Walking ain't walking

Submitted by louiseds on October 5, 2010 - 3:15am
Body: 

Hi All

I have been fixing our rainwater supply today, which has involved a lot of striding around between sheds for materials and tools.

I have been thinking about Christine's open letter to the APTA and about pelvic rotation.

In Wholewoman posture, when you lift your chest, the whole torso moves further forward in relation to the legs, so the hip joint has to be back further than it was. Does this make sense? I think this means that when you are walking the heel of the lifted leg hits the ground closer to your body, closer to the bottom of the pendulum swing, so to speak. Your toes are lower to the ground when the heel hits the ground . This makes for less jarring when the forefoot descends.

I have very high arches. There is a gap between the front and back halves of my footprint, so there is normally a thump when the forefoot descends. This can make my walking quite jerky. In Wholewoman posture my walking is smoother, which has to be better for my whole body.

I have just realised that if I allow my foot to descend further before actually ground my heel, and allow my pelvis and spine to extend more during my stride, I can leave my foot on the ground for longer before lifting it at the end of the stride, so it propels my torso forward further, and I don't have to stretch my leg out so far to keep a long, fast stride. I can feel a distinct stretch in my groin before I lift my heel. I think it is my psoas muscles stretching, which has to be a good thing for stopping them from spasming. Also, the psoas muscles are joined at the top to all the vertebrae of the lumbar spine, so every time I stretch them it is pulling my lumbar spine forward. I figure that you have to have quite a bit of coordination to keep the hip joint high enough to allow room for the leg to swing further back towards vertical before grounding.

When I think of somebody power walking with a tucked butt it conjures images of big strides out front, whereas I think if there are going to be big strides, the feet should be picked up late at the end of the stride, rather than pushed out the front at the start of the stride. This would result in a gait which is more akin to skating than goose stepping. It would have to be smoother for people like me, with high arches.

I wonder where up hill and downhill fit into all this?

I also wonder if any of this has made any sense at all to anybody????

Louise

Christine, do you have any comments on this?

oneofthree

October 5, 2010 - 7:35am

hi!
i just thought i'd share my thoughts about walking...not that it is going to be technical...i still cannot picture all the muscles, tendons, fascia working in and supporting the pelvic region...i will have to get some sort of model. what i do know is how i feel when i walk or run on different surfaces and hills. i happen to live in a very hilly area near the beach, and before my prolapse i was running those hills and mostly running in the soft sand of the beach. my prolapse happened in april, and i started slowly running in the soft sand again in june, after christine's video and book helped me physically and mentally. i still run now, but very slowly, in the soft sand and stay in posture the whole time. i shuffle, not really lifting my feet, but kinda ice skating in the sand. i find the focused work difficult, but i think it helps strengthen my thigh and butt muscles which i know are important to keep strong. sometimes when i am running i try different strides...i find it interesting which ones feel good and which ones don't....but the best thing is, i don't feel like my insides are going to fall out! i don't run hills any more, but i do walk them, and i know that walking down hill does not feel good!! i find it hard to stay in posture, and i feel worse for it...but uphill is great! in the soft sand i take short strides, and walking hills i take longer strides. i have very flat feet and i used to have a heel pounding walk...i have found that with christine's posture, i have a softer step...less jarring as you said...i still lapse and find myself slouching or pounding my step, but all in all, staying in posture has helped so much, it's amazing.

thank you for always posting your thoughts louiseds, i read often, but write rarely. the postings always calm me and bring me back to center!

louiseds

October 5, 2010 - 8:38am

Thanks Oneofthree. It is nice to know that I am not the only one thinking about these things, and to read your observations. If you know there are different ways of doing an action, and one feels better than the other, then when you lapse into the worse way, you know, and can correct yourself, and feel better again. I think it is all about body awareness.

This Wholewoman work is quite hard work, or rather, active work. You have to keep at it. That's fine by me if my POPs don't cause symptoms.

Louise

Christine

October 5, 2010 - 1:43pm

I, too, find walking to be a subject of extreme interest. Where are the biomechanical engineers studying the Whole Woman pelvis as it walks, runs, and carries loads on its head (you know what I mean :) This is *the* stuff we should be looking at instead of this year’s most favored vaginal surgery.

Walking has been proven to be a process of perpetual motion caused by counter rotations of the pelvis and shoulders, rather than the firing of certain muscles. I think you are absolutely right-on about the way WW posture moves the hip joints to the back so the swinging leg achieves less distance as it advances forward. *I think* by conventional measure this would make walking in WW posture less efficient.

It is the swinging leg that pulls the center of mass forward. The action of the mass falling forward thrusts the supporting leg against the ground and creates a “longitudinal ground shear force”. Since the ground doesn’t move, the individual moves forward.

*I don’t know* if this is generally true, but the data on walking I have seems to give the pull of the swinging leg more credit for forward motion than pushing off and extension of the back leg. It is extension of the back leg that would also be effected by WW posture. If the hip joint is positioned more posteriorly, the fully extended supporting hip would change the thrust of the ground forces. It would also change (increase) lumbar extension and rotation, which is the very basis of forward motion.

Walking and running (in “core strength” posture?) often build the quads and shorten the hamstrings. It stands to reason that in contrast, walking and running in WW posture builds the gluteals and stretches the psoas and hamstrings.

What can I say? We live in a man’s world where these sorts of dynamics are considered preposterous.

Are there any biomechanical scientists who would like to come work at the WWCenter?

:) Christine

louiseds

October 5, 2010 - 11:21pm

It's tough having to figure it all out with only the help of my own body in motion, my imperfect Ms Thrifty skeleton and my musculo-skeletal anatomy book, but this is original thinking at work. A trained biomechanical engineer is going to be trained in exactly the same anatomical model as the medical model. The difficulty is finding a scientist/engineer with a mind curious enough to look at another model alongside their own, and honestly and critically appraise each one. It is the same problem as the doctors and physios.

ActiveandLapsed

April 16, 2015 - 9:23pm

I need more time to get my head around that but I it seems to all work with what I posted just now and yes things are being pushed forward and I am leaving my back foot down for longer. I have also read about Christine having longer strides and leaving her back foot on the ground longer somewhere.

Can't wait for my consult with her but we have not scheduled a time yet.

Surviving60

April 16, 2015 - 9:26pm

I remember this thread and I know it helped me to think of taking the long strides and keeping my back foot on the ground as long as possible. Beyond that, I think it is easy to start over-analysing every aspect of walking. Better to concentrate on the same posture principles we learn to use as we go throughout our day. Relaxed belly, lifted chest, shoulders down, chin tucked, feet pointing straight ahead. That's plenty right there. Lots of mindful walking and you will train your body to do all that from memory, and you can quiet your mind and relax into the whole experience. It worked for me. - Surviving

Felicity

May 22, 2016 - 2:13pm

I'm 71 years old and my prolapse issues and psoas muscle problems came on within a year of each other, right after my double mastectomy. It begs the question...are all these things related? I've always been active with swimming, yoga and walking...but these new issues have impacted my life even more than the cancer did. I'm working on Christine's video series and have just incorporated the postures and breathing into my home yoga practise. Also, will start tomorrow to get back at my morning walks, trying the WW posture.

Surviving60

May 22, 2016 - 2:28pm

They are. Christine has written about how the fascia connects everything and how various surgeries can compromise this whole. Goddess Belly is an especially good source for this knowledge.....much of it from Christine's own experience. In fact, that might be a good choice for your next acquisition because she discusses both belly and breast surgeries. You are doing fine, Felicity. It can seem like a slow journey at times, with lots of bumps along the way, but it is all so worth the effort you put in. - Surviving

Felicity

May 22, 2016 - 3:35pm

I can't see many of the products people are talking about in the store, including the one you mention here. I have written to customer service for help. And even if I could see them, the number of videos and various resources are very confusing. It's difficult to know how to buy what you need. Hope I get some clarification.

Felicity

May 22, 2016 - 3:44pm

Okay, now I get it. I was using my tablet and the products were not coming up...only a few. I switched to my computer and now I can see everything. Sorry about that.

Felicity

May 22, 2016 - 3:45pm

...I still think the products need more description to help with selections.

Surviving60

May 22, 2016 - 3:55pm

I could not agree with you more!!

Felicity

May 22, 2016 - 4:27pm

i think it needs a matrix of all video (and book) content to compare so we know what we already have and what we need. Also a master reference table to know where to go to find what you want. Just my thoughts.

Surviving60

May 23, 2016 - 5:59am

I agree that the store is extremely confusing. This is partly due to the array of different products that have been rolled out in the last couple of years, and partly due to the layout of the store itself. The latter is, I believe, in a transitional stage to a different platform which hopefully will also solve some of the problems with the unplayable videos on the site. It's frustrating but you can always get help here, when deciding what to purchase. We'll do our best not to steer you wrong! - Surviving