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I noticed you didn't get too many replies to your post, so I thought I'd throw myself out there if you have any specific questions about Egoscue. I am the clinic director in Santa Monica and have been practicing and instructing other health & fitness practitioners in the Method since '98. The best resource for understanding the philosophy of Egoscue is the "Pain Free" book or "The Egoscue Method of Health through Motion" by Pete Egoscue.
While most clients use Egoscue to get out of pain, it is more than that. It also helps the efficiency and overall kinetic chain function of the body to help athletic performance and gains, while reducing injury susceptibility.
For people using Egoscue to help improve fitness, then I recommend it as a pre-workout and possibly a post-workout to correct alignment & achieve maximal function so that you take it INTO your workout and get so much more out of time spent on task.
Best, Paul
Paul, I ended up buying and reading the book. With the supine groin stretch, every few minutes, I'll fully tense the quads to straighten the leg, and indeed, the contraction does seem to move further away from the knee. But after 10 minutes into the stretch, it no longer feels like a quad-only contraction - it feels like my glutes and hip musculature are firing as well. Is this normal?
Welcome to the world of hip extension! Yes, the feeling you are having in the gluts and hip are the muscles of the pelvis, hip and back ALLOWING your hip joint to extend functionally. If you are too tight in the hip flexors (i.e. ilio-psoas), you will not feel the quad contraction move up as you did. A good idea is to compare the right & lefts and make sure they feel symmetrical.
Of course, hip extension is important in almost every sport but most people do not achieve true extension because of tight hip flexors. Sitting tends to do this, so weekend warriors and desk jockeys are susceptible to this limitation.
I see. So the leg straightening involves more hip (not just knee) extension as the psoas and iliacus relax.
I'm familiar with glute activation and massage my own psoas, and I thought I was getting good hip extension in deadlifts, etc., but I wonder if the supine groin stretch provides for greater hip extension (than I normally get during exercise) simply because the muscles get to relax/stretch for so long.
Exactly! In deadlifts, lunges, running, etc., the functional hip is able to extend. However, if tightness sets in then there can be compensation in other planes to avoid true hip extension. The massage you've been doing and choice of exercises to work on it has no doubt helped you to this point. We see some instances where it will take hours, days and weeks to get to the point where you are (feeling the hip extension).
Good stuff!
Paul, just curious as to where in SM your clinic is?
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
Paul,
Thank you for your insight in Egoscue and Pain Free.
I was recently diagnosed with an arthritic right hip with bone spurs. I am 35 and an avid competitive beach volleyball player but I have only been playing 10 years or so, so this came as a surprise to me. At first I accepted the bad news and was ready to begin my new career as a swimmer. I was told to buy Pain Free and after reading it I have changed my mind somewhat.
I have been doing the e-sises for about 2 weeks and have a question for you about the supine groin ex. When my left leg is extended, everything is fine and I see the results. When my right leg is extended, my bad hip side, it is very uncomfortable after 10 mins or so and even if I am able to hold that position for 45 mins like the book says, I see no loosening of my inner thigh. Is this something that over time it will loosen up or should I not push throught the uncomfortable pain? Any other tips or advise would be very much apprecitated.
Let's see... this post was in May and here it is, uh, November! So hopefully you're still working on the Supine Groin stretch and things have loosened up. Yours is an example of where the tightness will need to be gradually moved into extension to allow for the hip, pelvis & spine to interact (as well as down into the knee & foot). I suggest for people to do the Supine Groin Progressive, where the straight leg is elevated until the hip releases, then graduating it down until it is not so tight and uncomfortable at the floor level. Here's a video of the exercise: http://www.therapyzone.com/video/EgoscueTowervid.wmv
It's a big file, so wait for it. You can also go here to check it out: http://therapyzone.com/product.php?p...ioning%20Tower
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