Dr. Mercola recommends Egoscue

Here is an excerpt from a recent article by Dr. Mercola titled: Sitting All Day: Worse for You Than You Might Think

One of the things I do to compensate for this (too much sitting and negative effects it has on your posture/health) is to spend about one hour or more every night lying on the floor doing an Egoscue exercise called the tower, which I reviewed in a recent article. It is a powerful simple structural movement that helps to realign my body posture and helps to radically compensate for the structural DE compensation that occurs as a result of sitting too much.

Simple Egoscue Exercises to Try Out

Following are four examples of Egoscue exercises that you can also use to help compensate for some of the damage caused by excess sitting. For more information about Egoscue, visit Egoscue.com or PatchFitness.com. You can also email painfree@egoscue.com with questions.

Foot Circles & Point Flexes

1. Lie on your back with one leg extended and the other leg bent and pulled up toward your chest
2. Clasp your hands behind the bent knee
3. Keep the foot on the floor pointed straight up toward the ceiling
4. Circle the lifted foot outward for the indicated number or repetitions, then reverse direction for the same number of reps
5. For the point/flexes, bring the toes back toward the shin to flex, then reverse the direction to point the foot forward for the indicated number of reps
6. Switch legs and repeat
7. Repeat 40 times in each direction

Frog (2 minutes)

1. Lie on your back with your arms at your side, palms up, and hands relaxed
2. Place the soles of your feet together
3. Relax your upper back and hips

Static Extension Position (2 Minutes)

1. Start down on the floor on your hands and knees with your major joints aligned (i.e. shoulders directly above elbows and wrists, hips directly above knees)
• Hands should be placed shoulder width apart, palms flat with fingers pointed straight ahead
• Arms must remain straight, elbows locked
2. Walk your hands about 6 inches forward and then move your upper body forward so that your shoulders are again above your hands but now your hips are forward of your knees about 6 inches
3. Relax your low back allowing it to arch with the movement coming from the tilt of your pelvis
4. Collapse your shoulder blades together and drop your head down
• Your shoulders should be directly above your hands
• If your low back begins to hurt, back your hips up toward your knees; this will make the exercise a bit easier
5. Hold as directed on your menu

Standing Forward Bend (2 minutes)

1. Stand with your feet pointing straight and hip width apart
2. Place your palms on your low back/upper buttocks area
3. Tilt your hips forward to place an exaggerated arch in your low back
4. Pull your elbows and shoulder blades together and hold
5. Now bend forward from the hips (NOT from your low back)
• Keep the low back arched as you bend over
6. Tighten your thighs and shift the weight into the balls of your feet
7. Hold as directed on your menu

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