Quote:
Originally Posted by Hiker
Have you figured out the solution to your leg/foot problem yet?
A few months ago I noticed some on and off numbness in my feet and then some on and off pain in the hip area (on both sides).
There are some L5-S1 disk/vertebrae issues showing on my MRI which may be a direct cause of this, but I suppose the root of all problems is in the overall faulty posture.
Most exercises for the lower spine I tried seem to make the problem worse so I'm not sure how to proceed.
I am progressing to more strenuous workouts for the upper body and these work very well. I regained much of the arm and shoulder strength I lost and stopped dropping things. Scapular stabilization still needs a lot more work though.
I am curious what Egoscue exercises you find helpful.
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@Hiker, I have a similar theory - the problem is the overall structure/posture instead of a clinical fix in the neck/shoulder area. The clinical fixes in the local area of the pain do provide relief but each time I go back to doing significant work at the computer or sit for a long time, the symptoms reappear. There's a bunch of people (Egoscue, Esther Gokhale, others) who point out problems in the spine arch (
http://www.healthandlovepage.com/wp-...-Back-Pain.jpg) as a possible root cause. I am still not 100% convinced about the cause and effect cycle here (did shoulder issues cause back pain or did consistent lower back issues cause shoulder instability?) but my current theory is that everything needs to be addressed.
In my case, I could see that despite doing shoulder opening exercises, the weight of my body was more on the front face than on my heels, butt etc. After I started doing the exercises that the Egoscue folks recommended, I can clearly see the distribution shifting to the back, albeit slowly and steadily. With this change, I seem to be able to slouch less and maintain an open shoulder pose for longer. However, I need at least 3 more months before I conclude that this is a successful direction (after 3 months of doing their exercises so far).
If you want to try to address your lower back and see if it helps, I have some suggestions.
1. Try to do something like
http://www.oregonexercisetherapy.com/blog/static-back for 15 mins with good diaphragm breathing and check if you feel straighter/better right after.
2. Do the (relatively simple) exercises in Egoscue "Pain Free at your PC" chapter "For those in pain" and see if you feel better/straighter right afterwards. This is what I started with, which convinced me to pay a visit to their clinic.
3. Egoscue has a clinic in SF, Esther Gokhale has one in Palo Alto. There are many others who do overall posture correction, but these are the ones I know enough about. I believe both offer an initial consultation for just evaluating and suggesting exercises to start with.
4. Han Yoga in the Bay Area offers a low intensity therapeutic yoga class that might help. Pain in my hands/shoulder did not allow me to do this a few months ago but I can manage to do this regularly now.
Let me know if you need any more details, all the best.