What is Postural Therapy?
Postural Therapy uses a series of gentle stretches and exercises to return balance and symmetry to the body. Designed to treat musculoskeletal pain without drugs, surgery, or manipulation, this therapy brings ones skeleton into proper alignment restoring the body back to its’ designed posture. When your body loses its’ designed posture, muscles have moved your bones into a dysfunctional position which doesn’t allow your body to move effectively. Postural Therapy reeducates and reminds your muscles how they need to function in order to maintain proper alignment.
“ Pain is the body’s voice. Listen to your body.”
– Pete Egoscue
How We Combine Postural Therapy & Pilates
While we utilize the Pilates equipment throughout our sessions, we also incorporate the use of gravitational stretches and body weight exercises. The combination of both modalities allows us to highlight each individual’s posture and the deviations they may have.
While the Pilates practice is excellent for showcasing our strengths and weaknesses, we often don’t realize postural deviations as they are a result of the overuse of compensatory muscles and patterns that have been developed throughout our life. At our studio we find it crucial to evaluate posture prior to any session as it is important to address any imbalances in the body before working the muscles against a weighted spring. This allows us to ensure the safety of the client is prioritized as we address the alignment, mobility and strength of the body.
About Pete Egoscue
Pete Egoscue is an anatomical physiologist with more than forty years of experience healing people in pain. After serving in Vietnam, Pete came home with a purple heart and ongoing nerve pain from wounds suffered in battle. After finding no relief from the medical experts, Pete began to search for a way to live pain free and found the true cause of his symptoms to be postural imbalances. He has devoted his life to helping others alleviate the physical and psychological suffering caused by chronic pain. Known as the Father of Postural Therapy, Pete believes that the body is perfect by design and that most pain is the result of imbalances. He also believes that once postural alignment is restored, the human body has amazing regenerative power and can heal itself. Pete has developed hundreds of gentle exercises over the years that restore posture, eliminate chronic pain, and increase functional mobility.
What the Research Says
Clinical research—including a large U.S. randomized trial of over 2,900 patients with acute spine pain—shows that postural therapy can produce meaningful reductions in disability and pain at 3 months compared to usual care. At our studio, we weave this evidence-based approach into our Pilates-inspired programming, helping you move with better alignment and function so you not only feel better today, but build a foundation for lasting movement health.
Servicing Clients From:
Center City | South Philadelphia | West Philadelphia | Northeast Philadelphia | North Philadelphia | Southwest Center City | Graduate Hospital | Greys Ferry | Point Breeze | Bella Vista | Queen Village | Society Hill | Washington Square West | Rittenhouse Square | Fitler Square | Logan Square | Spring Garden | Callowhill | Old City | Northern Liberties | Chinatown | Fairmount | Brewerytown | Fishtown | Penn’s Landing | Passyunk Square | University City | Germantown | Mount Airy | Manayunk | East Falls | Chestnut Hill | Roxborough | Port Richmond