I met Jen through the paddle boarding community in the spring of 2013. She held an advanced paddle board clinic followed by an Egoscue session.
While Jen is a superb paddler and instructor, the focus of this review is her Egoscue work. I had never heard of Egocscue prior to meeting Jen who defined it as "managing pain through ensuring the alignment of the body". As it sounded much like a chiropractic procedure, I had very low expectations of achieving a positive long-term result. (Based on experience, I had always viewed chiropractic medicine as a procedure that provided short term benefits that were fleeting at best). As the Egoscue session came with the paddle board clinic, I convinced myself to keep an open mind, as I had nothing to lose.
I'm a 47-year-old lifelong athlete who has a passion for movement: avid whitewater paddler, cyclist, trail runner, backpacker, weight lifter, and swimmer. For the past five years, I've struggled with glute pain (Piriformis syndrome) and have seen orthopedists and physical therapists with very modest results. Incessant and unrelenting in nature, the pain was particularly troublesome during long bike rides of over 60 miles or long whitewater river runs of over 12 miles. Stretching, such as the pigeon pose, would relieve the pain for an hour or two; but doing so in the middle of a bike ride or kayak run proved problematic.
I consider myself very fit and flexible; however the post-paddle Egoscue session proved to be a very humbling experience. Jen had me perform specific exercises that were a challenge to maintain for the prescribed one-minute duration due to the high level of discomfort. After two weeks, the exercises were much easier to follow - at the end of each session I felt a high degree of well-being and relaxation (much as one would receive immediately after a full-body massage). After performing the exercises daily for a month, my glute pain had started to recede; now, eight months later (December 2013), it's as if the chronic pain had never ever existed.
My intended option of last resort was surgery. By serendipity, I met Jen at the precise moment of need. Through Egoscue, I was able to allow my body to heal itself and avoid the operating room.
Thank you Jen! read more