Posture Alignment Therapy

Rein in the pain with simple exercises that get to the root of the problem.

Does a massage session seem to help only temporarily? Are chiropractic adjustments not helping you get healthy and stable? Do you want to be able to maintain the feeling of relief and energy for the long term without weekly appointments for the rest of your life? It is possible, and Upright Health can show you how simple, unique stretches and exercises done the right way can stabilize your body for better posture, health, and life.

With programs tailored to your body and your unique issues, Upright Health can help you stretch, strengthen, and realign your body from the ground up. A variety of Posture Alignment Therapy options make sure you get the help you need in a way that gets you results for the long term.

I’ve been working as a dentist for nine years. As a dentist, I’ve been suffering from poor posture and twisting of my body as a result of long hours of work. Not only was I discouraged about how my posture was getting worse, but I also noticed pain in my upper back and the heels of my feet. I am an avid runner and had been dealing with plantar fasciitis for a few years.

I tried going to chiropractors and kinesiologists with no results except a lighter wallet. I was referred to Matt and skeptically gave him a try. He offered me a few stretching exercises to do every day.

After doing the stretches, I can now run longer and faster. I discovered that the foot pain was due to the twisting in my body and that it was (for years) misdiagnosed as plantar fascitis. I am still doing the exercises and have noticed the forward head posture also decreasing. I’ve finally found someone who can help with the aches and pains that come from my posture problems!

~DV, dentist

You should consider posture alignment therapy if you’ve been struggling to really win the battle with any of the following conditions and want a long-term solution to keeping pain away:

plantar fasciitis
hip pain
tendonitis
carpal tunnel syndrome
herniated discs
aching upper or lower back
pain between the shoulder blades
headaches
neck and shoulder soreness
wrist pain
tennis or golf elbow
IT band syndrome
knee pain (e.g. patellofemoral syndrome)
scoliosis
weak ankles
flat feet
stiff and/or popping hips
difficulty running

I’m a good example of an unsuccessful spinal fusion. I kept saying to the doctors “My hips are misaligned, my pelvis is rotated,” but none of them ever looked at me, they just look at the MRI or the CAT scan. I was in such pain, I went ahead with the surgery believing it was all I could do. Better for a while but then right back where I started from. That was three years ago. When the pain put me in bed for the better part of a month this summer, as soon as I could sit at the computer I went in search of help (again). I have tried P.T., chiropractic, acupuncture, I’d have tried voodoo if there was a local practitioner. Thank God, Matt Hsu’s website came up. I read every page and it just made sense.

[After only three weeks], I am so much better already. I rarely need the cane, I have almost no pain, my range of motion is improving, and I can see how much better aligned I am already.

I know I will never sell the neurosurgeon or the orthopedic surgeon on this, but I hope my GP will listen and try referring patients to Upright Health instead of to a surgeon. What a lot of pain and time and money and depression I could have saved myself if I started with Matt instead of being cut open.

Sylvia H., Realtor

Frequently Asked Questions about Posture Alignment Therapy

What is Egoscue posture alignment therapy?
How is this different from what a doctor, chiropractor, or physical therapist would do with me?
Is this a lot of core work?
A doctor told me my only option is surgery since physical therapy didn't work. Can Egoscue Posture Alignment Therapy really help with bulging discs, nerve pain, shoulder problems, and general chronic pain?
What about injections, painkillers, and surgery?
How do I know you aren't just blowing smoke?
How long will it take before I feel the effects?
What does a session look like?
Do I have to memorize all the exercises you show me in one session?
If this is so effective, why doesn't insurance cover it?
Is there any special equipment I need to do these exercises?

Answers to Questions about Posture Alignment Therapy

What is Egoscue posture alignment therapy?

Posture Alignment Therapy is the key to a long term posture solution. It is a systematic way of addressing your body's misalignments with gentle stretches and exercises (some of which you may have seen, some of which you definitely haven't).

Personalized to your body and your needs, the self-care regimen you develop with your practitioner goes beyond the quick-fix mentality of the ineffective stretches and exercises circulating the fitness, chiropractic, medical, and physical therapy worlds.

It is effective in addressing structural issues in your body, and, unlike the pills you might otherwise use to keep your pain at bay, addiction to these posture-improving regimens is actually good for you.
How is this different from what a doctor, chiropractor, or physical therapist would do with me?

On a hot San Diego summer day, you're lying on the sidewalk, overheated and dehydrated.

A doctor walks along, hands you a cup of water and a bag of ice to put on your head and says, "that should fix that problem." You feel fine for an hour and then you're back in the same situation.

A chiropractor walks along and kneels down by you with a spray bottle with electric fan and cools you off for ten minutes and tells you, "I'll be back in two days and we'll do that again over the next 4 weeks to ensure you never overheat or get thirsty again." In 45 minutes, you're overheating again.

A physical therapist happens along, puts an ice pack on your head for 5 minutes, removes it for 5 minutes, puts it back on, removes it, puts it back on, removes it and finally says you just need to practice being exposed to heat more and that he'll be back tomorrow to do the same with you for the next 12 weeks until you build your endurance to heat.

An Egoscue® Posture Alignment Therapist comes by, shows you the way to an air conditioned room with water, and gives you a GPS navigator so that you can always find your way back.

We work to get your whole body moving properly so that the symptoms of poor body mechanics (pain, fatigue, numbness, stiffness) resolve themselves. Rather than treating the symptom, we address the context that sets the stage for the symptom.
Is this a lot of core work?

No. The myth that all body problems can be fixed by working on "the core" is like saying that all you need to do to maintain your car is to put gas in it.

More often than not, clients I see have already tried going after the core only to find their pain get WORSE (this is especially true for back pain sufferers). The problem isn't with the core muscles. It's with imbalances in muscles all over the body.

The process of Egoscue Posture Alignment Therapy is about changing the spark plugs, swapping the timing belt, getting a new air filter, flushing the radiator, topping up your fluids, and detailing the interior and exterior. We look at how your entire body functions as a unit. We improve the coordination of all your muscles to improve efficiency and reduce strain throughout your body instead of becoming narrowly focused on where you feel pain or on magical cure-alls.

We look at your body and address the imbalances specific to you.
A doctor told me my only option is surgery since physical therapy didn't work. Can Egoscue Posture Alignment Therapy really help with bulging discs, nerve pain, shoulder problems, and general chronic pain?

Yes. Discs do not bulge without a reason. Nerves do not get irritated without a reason. Pain does not surface without a reason. No matter what kind of pain you have, it's important to recognize that the pain is not CONSTANT (or if it is constant these days, then recognize that it wasn't always constant) because it means the reason for your pain is subject to the changing positioning of your body.

By gently retraining your body's muscle memory, you can realign your body -- moving discs, nerves, and muscles back into the right positions -- so your body can stop signaling (with pain) that there's something wrong!
What about injections, painkillers, and surgery?

If you’re considering surgery to deal with your pain, I encourage you to look into the available research literature for the surgery you’re considering. The long-term effectiveness of most “pain-curing” surgeries tends to be rather discouraging and the loss in quality of life is immeasurable, even when deemed "successful." If you think never being able to walk or run quickly again is a fair trade-off for relief of back or knee pain, then by all means consider surgery.

As for mind-altering painkillers, if you’re happy operating in a fog while continuing to do more damage to your body, by all means do so! If you’re at this website, you probably aren’t happy with that.
How do I know you aren't just blowing smoke?

Sit down for an initial consultation.

The therapists at Upright Health have personally suffered with a very long list of chronic pain issues in the past that just never seemed to go away. We speak from personal experience with our own bodies and professional experience helping countless others get out of debilitating pain. The most stubborn kinds of pain -- pain that has been around for decades -- is often just waiting for the right sequence of exercises to get things back to normal.
How long will it take before I feel the effects?

At your initial consultation, you will very likely experience relief as we test your body with a few different exercises to determine the underlying causes of your pain.

You should feel the effects of your first full sequence of exercises during or within a few days after the first session.

In some cases, depending on the severity of your issues, it may very well take longer than a month for your posture and pain issues to go away. If you've had pain for 7 years, it MAY not be reasonable to expect it to disappear in 7 days. Sometimes, however, it does disappear in 7 minutes.
What does a session look like?

In the the first session, we'll be setting up a systematic sequence of exercises tailored to your specific issues. With this sequence of exercises, we'll be peeling back layers of dysfunction and compensation so that muscles that have been too tight can loosen up and muscles that haven't been working properly are nudged back into their proper function. You receive one-on-one instruction to ensure you know what you're doing and why you're doing it.

In subsequent sessions, we address questions and concerns that you have from doing your exercises at home, double-check you're doing all your exercises correctly, and make any changes to your menu of exercises based on the changes and improvements your body has already made.
Do I have to memorize all the exercises you show me in one session?

No. Because these are unique exercises that you've likely never even seen before with little details you may not be used to paying attention to, you'll receive full instructions for each and every exercise we do in your session in PDF format. It's recommended that you print out a full copy of your sequence of exercises and keep a PDF copy on your smart phone (if you have one) so that you are never without them!

If you have any questions between sessions, you are strongly encouraged to ask them via email or phone at no charge whatsoever.
If this is so effective, why doesn't insurance cover it?

Insurance coverage is no guarantee of effectiveness. Vicodin pills are generally covered by health insurance companies to help kill pain, but nobody would seriously claim that Vicodin actually helps an injured body part heal. It simply does its two jobs well: kill pain and impair your ability to operate heavy machinery.

Cortisone shots are also often covered by insurance but, again, only kill pain and do nothing to address the processes that are causing that pain in the first place (and actually make things worse). Arthroscopic knee surgery is no more effective than placebo for relieving knee osteoarthritis, but it is also still covered by insurance despite its hefty price tag (around $4000).

Insurance coverage is a product of political and financial pressure on health insurance companies. It is not, in itself, an indicator of efficacy.
Is there any special equipment I need to do these exercises?

For the most part no, but there is one key piece of equipment that some clients do need to ensure their long term success. It is $135 and will become your best friend for life (without exaggeration). If you use it once a day over the course of a year (like you should), it will cost you 36 cents per use (assuming you throw it away right then). It is well worth the initial investment as it helps keep you from curling into a decrepit-looking ball as you age by keeping your hips, back, and shoulders functioning with proper alignment.

We have that piece of equipment and some other cushions and straps on hand for you to buy so that you can get started at home right away after your session.

If you need something that we don't have or you need to have something shipped somewhere, you can go to Railyard Fitness to purchase your own set of posture therapy tools.

Pain sucks. Life shouldn't.