What The Heck Is ELDOA™ Anyways?
The ELDOA™ poses and Myofascial Stretches are specific techniques created by world renowned Osteopath, Guy VOYER D.O. ELDOA™ Method is about creating space. Space to move more efficiently and breathe more deeply. It is an exercise technique that creates traction within a joint, be that between two vertebrae, your hip socket or even within your shoulder capsule.
There is a different and specific ELDOA™ pose for nearly every joint in your body, most notably for every level of your spine. ELDOA™ improves intervertebral disc health, opens up all the nerve pathways of your spine and works to condition your connective tissue throughout your body.
THE EXPERIENCE OF ELDOA
Every ELDOA™ begins with what I call “finding your spine line”. Whether you are doing an ELDOA™ pose on your knees (like you would if you were trying to perform the ELDOA™ for the hip socket), on your seat (as you would to open up segments of your thoracic and lumbar spine) or lying on your back, you always begin with encouraging the curves of your spine to come into one long line, reaching as much length into the spine as possible.
From there, all of your limbs take different positions; it’s these positions that dictate which joint you are targeting. It is very specific and the positions that the limbs take are chosen according to the attachments of the connective tissue within the chosen joint and the fascial chains that stem from them.
You then use the legs and arms to create what I refer to as “push points” and “anchor points” to help you find the force needed to push more length into the spine and more space into the target joint. And then you hold the pose for 60 seconds.
BENEFITS OF ELDOA™
If your spine is compressed in some way and you are in pain due to poor postural patterns, a previous neck or back injury, work related bad habits or just plain old aging, ELDOA™ is the answer you have been looking for. The very nature of the poses and the exertion used when performing them fights the compressive effects of gravity and helps your tissue truly recover, leaving you with a longer spine and LESS PAIN.
But as amazing as that is alone, the benefits of ELDOA™ go much deeper. ELDOA™ has the ability to change how your nervous system functions. Because of its de-compressive effects on the spine, ELDOA™ gives more space to the nerve pathways that exit at each vertebral segment improving nerve communication throughout the chain.
And since ELDOA™ uses chains of connective tissue within your body to create this openness, the connective tissue throughout your whole body becomes better conditioned; it absorbs water better, helping this tissue move with less friction and resistance.
Muscles receive information more clearly and work more effectively, stagnant organs can be revitalized, and you can sense your body more intricately.
Together, all of this spikes your brain function because your body is performing at a higher level, EVERYWHERE.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR BODY?
Injury Recovery and Prevention
Reduced Joint Inflammation
Delayed Disc Degeneration and increased Disc Hydration
Increased Blood Flow
Improved Posture
Increased Flexibility
Improved Muscle Performance and Tone
Reduced Stress
Relief of Chronic and Acute Back, Neck and Shoulder Pain
Improved Awareness and Overall Wellbeing
Improved Recovery Time for Sports and Training
Let’s Take a Look at an Example
The pose pictured below is the ELDOA™ that creates more space between levels T7 and T8 in your thoracic spine (mid ribcage). This pose allows your body to recuperate after a tough workout (or injury) more efficiently and allows you to make calm, level-headed decisions, be it on the ice, the field, or in the boardroom.
This pose works a pivotal level for your posture. It opens up your ribcage right at a place where poor posture (slouching/rounded shoulders) converges and takes its toll on your spine. It creates more functional movement right at this level; it will help your spine extend, flex, laterally flex and most importantly for pro athletes ROTATE.
Think hockey, golf, tennis, baseball, soccer, any sport that involves winding up and firing through one side of your body in some way, greater mobility through the thoracic spine will improve range of motion thereby increasing power in the swing. Lack of thoracic mobility is also one of the underlying causes of neck and shoulder injuries that plague so many athletes, your body looks for mobility elsewhere: abusing joint spaces that are hypermobile or too weak to properly stabilize.
Taking this even deeper, decompressing the spine at the level of T7-T8 has a profound effect on every connective tissue, every organ and even the brain. This ELDOA™ targets the space of the diaphragm and affects fluid movement throughout the whole body, improving blood flow to the brain, revitalizing every organ and bringing about fluid shifts in connective tissue for better brain-body communication.
Further still, the awakening of the diaphragm and organs then stimulates your Parasympathic nervous system, the part of your nervous system that brings on rest and repair mode and calms you down.
ELDOA™ T7-T8
This pose opens up the space between the vertebral segments that your 7th and 8th ribs attach to (just behind and a little lower than your heart).