What is eldoa

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.

myofascial stretching

For a long time now we believed that we knew how to stretch muscles; however, how do you stretch a muscle when it is sheathed in a leather casing? Muscles are three dimensional in shape with multiple sites of attachment and fascia is the thin ‘skin’ weaving into and surrounding structures like the muscle tissue, ‘linking’ various structures together in a chain that includes the joint or joint capsule.
All the connective tissue in the body is made of water and this water is arranged in microscopic tubules. Perhaps even more amazing is that the fascia is continuous upon itself: it is one single entity. In order to stretch a specific muscle it is better to consider it as a link in a specific chain extending from the toes to the back of the knee, inserting into one or more of the ligaments of the pelvis. This is the ‘real anatomy’ of the body and respects the global organization of its tissues. A stretching posture will be chosen to solicit the tension of the whole fascial chain in order to correct the specific muscle link.
With myofascial stretching (MFS), the goal is not to gain flexibility of a muscle, but to improve the quality of the movement of the tissues in relation to one another. MFS is the only type of stretching that respects this organization.