Consumer Reports Health: Three Out Of Four Readers Using Alternative Therapies

Hooray, alternative therapies!  Read about this great article here.

..."For back pain, yoga, deep-tissue massage and Pilates all rated about the same as prescription medication...."


Rated the same?  Um, hello?  Which of these remedies is totally toxic to your liver, brain, heart, or who knows how many other organs in your body?  (Hint: it isn't massage, yoga, or Pilates).  You can choose to live in a numb fog, or you can choose to heal yourself the all natural way.  Hopefully, one day what we do will not be considered "alternative", but instead be the first choice for people seeking help for their pain and stress.

Does your neck feel stiff or hurt right now? Get off that couch!

Want to relax your spine in a better way?  Try this posture position for a change.

This is a fundamental posture exercise used in the Egoscue Method called "Static Back".

You can give your back a 15 minute vacation from the laws of basic physics by using the power of the force.  Yes, let the force be with you in this instance by taking gravity out of the picture.  You sit all day, you run upright on the treadmill after work, then you sit like a downtrodden blob on the couch.  And if you're lucky, you get around 6 hours a night sleep.  I say, give your spine more breaks during the day in addition to the minimal amount of sleep you're getting.  And if you are a scruncher when you sleep (you know who you are!), your back will in all likelihood play no more Mr. Nice Guy with you at the most inopportune times.

This position releases your neck from flexion by re-engaging the load-bearing joints and posture muscles.  The floor is a template to bring the muscles and structures of the body, including the neck and head, to a neutral position.  Laying like this also puts your back into a natural extension-which it likes.  And more importantly, your hip flexors are slackened and get a break from pulling anteriorly on your spine.  In a nutshell, you're resting your lower back in a very significant way while doing very little.

CLICK HERE for a great You Tube video on the directions for how to do this exercise correctly!