Learn more about your body, your pain and your posture (and how they are all related)...And get 2 Free Posture Reports
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Your personal details will receive the care and attention of the Queen's favourite Corgi and will be guarded more closely than her most treasured crown!
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Get Pain Free Now! Click here to try a couple of exercises that will relieve your symptoms...
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I had always thought I had good posture but when I saw that I hunched my shoulders, one side of the hip was elevated more than the other and I had an unnatural twist, I was shocked.
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The Egoscue method has helped me to reclaim my life and be able to do the simple things which many people take for granted...
...for the first time in about 5 years I am seeing results and starting to live my life again.
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I have suffered with lower back pain for over 20 years on and off due to the sedentary nature of my work. For the first time in my life I have found a permanent solution...
Matt is a highly talented practitioner and if you are in pain, he is definitely your man!
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Learn more about your body, your pain and your posture (and how they are all related)...And get 2 Free Posture Reports
|
|
|
|
Your personal details will receive the care and attention of the Queen's favourite Corgi and will be guarded more closely than her most treasured crown!
|
Learn more about your body, your pain and your posture (and how they are all related)...And get 2 Free Posture Reports
|
|
|
|
Your personal details will receive the care and attention of the Queen's favourite Corgi and will be guarded more closely than her most treasured crown!
|
Learn more about your body, your pain and your posture (and how they are all related)...And get 2 Free Posture Reports
|
|
|
|
Your personal details will receive the care and attention of the Queen's favourite Corgi and will be guarded more closely than her most treasured crown!
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Download this page, print it out and read it in the comfort of your favourite arm chair!
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What Is Posture And How Does It Affect You?
Watch The video below to find out more...
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Many people experience some form of pain nowadays and
all sorts of measures are taken to make the pain cease.
From the quick fix of a couple of painkillers to the more
drastic action of surgery, human beings will go to great
lengths to avoid pain.
Vast sums of money are spent every year on having
treatment from...
That’s not to mention all the money that gets spent at
Pharmacists to stock up on painkillers and taxpayers’ money
that goes on Doctors and surgery bills.
Alison Thompson was one of those people until recently.
She had heard of the Egoscue Method and instinctively
knew that it was the answer to fixing her pains. This is
what she says about The Egoscue Method.
Client Testimonial
“Prior to finding Matt and the Egoscue method, I was suffering from daily chronic pain for at least the last 5 years – lower back, mid back, shoulder, knee, neck, ankle and at the front of my right hip. Through intense research I knew it was due to significant muscular and postural imbalances but I could never convince my numerous physiotherapists/doctors who only addressed my problem areas in isolation.
When I was diagnosed last year with Scoliosis I was determined to take another path and through research found the Egoscue method – it was a light bulb moment. The program seemed to logically address/explain reasons for my symptoms and why over the years I had not seen improvements despite numerous daily physio programs/therapies.
The Egoscue method has helped me to reclaim my life and be able to do the simple things which many people take for granted, like driving, walking, sitting at my desk, breathing! I may have a long road ahead, but for the first time in about 5 years I am seeing results and starting to live my life again. Matt has been great in tailoring my menus of exercises to take into account what I can and can’t do.
Since I began only two months ago I have seen about an 80% reduction in pain on a daily basis, I've even had a period of nearly three weeks when I was completely pain free – hurrah! Before, I could barely crawl out of bed, now I am able to do many of the things I was frightened to do before. My posture has definitely improved and I am more aware of maintaining the correct posture throughout the day. I’m reawakening muscles, which were dormant, and although the exercises are sometimes hard it’s exhilarating because I am seeing progression.
As a therapist Matt is very positive, dedicated and supportive, most importantly he takes the time to listen. He wholly embraces the method in his everyday life and has given me specific but challenging menus, which fit with my lifestyle. It’ s great to work with someone who has had a similar experience to you and who is so supportive.
I think anyone who is experiencing the slightest twinge or has identified that they have postural imbalances should undertake the Egoscue method, as it is a powerful tool to avoid chronic pain. I wish I had found the method earlier. It requires dedication and ultimately the results are based on what you put in, but it is totally worth it.”
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Alison Thompson, Project Manager, Indigo Blue Consultancy
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The reason that Alison hadn't really got anywhere with
other modalities is because, as she says, they were
treating her problems in isolation. The cause of Alison’s
pain, and most probably of your pain, is faulty
alignment and the only way to fix it is to correct your
posture instead of chasing the symptoms and treating the
body as separate entities within the whole.
The Body Is A Unit...
…and MUST be treated as such.
When the body is in correct alignment, matching the
Blueprint Anatomical Design inherent in each and every
one of us, there is no pain because The Correct Muscles
are Moving The Correct Bones to their Correct Position!
So how do you tell if your alignment is faulty or not?
Unfortunately, I can say with almost 100% certainty that it
is.
How can I be so sure?
Because I see it every day… not just my clients that come
to me in pain, but also every person I encounter on a day-
to-day basis.
Faulty alignment has become so common that when we look
around, we consider what we see to be ‘normal’; and
normal it has now become, but it certainly isn't natural or
how we are intended to be.
How do I Know If The
Egoscue Method® Can Help
Me?
To answer that question, we need to first ascertain why
you are in pain. We need to go to the root of the
problem and find the underlying root cause.
To do that, you will need some basic information on how we
humans are designed and how we should look. Once you
know what the ‘Blueprint’ looks like, you can then compare
yourself to it and see how well you match up.
So before I talk about how your body is designed to look, I
want you to go and look at yourself in the mirror… But
before you go rushing off, let me tell you a few things to
look out for.
This is best done with little or no clothing on… We’re
assessing your posture, so let’s keep obstructions out of
the way!
Evenly Balanced?
Before you start your visual assessment of yourself, let’s
find out where you feel the weight in your feet. Stand
up and get yourself in your normal comfortable standing
position (standing equally on both feet). Close your eyes
and focus in on your feet. Do you feel the weight to be
more on your left foot, more on the right or evenly
balanced between the two?
Within each foot, do you feel the weight to be more on the
heels of the feet, more on the balls of the feet or is it
evenly balanced between the front and back? Is it at the
front of one foot and on the heel on the other?
And lastly, do you feel the weight on the outside edge of
each foot, the inside edge or evenly spread?
OK, open your eyes again and look down at your feet.
Out Like A Duck?
Do you stand with your feet directly beneath your hips and
knees or do you stand with your feet quite wide apart? Or
conversely, are they quite close together?
What direction do your feet point in? Do they point:
- Straight ahead to ‘twelve o’clock’?
- Out at ‘ten o’clock’?
- ‘Eleven o’clock’?
- ‘One o’clock’
- ‘Two o’clock’?
- Or another direction altogether?!
Do they point out equally or do they point in unequal
directions… i.e. Is one foot straight and the other pointing
out to the side?
The Window To The Pelvis
OK, so you now know which way your feet point. Let’s
move up and look at your knees. We’re looking for the same
thing here… do they face straight ahead or are they turned
outwards? Maybe they’re turned inwards? And as with your
feet, if they turn out or in, do they both turn out equally,
or does one turn more than the other?
The knees tell us an awful lot about what’s happening
in your body and with your posture… You could call
them the window to the pelvis.
The Pelvis – The ‘Heart’ Of Your
Posture
In terms of posture, the pelvis is the heart of the body.
Misalignment here is going to affect everything above
and everything below.
The pelvis is designed to sit in a neutral position, but it
can tilt too far forward, which typically (but not always)
puts an exaggerated arch in the lower back. It can also tilt
backwards, which typically (but not always) flattens the
lower back.
In addition to this forward or backward tilt, the pelvis can
also elevate on one side and/or rotate forward on one
side. It can also do a combination of these misalignments
and very often does. It’s not unusual to see someone with
a pelvis that tilts backwards, elevates on one side AND
rotates forward on one side, for example.
Forward or rear tilt isn't going to be so easy to spot
without a helping hand.
Testing For Tilt
If you have someone who can help you, try the following to
see if your pelvis is tilted backward or forward.
Have your partner kneel to the side of you and place one
index finger on the bony prominent portion on the front of
your pelvis (The ASIS, or Anterior Superior Iliac Spine –
although the name doesn't’t matter!), and the other index
finger in the little dimple in your back, just above the
buttocks and relatively near the centre.
The finger at the back of your body should be just a
little bit higher than the index finger at the front of the
body.
If it’s very much higher, your pelvis is being tilted forwards
and if it’s even or lower than the front finger, your pelvis is
tilted under or backwards. This backward tilt of the pelvis is
relatively common with people who sit down quite a lot,
such as office workers.
Going Up? Elevation And Rotation
Remember I said that your pelvis can also elevate on one
side and/or rotate forward on one side? It’s time to test
that right now!
This one can be done without any outside help. Place each
of the tips of your index fingers on each of the bony
prominent portions at the front of your pelvis again. Have
your fingers placed so that it looks like both are pointing to
the centre of your body.
Now look down.
Is one side further forward than the other? It may be a
little further forward or it may be considerable, but if it’s
further forward, there is rotation in your pelvis.
Now with your fingers still in place, look in the mirror again.
Is one finger higher than the other? If it is, you also have
elevation in your pelvis.
What Does All This Mean?
Before I answer that question for you, I just want to show
you a few more things to look out for and then we can get
on to the how’s and why’s!
A Little Test!
While you’re there in front of the mirror, try standing on
one leg.
Did you wobble?!
Did you lean to one side and/or rotate forward at your hips
or in your upper body?
Your body is designed to be able to transfer weight
efficiently from two legs to one leg without losing your
balance or centre of gravity.
OK, relax!
Now switch legs. Was it easier, harder or the same?
Incidentally, the leg that you stood on first, was it the
opposite leg to the side of your pelvis that’s elevated?
Shrugging Your Shoulders
Nearly done with he do it yourself posture assessment!
Looking back in the mirror, does one shoulder appear higher
than the other? And if you get a bit closer to the mirror,
does one shoulder appear nearer to the mirror than the
other?
If one shoulder is higher, you have an elevated shoulder. Is
it the same side as the elevated pelvis or the opposite
side? If one shoulder appears closer to the mirror, you may
well have upper torso rotation present also. This is best
confirmed by comparing the two side views of your body.
The best way to compare the side views is to take two
photos – the left and the right and then compare!
Raise Your Hands!
One last look in the mirror. Where are your hands? Yes I
know they're on the ends of your arms! But where are they
in relation to the rest of your body?
Can you see any of the back of the hand? Can you see the
same amount of hand left to right, or does one show more
than the other?
How about the heights of the hands... do they hang at the
same height, or is one higher than the other? If one is
higher, is that same shoulder elevated?
How Did You Do?
If you answered, "YES" to any of these questions, then you
are showing the signs of misalignment of a joint or set
of joints.
Regardless of any previous condition or injury, The
Egoscue Method can help you return your body to its
proper alignment and restore normal joint function,
allowing your body to naturally heal itself.
Nikki answered YES to one or more of the above questions
and came to see me because she also intuitively knew that
this was the right way for her to go to fix her long-term
chronic back pain. This is what she has to say about The
Egoscue Method…
Client Testimonial
“I have suffered with lower back pain for over 20 years on and off due to the sedentary nature of my work. Although I have found excellent body therapists who can relieve the symptoms of pain in the moment, to my despair it has persistently come back.
For the first time in my life I have found a permanent solution in practising these miraculous Egoscue Method exercises. Within only two days of doing them, my pain dramatically reduced!
I feel that 20 minutes of focused exercise is a small price to pay for a life free of pain.
Matt is a highly talented practitioner and if you are in pain, he is definitely your man!”
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Nikki Slade, Voice Facilitator, Free The Inner Voice
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The Design Of The Human
Body
You've just given yourself a posture assessment, so you
know how you do look, but how are you designed to look?
Advances in modern medicine over the last hundred years
or so can easily (and often do) lead one to believe that the
human body is a complex, intricate work of art … and it is!
But in terms of posture and pain, it’s really very simple.
The following illustrations and explanations will show you
the simplicity of the human body…
The illustration on the left shows how our posture is
designed to look from the front view when we are in a
normal relaxed and comfortable standing position.
The circles indicate the:
There are two of each, and they are the load-bearing
joints of the body, giving us 8 in total.
As the name suggests, they are there to bear our
weight in an upright position and to move us forward.

They are in their optimal position when:
- The shoulders are level with one another and
parallel to the ground
- The hip joints are level with one another and
parallel to the ground
- The knees are level with one another and parallel
to the ground, and…
- Yep, you guessed it! The ankles are level with one
another and parallel to the ground
That’s horizontally…
Vertically, the shoulders, hips, knees and ankles should also
be in line with each other.
Which means that if we were to take a pen and draw a
straight line through the horizontal load-bearing joints and
down through the two verticals of the load-bearing joints, a
series of right angles would emerge.
Right Angles Are The Key To Understanding The Body’s Design
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They give us great strength and durability.
When we maintain what we call the 'Right Angle Rule of
Function', there is no pain because all of the load-bearing
joints are in their optimal, neutral and functional positions.
All of the muscles have the correct length and correct
tension.
Muscles have what we call a 'design length'. When your
body is functioning properly as a unit, all of your muscles
are working together as a team.
Conversely, when we lose the Right Angle Rule of Function,
we see a change in function for the muscles, bones, joints,
ligaments and nerves.
The muscles then become either too short or too long and
also too weak or too strong. A muscle that is too tight will
make the angle of the joint smaller by pulling the two ends
closer together. A muscle that is too loose can't stabilise
the joint properly.
Once this has happened, your body then responds with
what we call compensation - it pushes the balancing act
onto another area of the body. Sooner or later your body
relays this message as PAIN!
Pain Is A Signal
Pain is simply a signal from your body to you that something
is wrong. It is saying to you, "I can no longer cope with
what you have given me, and I need you to do something
about it".
It's really your body's last resort.
You see, it gave you other messages along the way, but
you either ignored them, or else you simply weren't aware
of them.
The first signal it gave you was limited Range of Motion.
All of your joints have what we call a Design Range of
Motion - that is, they are designed to be able to achieve a
certain action. It's not a fixed number for all people, but
instead varies for everyone. Although we are all designed to
fall into a greater or lesser average.
So that was your body's first warning signal, limited range
of motion. Normally, this is either ignored, goes unnoticed
or it is simply put down to 'getting old'...
...There is no such thing as old age!
In case that didn't register, I'll say it again, There is no
such thing as old age.
The human body isn't fragile, it isn't prone to breakdown
and doesn't have to get the way it often does when we get
old.
Maintain your body and return your posture back to the
blueprint, and you won't end up looking like the
stereotypical 'old person'. It's the simple rule of cause and
effect; a law of the universe.
The Other Signal That You
Missed
After limited range of motion, your body gave you another
signal along the way. This time it gave you 'twinges'.
Those little "ooh's" as you bent down and felt 'something
go' in your back, or when you reached up to a cupboard
and felt a 'snap' in your shoulder joint.
These were probably blamed on old age also. But we know
that there's no such thing as old age, don't we?!
Those twinges that you felt were nothing more than
postural misalignment. And what usually happens in
these instances is that we think to ourselves, "that didn't
feel too good; I'd better rest it for a while".
And so we start to limit our movement and what we do with
our lives.
The Human Body Is Designed
For Movement...
...And we go and limit it to rest the 'twinge'! Muscles then
become weaker than they already were, compensation
begets more compensation, and so the quickened
journey to 'old age' begins.
How do we know that the human body is designed for
movement?
With 206 bones in your body and over 600 muscles, there is
one thing that we can be sure of, and that is you were
designed to move...
You were designed to run, jump, skip, fall, dance, crawl and
every other type of movement that you can think of. The
only limitation to movement is in the mind.
The Right Angles Are still
There In The Side View
Getting back to how you are designed to look, let's take a
look from the side view...

The illustration on the right shows how our posture is
designed to look from the side view when we are in a
normal relaxed and comfortable standing position.
It shows that:
- The head isn't forward of the plumb line but is
back so that the ear is aligned vertically with
the Shoulder, Hip, Knee and Ankle
- The Arms rest nicely by the Side of the Body
- The Shoulders are back in their neutral,
functional position - not rounded forward
What this picture and the one above show us is that
we are designed to be perfectly balanced from
front to back and perfectly balanced from left to
right.
We have two arms, two hands, two legs and two feet...
...They each have exactly the same muscles, bones,
nerves, ligaments and tendons. Not similar but the
same. They are designed to do exactly the same thing.
If you can do something on one side of the body that you
can't do on the other, it isn't because you are left or
right handed but is instead because of postural
misalignment.
Dean is another client of mine who was ‘shocked’ when he
saw his misaligned posture. Like many people I work with,
he thought his back pain was just something that happens
and he also thought that there was nothing wrong with his
posture. This is his story…
Client Testimonial
“I play Rugby, which is a very physical game, but due to the lower back problems I was suffering with I was not able to train or compete at the intensity required. I then spoke to my personal trainer who recommended me to Matt.
Originally, all I wanted was a massage but Matt could see that my back problem was being caused by something else: My Posture.
He showed me photos of myself and explained to me exactly why I was suffering with lower back pain. I had always thought I had good posture but when I saw that I hunched my shoulders, one side of the hip was elevated more than the other and I had and an un-natural twist, I was shocked.
At my first session, Matt gave me a menu of exercises to do in order to improve my posture. By doing just 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night, after just a couple of weeks I could see significant changes in my posture as well as reduced pain in my lower back.
I kept seeing Matt every 3 weeks and each time he’d give me new exercises to do. As each session and the weeks went by, my posture kept improving and the pains were slowly going, enabling me to play rugby at the intensity that was expected of me.
I think Matt is an excellent bloke who has been very honest with me from the very start. He is easy to talk to and is very professional in his manner and I want to thank him for everything he has done for me.
From a very Satisfied Client”
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Dean Ward, Rugby Player, London Nigeria RFC
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What Is The Egoscue Method?
The Egoscue Method is a Postural Therapy program that
involves a series of stretches and gentle exercises. It
is a process designed to help you Rediscover, Restore
and Return your body to its original pain-free Blueprint
Design –
Without the use of drugs, surgery and/or manipulation.
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This puts the control of your health back into your
hands rather than creating dependence on a system.
The Egoscue Method® provides personalised exercises
that retrain muscles, realign posture, and reduce pain,
enabling you to live a pain free and active life now!
What Can It Help With?
The Egoscue Method successfully addresses and eliminates
pain associated with:
- Rotator Cuff (shoulder problems)
- As well as many other types of pain…
Who Uses The Egoscue
Method?
From children to senior citizens, professional athletes
to those in chronic pain, The Egoscue Method can help
you achieve your health and fitness goals and relieve your
pain.
© Upward Spiral 2004 - 2007
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