Amazon.com Review Pete Egoscue learned a lot about pain when, as a Marine officer, he was wounded in Vietnam. He segued from patient to physical therapist, and now runs a famous clinic in San Diego, where he claims he's helped 95 percent of his patients cure chronic pain--including Jack Nicklaus and Charles Barkley, whose athletic careers he helped prolong. At the heart of his program are stretches and motion exercises to restore proper function to muscles and joints. His methods are often surprising and counterintuitive. For example, for foot pain, he suggests a series of hip exercises. In fact, this is one of the most startling books you'll read about the human organism. Egoscue has strong opinions about how modern life is changing the way our bodies function, reducing the tasks we must perform and thus reducing the functional range of motion of our muscles and joints. Fortunately, he offers movement exercises to restore what nature meant us to have.
Product Description Starting today, you don't have to live in pain.
That is the revolutionary message of this breakthrough system for eliminating chronic pain without drugs, surgery, or expensive physical therapy. Developed by Pete Egoscue, a nationally renowned physiologist and sports injury consultant to some of today's top athletes, the Egoscue Method has an astounding 95 percent success rate. The key is a series of gentle exercises and carefully constructed stretches called E-cises. Inside you'll find detailed photographs and step-by-step instructions for dozens of motioncizes specifically designed to provide quick and lasting relief of:
Lower back pain, hip problems, sciatica, and bad knees
Carpal tunnel syndrome and even some forms of arthritis
Migraines and other headaches, stiff neck, fatigue, sinus problems, vertigo, and TMJ
Shin splints, varicose veins, sprained or weak ankles, and many foot ailments
Bursitis, tendinitis, and rotator cuff problems
Plus special preventive motioncise programs for maintaining health through the entire body.
With this book in hand, you're on your way to regaining the greatest gift of all: a pain-free body!
This book relieved hip, knee, and shoulder pain for me.July 27, 1999 85 out of 86 found this review helpful
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!
Scientific Perspective on the BodySeptember 20, 1999 54 out of 54 found this review helpful
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.
An absolute must for those with back painNovember 21, 2001 37 out of 38 found this review helpful
I had tried just about everything to relieve my back pain, including chiropractors, massage therapists, personal trainers, and a host of other methods. Nothing worked and my lower back ached, as well as my hips and legs.
Then while surfing the internet, I came across Pete Egoscue and his book, Pain Free. I picked up a copy, and it has been a real blessing. Plain and simple, Pete Egoscue's method WORKS. The exercises he offers are quite simple, but it does take discipline to do them every day. This is not a "quick fix" for those with severe postural problems. You can get pain relief, but it might take time.
While the book is helpful and may be enough for some people, I chose to use the special services Egoscue offers through his web site (...). There is an online program where you send digital photos of yourself to his clinic in San Diego and they e-mail a specialized set of exercises to you (with photos and descriptions). These exercises are designed directly for you, based on your postural misalignment.
Every two weeks, I send them new digital photos by computer and they send me a revised list of exercises. Some of the exercises are in the book, and some are not found in this book. I have been working with them for 3 months now, and I am delighted with the results. His clinic is staffed with excellent trainers and they provide first-rate service.
My back pain is virtually gone and my posture is improving dramatically. The fees they charge for these services are very reasonable -- much less than you'd pay for chiropractors, doctors, etc.
For the last 3 months, I have done the exercises every day for about 45-60 minutes per day. If you want to get rid of your back pain, then you'll do them, too. It is worth it to me! I still have some soreness in my hips and legs, but I know I am working toward a Pain Free life.
Even if you chose to look into his online program, I strongly recommend that you buy this book and read through it. It will help you to understand the method and you can even try out the exercises in the book. I still feel the online, customized program offers the best benefits.
This is a groundbreaking book that will alleviate your pain...if you have the discipline to stick with the program. You'll simply be amazed at how your posture will change (and your pain will diminish) by doing the recommended exercises.
One final suggestion: if you have pain in your back, buttocks, hips and legs (and especially if the pain moves around), I strongly recommend that you also read Dr. John Sarno's book, Healing Back Pain. It has helped me tremendously.
Buy this book *BEFORE* you need it.October 18, 1998 29 out of 29 found this review helpful
I'm going to have to lower my lathe about 4 inches. Hmm, well that's starting at the end. Back to the beginning: The first thing I noticed when I got the book was a blurb from Depak Chopra. Not very encouraging. The second was on about page 34 or so the author says the X-Rays are one of the biggest problems with modern medicine...and I'm an X-Ray Tech. The biggest problem is that all of the evidence is anecdotal, some even celebrity anecdotes, nary a controlled study in sight.
But I'm afraid I've become an anecdote myself. After doing the shoulder pain exercises for a couple of weeks, not only has the pain gone away but my shoulder height has dropped about four inches. I can tell, because both of my lathes were set to be at elbow height, and now they're far too high.
After doing the shoulder exercises for a month or so I switched over to the general exercises, and my feet, after 50 years, now point straight ahead when I walk instead of out to the sides. With a little deliberate effort at first, mind you.
The book makes consumate sense. And it sure worked for me. Far better to buy and follow the book now before our modern propensity for the sedentary life gets you in trouble.
Good book, advice is quite spread outMarch 7, 2005 John Buginas(San Francisco Bay Area) 27 out of 27 found this review helpful
I found pretty immediate relief for my back/hip/knee pain after two long sessions. I didn't believe it myself. I was able to tie my shoe standing up, a minor miracle as I've not been able to do this for about three years since an injury. I've basically spend 25 years at a desk and have suffered many of the described symptoms. I fell 3 years ago and hurt my lower back. The exercises in this book have provided much needed relief.
I fully understand you have to keep doing the sessions. This is EXACTLY as you would with many other therapies, such as chiropractic, Chi Kung, Yoga and Codeine. As he points out in the first three chapters, surgery is not necessarily a permanent fix either, and doesn't address the basic problem.
I only hope I can make time in my routine to do this regularly. As others have said, each session can be long This is not a '6 minutes to pain free back' book. This is NOT a criticism of the book, just a realistic observation. However, if you have spent hours each day suffering from pain or scarfing down pain medication, perhaps it's time to look within and find the time for self improvement.
The only complaints I have with the book itself is that you often need to read it with a bunch of bookmarks and flip back and forth. The book is organized into chapters, one for each section of the body. Many of the exercises are repeated in several sections, but the complete directions for the repeated exercises appear only once. Therefore, when you are laying on your back, book open, trying to figure out where to put your right leg next, you need to turn to page 72, then 128, then 47. This is an unfortunate organization because the PICTURES of the posture appear in the text as needed, but the TEXT instructions appear only once. Repeating this information would NOT have added much more than 10 pages to the book and would have been well worth it.
The flip side of this complaint is that the exercises, once learned, are fairly easy to do and you really wouldn't need the book in hand every session.
I'd rate the advice as good, but the book needs a new edition that describes each repeated exercise fully. A big plus would be a spiral binding or some binding that allows the book to lay completely flat.
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