Testimonial by Sharon Curtis:

I don’t know what caused my musculoskeletal system to collapse. Neither do the doctors. My best guess is a combination of too much stress, too little exercise, a family history of tight muscles, and possibly undiagnosed low thyroid. At first I was only stiff and sore and uncoordinated. Then my left shoulder began to freeze up. It’s called Adhesive Capsulitis. Tests did show adhesions to be present; however, I could tell that the adhesions, which are flimsy, were more of a by-product, at least in my case. The real problem was involuntarily contracted muscles that were working against each other and would not relax. I told my doctor this, but doctors aren’t real good at listening. He prescribed physical therapy and deep tissue massage. The shoulder worsened. In fact it locked up so tight I couldn’t lift my arm above my waist. Any effort to force it was rewarded with excruciating pain.

By this time one hip was higher than the other and rotated too far forward; one shoulder was higher than the other; I had developed sciatica in my right hip; my knee joints hurt; and my neck was so stiff and sore I could barely turn my head. I slept in a recliner for almost a year because it put the least amount of pressure on the places that were painful, which was almost everywhere. I was so unstable and off-balance that I was afraid to take my eyes off the ground when standing or walking for fear of falling down. I became increasingly sedentary because of pain and my muscles grew weaker. It’s no exaggeration to say that my life became that of an invalid. I was afraid I would soon need a walker, followed by a wheelchair.

My doctor prescribed about every pain reliever and muscle relaxer known to man, but I couldn’t take any of them for more than a few weeks because of the side effects. I switched to taking two Aleve Gelcaps twice a day. This was a little better but still not good. I had loose stools constantly and bleeding in my GI tract, and it did nothing to solve my muscle problems. The doctor prescribed more therapy, none of which helped. During one visit, I stood up and told him, “Look at me! Can you see how crooked I am?” His response was to give me a quick glance, while in the process of writing more prescriptions, and say, “Yeah, you are, kind of.” That was the sum total of his concern, as if physical crookedness is somehow a normal part of getting older.

After two years of this, my left shoulder released all on its own, but the right one promptly froze up, although not quite as bad. The doctor said I must have injured it somehow, but I hadn’t. The sciatica also switched sides from my right hip to the left one. I gave up on the doctor and the physical therapy as being a waste of time and money and started my own research whenever I felt good enough to use the Internet for a few minutes at a time. It was strictly through happenstance, while browsing an alternative medicine website, that I learned about Pete Egoscue and his system.

I bought his book, “Pain Free,” and read it from cover to cover. Much of what Pete Egoscue said made a lot of sense to me. But aside from getting to the point where I was actually able to lie on the floor without being in pain, I knew I needed more help than the book alone could offer.
I am incredibly lucky to have an Egoscue clinic nearby, so I signed up for their initial eight sessions. Needless to say, I was apprehensive at first. In fact the very first exercise I was shown, I immediately said, “I can’t do that.” The exercise therapist didn’t bat an eyelash. She just said, “Sure you can.” And by God, I did!

I did the exercises that I was given every single day. I was extremely sore for about the first four days. But it was more of a good kind of soreness--not the kind of pain you get when something is wrong. I had a private class at the clinic every two weeks where I learned a new set of exercises, all of which I did diligently. And within a couple of weeks, I started to get noticeably better. About two-thirds of the way through my eight sessions, I was able to get off the NSAID’s entirely. I’ve finished the sessions now, but I still do my exercises on a two-week rotational basis. Once in a while I skip a day, but not often, and I usually regret it when I do. Sometime in the coming months I plan to sign up for their maintenance program.

I’m not quite a hundred percent yet, but I have faith that I eventually will be. I am so much better than I was five months ago when I first started the Egoscue exercises that it is almost a miracle. The genius of Pete Egoscue and his system literally gave me my life back when everything else had failed.

Sharon

Back to Testimonials