Rick's Story

My Egoscue story
My Egoscue journey began one deadly night in Tucson, Arizona. On December 3, 1992, in the kind of second that changes a life forever, a man drove his pick-up truck off the median of Interstate 10 directly into my lane, giving me no time to brake or process what I was seeing. I struck the passenger side his vehicle at approximately 70 mph. The accident nearly took my life and did take the life of the driver of the truck. That first week after the accident my doctor crushed me even further by sharing his prognosis. "You will never run or play tennis again, and you will probably be in a wheelchair by the time you are 60 years old since your back aged 50 years in an instant. I'm sorry." Determined to defy his prediction, I vowed to find a way to get my body back. I was scheduled into several forms of physical therapy six days a week for almost two years. After completing physical therapy I was still in constant pain and desperately searching for a way to heal. I tried numerous alternatives, including massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, and water therapy. I spent time and money I did not have in the hope that each one would provide permanent relief. No matter what I tried, however, I continued to experience severe neck and spinal pain 24 hours a day.

Six years later, at only age 37, my back pain was still so extreme that my wife, Theresa, had to help me tie my shoes. A new MRI revealed two ruptured discs in my lower back and evidence of two healed fractures, one in my back and one in my sternum. A visit to a neurosurgeon confirmed the only answer the medical community could ever provide: have surgery to fuse the ruptured discs in my lumbar area or hope that the rupture healed on its own. When I asked the surgeon what I could do to treat this condition in the most natural way, he simply said, "Nothing. There's nothing you can do. It either gets better or it doesn't, and if it doesn't, we operate."

Stubbornly, I refused to accept the standard medical community’s solution of surgery. I continued my research of alternative methods. After doing an Internet search, I finally found the innovative and revolutionary book Pain Free by Pete Egoscue. After reading the first three chapters I knew I had found what I was looking for. This book was explaining to me why I hurt and how I could now fix what hurt. Faithful to the book's instructions, I began doing the exercises listed for low back pain. While I felt a little better after doing the e-cises, I could tell that my extreme condition warranted individual therapy. I called the Egoscue Clinic to determine my potential for success through their method. The receptionist assured me that I would be well served by meeting with a professional therapist. Someone skilled in postural alignment would design an e-cise menu tailored to my unique dysfunctions and compensations and then coach me to ensure correct form in the therapeutic movements.

I made the first of many seven-hour round-trips to San Diego. After my very first visit I felt an immediate improvement. I spent an active year under my therapist’s guidance and consistently invested my time and energy in doing daily e-cise workouts. I gradually improved, week by week, until a year after starting with Egoscue I was running and playing tennis again, pain free, with no more fearful images of being wheelchair-bound, drugged and in pain at age 60. I had my life back!

My Egoscue experience had been so profound, so utterly transformative, that I decided I had to learn even more about the method that had rescued me from surgery. Desire met opportunity when the Egoscue organization started to train people in Pete Egoscue’s method. I enrolled, becoming one of the first 25 students in the world to receive an Egoscue certification. Theresa followed suit becoming a certified therapist as well. We began a part-time posture alignment practice out of a chiropractor's office in Thousand Oaks, California where we then lived. Within several months, Pete Egoscue heard of the good work we were doing and eventually offered us the opportunity and privilege to open the very first licensed clinic in the entire Egoscue system.

Theresa and I eagerly accepted his offer, choosing to centrally locate our Egoscue Clinic in Austin, Texas. Our doors opened on November 3, 2003 with a mission to transform people’s lives like ours had been. Since then we have helped hundreds of chronic pain sufferers to understand why they hurt and how to heal. We have offered grateful clients the tools and knowledge they have needed to get out of the pain that had been limiting their lives. Restoring them to fullness brings us tremendous satisfaction as does working with our athletic clientele. Using the proactive Egoscue Method, we also assist all types of athletes in perfecting their load-bearing joint alignment. They not only heal former injuries but also prevent future injury and maximize their strengths and ability to perform in their sport. It is so rewarding to watch them excel in their field once their muscles have learned to produce a vital, dynamic symmetry that moves their bones and joints with ease and flexibility.

I will often have new clients tell me they have tried "everything" to get their bodies back. I can totally relate. I tried everything I could find, only to see my body progressively worsen. I knew drugs, injections and surgery were not the answer but until finding Egoscue, I didn't know what that answer was. And that was because I didn't truly understand the problem. I wasn't broken, but I was posturally out of balance. That simple realization was the powerful key to unlocking my pain and helping me reclaim my life. Egoscue helped me understand why I hurt and gave me the tools to take action to bring my body back to balance. As I invested my time and energy I reaped the reward of feeling my body get progressively stronger and healthier. I was able once again to do the activities I loved to do. The Egoscue Method worked when nothing else did, and for that I am so forever grateful.