ELDOA is the best remedy for back pain and best insurance policy for back health that I have ever encountered in my career. I call it the Magic Bullet for Back Pain.
I had the opportunity to demonstrate it last night on The Golf Channel program Como Concepts, with renowned golf teachers Chris Como and Blair O’Neal. This episode was titled “Safe Speed,” which wisely focuses on the fact that modern equipment and physical conditioning are helping us generate faster swing speeds than ever before. The challenge is to get the advantage of faster swings without injuring the back.
Golf creates risks for the back.
Golf inherently creates risks for back health because of the repetitive rotating motion it requires. Eighteen holes of golf on a regular basis, plus practice at the driving range, can cause compression and other phenomena that result in back pain—and time off the course. The keys to back health for a golfer are to know how to rotate—from the thoracic cage rather than the lumbar spine—and to take the time to prepare for each day’s play and decompress the spine afterward.
ELDOA opens the joints.
That’s where ELDOA comes in. It is the only program I know that actually increases the space in the joints that are targeted in each exercise. Think about it: Compression of a disc or nerve causes back pain, but if we can maintain space in the joints, the vertebrae can’t press against the disc or nerve. The short-term result: no back pain. The long-term result: You can play golf safely for a long, long time.
Compression occurs in the body from daily living—from standing, sitting, walking and going about our day. But it can be exacerbated through sports, and pain due to compression can be triggered by athletic movements.
Gravity and compression are the evil villains to the joints of the body, and ELDOA is the super-hero.
ELDOA is an acronym for the French term for Longitudinal Osteoarticluar Decoaptation Stretching. That’s a technical way of saying “stretching that opens up the joints.” My patients and clients have told me time and again that it has almost miraculously freed them from back pain and shown them the way to be their own therapist and take care of their own bodies.
Check out TPI’s ELDOA for Golfers.
The Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) offers an online course in ELDOA for Golfers, and I would encourage any avid golfer to sign up for it. (Full disclosure here: My friend Janet Alexander and I teach that course.) I offer a weekly class to the public in ELDOA at H3 by Dan Hellman in Fort Lauderdale as well. If you aren’t in South Florida, find a place that teaches ELDOA in your area. You’ll be glad you did.
I have attended weekly Eldoa at H3 in Ft Lauderdale since Nov. It truly has helped my back and enhanced my sports performance. I am so glad I found it…I do a few Eldoa postures daily for self care, especially when my back feels not so great. It gets me aligned quickly.
Dan:
I saw your demo (and also Stewart McGill’s) on the Como show on Golf Channel just Monday. Very intrigued by ELDOA. I have lower back issues – MRI in ‘17 showed disk at L4/5 partially out of place and deterioration elsewhere – and this explained static nerve pain in the butt and legs. Before seeing Neurosurgeon, I started Stewart McGill’s big three exercises (supplemented by my trainer’s complimentary exercises). That allowed me to avoid surgery and get back to golf without pain. However, ELDOA looks like something I should learn and perfect to be sure my back stays safe. And it looks like it could apply to lot’s of other age / exercise related aches and pains. I signed up for your blog and plan to buy your TPI online course. Will likely want to know more about protecting / mobilizing other joints. Going to France (vacation) this summer and will look for local info on ELDOA there, just out of curiosity. Glad you got into this….facinating to read about it. Jim Kyper
Thanks for the note Jim. The ELDOA is very powerful and the TPI course is very good. Just apply the techniques there and if you need help, I can probably find you an ELDOA specialist in the US. Dan