Egoscue

I can’t tell you how positively Egoscue and the team at Egoscue Austin have impacted my life. Five years ago, I came into the clinic practically crippled with pain from my scoliosis – my shoulders were uneven, my ribcage was twisted and making it difficult to breathe, and my right femur was also twisted, causing so much pain in my right knee that I wondered (as a 21 year old) if I would soon be wheelchair-​bound because I wouldn’t be able to walk anymore.
On my first visit, I’ll never forget Theresa Mathes looking into my eyes and telling me, «I’m going to make you feel better today.»
Three hours later (yes, it was a long first appointment!), I walked out of the clinic with my shoulders even, my knee no longer causing me pain to walk, breathing more deeply than I had in years, and charged with fresh hope. She wasn’t exaggerating!
I have loved the results from Egoscue for my scoliosis (I can’t tell you for sure if it’s reversed my curvatures, because I didn’t take x-​rays of my spine just before beginning Egoscue, but I can definitely tell you that I look better and FEEL much better!), but I’m also convinced of Egoscue’s ability to help others who have other back knee, hip, ankle, wrist, foot, neck – you name it – issues.
My story of feeling better after one session is pretty typical, actually. I recommend this method to anyone who will listen, and now I’m recommending it to you! Pick up «Pain Free» by Pete Egoscue if you’re not totally convinced yet, then schedule an appointment at Egoscue Austin!

Is your body’s musculoskeletal system seriously jacked up? No luck with physical therapy? Headed for surgery? Is your robot body here yet? Since the answer to d is probably «no», then Egoscue may be your answer.
Egoscue (ee-​GOSS-​cue) himself was in the Marine corps for 10 years, when he developed injuries that led him to extensively study human anatomy and how the body works, despite no prior medical training. Egoscue and those trained in the method consider themselves «posture therapists.» I would concur; everything about the system he devised is based on the idea that a) your body is system of vertically load-​bearing joints b) if you get all the joints lined up and working properly, your body can do what it was designed to do.
You may ask yourself what I asked myself
1) how the hell have I not heard of the Egoscue method before?
2) how much does it cost?
3) how can it possibly be different from yoga /​pilates /​standard pt /​etc?
1. Currently, health insurance does not cover the Egoscue method (although my flexible spending people were willing to let me use those funds for it.) Part of the reason for this, I suspect, is that despite having 20+ clinics in the US already (!), he advertises them as «a world leader in * non-​medical * pain relief.» Personally, I feel that if a thing is proven by science to make you better, it’s medicine, even if you do not ingest/​absorb/​surgery anything. I do not believe there have been clinical trials of the Egoscue method yet, but there ought to be. I think they claim a crazy 94?% success rate.
But since insurance doesn’t take it —
2. It is pricey. I think for a block of 6? 8? sessions I paid $ 180 per session. You can pay for a single session for $ 250 if you just want to check it out. (You can also do a Skype session with a therapist if you can’t get to a clinic). Now before you go «no way will I pay that for a single session of whatever», I have to say I have only the highest praise for these people. This is what physical therapy ought to be. I think for each of the first few sessions I was in there, my therapist Annie spent 2+ hours with me figuring out what I could or could not do. She watched me like a hawk during every exercise to make sure I kept doing them precisely. She was never watching the clock or rushing me out of there, or working with 5 other people at the same time while I was there. Does your physical therapist do that? (The 5 different ones I saw this time around, who were covered by insurance, did not).
3. How is it different? It just is. Egoscue does use some adapted motion from other modalities of body therapy, but a number of the exercises, when you do them, are and feel different from typical p.t. Yes, it seems impossible that somebody else had not already devised a number of these exercises, but there you have it.
The method also uses mainly only your bodyweight, and requires few extra accessories.
At this point I am about 90% better after almost 6 months of Egoscue therapy. Having previously practiced yoga and tai chi at length, I can say that in terms of strictly how my physical body feels, these guys are in a nearby neighborhood. I wouldn’t say I feel as much benefit in the brain either, since Egoscue doesn’t stress breathing quite as much as those other techniques. (Plus note that when I was doing yoga and tai chi, I wasn’t starting with ‘DANGER! BODY AT4% USABILITY!’)
Mr. Egoscue has a number of highly rated books available online that you can try before heading to a clinic, including the one that led me to the Austin practice, called «Pain Free.» Any of Egoscue’s books are far cheaper than hands-​on therapy, to be sure. They’re good, but can’t seriously pinpoint your particular problems like a person who has trained in this stuff and is watching you move.
Still think the people at Egoscue can’t help? (It is definitely possible. sometimes surgery is the only answer when you’ve had serious trauma). But you might as well call ‘em for a free consult. They already believe they can help you. :)

I was lucky enough to find the Egoscue clinic in July of 2006 right when I moved to Austin. I met Rick Mathes and immediately liked him. He has a warm, reassuring manor and really knows his stuff.
Over the next few months, he helped me realign my body and then started a strength and conditioning program that was one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. And this was all just with bodyweight movements.
Unfortunately for me, I like life get in the way and strayed away for several years. From time to time Rick would email me just to say hello, never to try and get me back.
Fast forward a few years and my body was once again a wreck. Years of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu had taken their toll and I ended up getting double hip surgery in May of this year (2010). Rick just happened to email me around then and I let him know what happened. He mentioned that Egoscue might be able to help rehab me faster and that my hip problems were probably due to alignment issues.
I decided that he was probably right and went in to see him again. It’s now been about 8 weeks of sessions. I am feeling better and stronger all the time and am sure with Rick’s help, I will be better at 36 than I was at 20.
Bottom line: if you have pain in life or are an athlete who wants to continue and get better, go see this man.