The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [126]
In barefoot walkers, the toes fan out, providing a stable base for walking. Notice the natural outward line from the center of the heel to the big toe, which prevents excessive pronation (rolling of the feet inward) and related problems in the knees and lower back.
Much like in Chinese foot binding, the feet of this modern man have conformed to his shoes. The outward line from heel to big toe is nonexistent.
Don’t get me wrong. Used on occasion, a nice set of heels can really accentuate the female form and give fellas some style and height.
Just use the elevation in moderation.
2. THE EGOSCUE METHOD. AREAS FIXED: CERVICAL/NECK AND MID-BACK.
Peter Egoscue (pronounced “Eg-os-cue,” not “Ego-scue”) is the founder of the Egoscue Method, a postural therapy program with 24 clinics worldwide. Peter is a former marine and self-taught therapist who became famous through experimentation on himself and athletes. One of his early experiences is lore among his trainers:
Pete found himself in the locker room of a professional wrestler after the athlete had sprained his ankle. Peter, only at the event because the producer was his friend, had the wrestler lie on the floor and place his extended and injured leg on top of a locker door. Unsure of what to do, he chose elevation. Pete then got a phone call and walked out, only to return 15 minutes later. The wrestler stated in no uncertain terms that the elevation had been a complete waste of time. His ankle still felt the same.
But, for whatever reason, his chronic back pain felt better.
Pete asked himself a simple question: “why?” He then repeated and refined this unusual locker-room stretch until its success rate for back pain was impressive enough to warrant a formal name. It became the rather obscene-sounding “supine groin progressive,” which I later fell in love with. Decades later, he still emphasizes the fundamental importance of basic questioning at Egoscue University: “Students, in my world, because I know nothing, everything is possible.”
For me, the Egoscue Method was not love at first sight.
I had been exposed to Egoscue on half a dozen occasions via athletes before testing it myself in 2009. I held off for as long as I did because the early exposure left me with an aftertaste of cult.
Testimonials claimed everything from disappearing allergies to self-healing digestive problems, and I was shown videos of trainees going into full-body involuntary spasms like grand mal seizures during certain “e-cises” (exercises).
I decided I was just fine without a Pentecostal brand of Pilates. If I wanted to squeeze my pelvic floor while swinging a dead cat over my head, I could do that on my own. So I ignored the Egoscue Method, despite endorsements from golf legend Jack Nicklaus and Super Bowl ring–sporting NFL players like John Lynch.
Then, in June 2009, I found myself in Tempe, Arizona, eating lunch with a friend who was scheduled for an Egoscue session that very afternoon with John Cattermole, a well-respected and seasoned practitioner with 25 years of physical therapy experience. I agreed to accompany him and undergo an evaluation, fully prepared for a nice dose of voodoo.
Instead, I walked out 90 minutes later with no pain in my mid-back for the first time in six months. I couldn’t believe it.
It would be one of many times that I slapped myself for prematurely throwing out the baby with the bathwater. This experience also reconfirmed two truisms: (1) some practitioners of any method will get the message wrong and broadcast it, creating confusion as representatives, and (2) it’s critical, as Bruce Lee emphasized, to “absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is uniquely your own.”
Based on several months of testing myself and other laptop hunchers, I can recommend six 80/20 exercises for desk-dwellers’ postural imbalances. For the minimalists who work at home