I just saw this posting on the Orange County Ca. Egoscue Clinic blog. It is an account of my buddy Tim George who runs the downtown Egoscue Clinic. It is a great story. Tim has often given me the best advice on clients whose needs seem to pass my level of experience. He has always given me very positive and on the mark guidance whenever I call on him. I think he represents the best that the Egoscue Method has to offer. Please take a look:
The one question that almost every client asks me is “How did you find Egoscue?” Unlike many of our therapists, I was not an Egoscue client prior to becoming an Egoscue Therapist.
In college I studied Exercise Physiology, with an emphasis in Athletic Training. For those not familiar with the field of athletic training, it encompasses the prevention, diagnosis, and intervention of emergency, acute, and chronic medical conditions involving impairment, functional limitations, and disabilities. Athletic training is not the same profession as personal training. And certified athletic trainers work with more than just athletes – they can be found just about anywhere people are physically active.
I really enjoyed Athletic Training and was looking forward to a successful career. When I finished grad school I moved back to my hometown of Lake Forest, CA to live with my parents until I landed a job. Finding a job was tough; there wasn’t too much work in Orange County for athletic trainers, so I started to expand my search to San Diego.
The only company that was hiring athletic trainers in San Diego was a company called The Egoscue Method. Like most people, I had never heard of Egoscue, and I had a hard time even saying the name. The job description sounded interesting, and when I checked out the Egoscue website, I saw they worked with athletes, so it seemed like a good fit. I sent in my resume and got a callback to set up an interview.
My interview was with Brian Bradley (Vice-President of Therapy Protocol), and it was probably the first interview where I did most of the listening. I could really tell that Brian had a lot of passion for The Egoscue Method, and overall it seemed like a great place to work. About a week later I got a call from Brian offering me a job at the Egoscue clinic in Del Mar. Again it seemed like a great place to work, and plus it was a way to get out of my parent’s house, so I accepted the job.
Egoscue was not in my career plans; it was a definite change from athletic training. To be honest, for the first few weeks that I worked there I had one foot out the door. To me Egoscue was a way to pay the bills, ultimately my goal was to get back to athletic training, either at the college or professional sports level. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Egoscue, but I will be the first to tell you that I was a bit skeptical about the effectiveness of the therapy. I mean how could correcting someone’s posture cure them from the pain of a herniated disk, or other debilitating musculoskeletal pain. I remember saying to myself “it can’t be that simple.” However as I began to learn and understand the principles behind the Egoscue Therapy, my mindset began to change. I started to see and understand the relationship of posture to pain, and seeing it action while working with clients really began to send the message home. Soon I started to say to myself, “Yes, it is as simple as correcting posture.”
Soon I really started to get a passion for Egoscue, never before had a treatment modality truly answered the question of why someone was in pain. Prior to that, my approach was treating the pain or symptom, not necessarily treating the cause of the pain. That is one of the big reasons I chose to stay with Egoscue and make it my passion and career. For the first time I truly felt like I was helping someone towards a life without pain and limitations.
One of the other big reasons that I stayed, and why I think Egoscue is so revolutionary, is the emphasis on personal responsibility for one’s health. There is no “you need to fix me” mentality with Egoscue. If someone wants to get out of pain, they need to take the responsibility and do the work. This approach I believe is what really separates Egoscue from other movement therapies; it is simple and very effective. Which is why 5 years later I now own my own Egoscue clinic and help people get themselves out of pain everyday. -Tim
Labels: Athletic training, Egoscue Method, posture, simple therapy
