Maryann’s Story

When I was 27 years old I was in a wheelchair for almost a year. I couldn’t walk because of excruciating pain in my left hip.  I never had a fall or an accident, just hip pain that started one day and continued to get worst over time.  My whole life I was very active and into sports, at the time I was in school studying to get my EMT license to become a firefighter, I was also an avid surfer and part time personal trainer.  To be confined to a wheelchair and in chronic pain was nothing short of catastrophic for me, and sidelined much of what I had going on in my life at the time.

Posture photos from when I was in a wheelchair in 2009.

In an effort to get better I consulted with over 20 healthcare professionals, including hip surgeons across the country.  I sought every form of traditional and non traditional treatment under the sun, including drugs, injections and surgery.  After arthroscopic surgery to my left hip, I was still in just as much pain as before.  This was the last straw for me.

The one thing that all of my doctors overlooked was that my body was severely out of alignment, one shoulder and one hip were higher than each other, and my entire body rotated towards the right.  How did I get to be that way you might ask?  Breast implants.  I had a breast augmentation in 2006, and that is when I started having problems in my back, knees, and ankles that I had never had before.  My body was compensating so much after the implants were put in, that the mechanics of my hip joint were totally thrown out of whack.

I knew in my gut that I needed to get the implants removed in order for my body to return to a more neutral alignment, and for my hip to get better.  Sure enough, after having the implants removed in 2010, my hip pain went away within weeks.  I quickly resumed all of the activities that I loved, and have been wheelchair free ever since.

My alignment and symptoms didn’t just magically disappear post breast implant removal.  It took a great deal of work on my part post surgery to coax my shoulders, hips, knees and ankles back to a better alignment.  The tool that I used to improve the alignment of my body, and keep it in a better position, is a therapeutic exercise technique called the Egoscue Method.  Based in Del Mar, and developed by a man named Pete Egoscue in the 1970’s, this technique taught me that all parts of the human body work together as one unit, and that the human body has the ability to heal itself if given the chance.  I experienced both of these things first hand myself, and have made it my life’s work and passion teaching others the same.

I continue to practice a daily routine of Egoscue exercises to keep myself out of pain, and functioning at my best ability.  Also known as Posture Alignment Therapy, I completed formal training in the technique through Egoscue University, and have since worked with countless clients in one on one and group settings.  My clients have had unprecedented breakthrough results in pain relief, and improved physical function.

In next week’s post I will be going more in depth about Posture Alignment Therapy, what it is, what it is not, and how it works to eliminate pain and dramatically improve athletic performance.  Thanks for reading!

~Maryann