the shoulder movements described in the book brought about almost instant relief. For that I am grateful. However, the author is not content to confine himself to what he does well which is to describe E-cises (his terminology). He makes a few statements which are not only false, but which could be dangerous. His statement that "You cannot drink too much water." was proven false a few years ago by some misguided parents who disciplined their children by forcing them to drink water in excessive amounts. I think the resulting death of one of the children pretty much disproves his statement. The problem is not the water per se, but the resulting electrolyte imbalance. Perspiring profusely and only drinking plain water can result in an electrolyte imbalance. The symptoms include a tingling sensation.
It is real. I experienced it one time. Despite many "experts" who advocate plain water I know that there are those among us who would do better following the advice in OPTIMAL MUSCLE RECOVERY by Edmund R. Burke, PhD. Egoscue sees nothing wrong with impact -- as in high impact aerobics. I do. Also, he is so into using proof by evolution that he uses it as an explanation for any personal opinion for which he can cite no good scientific study. And if evolution doesn't explain it then look for some body misalignment as a cause for a problem. My opinions on impact are these: 1. If it causes pain, don't do it. 2. While a little bit of impact may be good it is easy to overdo and if overdone can cause irreversible damage. It doesn't matter if the people in your family tree didn't evolve with aerobics in mind or if you have some body misalignment. Years of running on hard surfcess have left me with arthritic knees which have resulted in knee operations. One orthopedic surgeon told me that had I been a couch potato the operations would not be needed until thirty more years. Using the evolution argument of which Egoscue is so fond I propose that humans did not evolve on flat concrete or asphalt. They evolved walking on soft irregular surfaces. The universities in the state of Oregon which have produced several outstanding runners credit the use of soft wood chip running paths for part of their success. Likewise, running sand dunes has worked for Australian runners.
Then too there are some people who should limit impact activities because of uncorrectable defects such as bowlegs or knock knees, or because of excess weight, or because of weak cartilage caused by the body's using the amino acid cystine rather than the chemically similar amino acid arginine when constructing cartilage.
This book is definitely a good read. Give the E-cises a try. Just don't blindly accept everything the author says. Like most of us he gets a little full of himself at times.
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