What is ELDOA?

Legacy Sport & Wellness Center has been teaching the ELDOA™ postures and using them with our clients for over a decade! And not just for back pain clients either. We use the ELDOA with our Pro Pre- and Post-Season Camps, in our General ELDOA Wellness classes on Saturdays, as re-organization after a training session…with every type of sport and wellness client.

Definition: The ELDOA™ are postural exercises (LOADS) that you can do yourself with the primary goal being to increase the space within a chosen articulation. As the ELDOA “create” space, there is an improvement in joint mechanics, increased blood flow, reduced pressure on the discs, a reduction of pain, spinal disc rehydration, better muscle tone, improved posture, and a sense of well being and awareness.

The human spine is a complicated and vital structure. Compression and articular blocks can cause pain, arthritis and neurological conditions. The ELDOA postures are a highly effective solution to these conditions. The ELDOA are very precise postures that target a specific joint region to provide relief from pain and restore balance.

Designed by French osteopath Guy VOYER DO, the ELDOA (Etirements Longitudinaux avec Decoaptition Osteo-Articulaire) utilize myofascial stretching to put tension around a primary lesion making it the center of “separating forces.” The myofascial tension solicits a postural normalization in a specific joint resulting in numerous benefits.

LOADS (Longitudinal Osteo-articular Decoaptation Stretches – the English acronym) are postural self-normalizing techniques, which aim at widening the space within a pair of joints. It is possible in one minute a day to relieve disc compression between L5-S1 or even more specifically at the base of the long arm of the left sacroiliac joint.

The Goals of the ELDOA™ are as follows:

• To create more space between the vertebrae.

• to Create more space for the intervertebral disc.

• To depress the nerve between the vertebrae.

• To improve proprioception of the vertebral joint segment.

• To improve proprioception of the Function Spinal Unit (FSU).

• To hydrate the intervertebral disc.

• To move all the parts of the annulus fibrosis to stimulate the water intake.

Click the link below to read a fantastic article by Nancy Einhart on popsugar.com on why you should be doing ELDOA.

Why You Should Incorporate ELDOA Into Your Fitness Routine

By: Nancy Einhart https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/What-ELDOA-44369213

History of the ELDOA

Most Common Postures of the ELDOA

L5-S1

The L5-S1 Functional Spine Unit can be called the last shock absorber of the spine. Most people experience back pain at this level. As the ‘foundation’ of your house, it is important to make sure space is created at L5-S1.

T8-T9

T6-T7

TV ELDOA

General ELDOA

Back Pain ELDOA

In this posture, one can see that the ischium are not on the wall, but away from the wall.

This is often necessary when a person experiences mild to severe back pain. One can stay in this position for 5 to 10 minutes at a time in order to gain relief.