Form question

Body: 

I've been committed to doing the Hips video daily for the past 3 weeks. I'm having a problem with form and instead of skipping the exercise, I was hoping someone could help. I intend to get a one-on-one with Christine via skype, but that will have to wait for now.

When I do the standing exercises: stride parallel toe raises and stride back toe rocks, I am unable to pull up into posture and straighten my right leg (I can do the left fine). It seems that the hip flexors are tight and that my leg is pulled forward, therefore seeming longer.

Do I pull-up into posture and bend my knee?... or lean forward onto a support and straighten my leg?
Maybe there's another option.

Thanks for any help.
Sherry

Dear sherryj,
It does takes time to learn and retrain the body into correct form, just as it took years for us to lose our natural posture.
When I started doing the hips dvd, my limbs were very contracted and it takes time to stretch them out. My limbs were more or less even in their contraction, but not stability - each had different stability issues, and I had very poor balance. The back muscles behind and above my right hip were tight for a while also.

I had uneven ability to do the stride parallel toe raises, but over time it is now almost even. Even though most of my hip issues were with the right hip, my left side was quite weak as I used to weight load on the right hip.
I just tried it then, and with the right foot in front there is only slightly less strength in my left foot - the form in that took time to catch up.
The mat exercises have one where you are lying down and flex and point your feet, holding the baton with your arms extended upward along the floor will help straighten you out.

I found the seated chair exercises strengthened my upper body which in turn helped hold up the posture and that helped with my legs. The calf stretches which are done between the box exercises and at the end of them are helpful.

I kept going almost daily for about 6months and did what I could until my limbs straightened more. I am stronger than I have ever been and am getting stronger the more I do the dvds and in turn live in the posture.I took the exercises slowly and just did what I could and over time form happened and improved - I felt amazing and my body surprised me at how it progressed.

Just in case you have not read this lately, (link below), Christine also wrote to you on the forum a while back about walking, where she explains the relationship between the foot arch and toe flexion and the effect it has on the rest of the body including the legs/hips.

https://wholewoman.com/forum/comment/44426#comment-44426

The other thing that comes to mind if you aren't doing that already as Christine suggests, is to use a sturdy high backed chair to hold onto or just touch the top, beside you on EACH side, so that you can follow the dvd and not need to swap the chair around, as you do the toe raises and the stride toe rocks. I used a chair for a long time and when not needing it, it is still near me.

All the best,
Aussie Soul Sister

Thank you. That is very encouraging. I was doing the exercises a couple of years ago and stopped. Of course I regret that now, but I will continue to move forward. I do feel that my contracted side has begun to release slightly but it seems patience and persistence is key.
Thank you very much!

Hello everyone,
I went to a new gynecologist recently for a well visit. I was ready to get another surgery lecture. Guess how I was greeted? "Congratulations on making the right choice and not having surgery for your prolapse." It just made my day! So different from the advice when I first discovered my prolapse. Everyone, keep up the good work. Sorry I haven't been on the forum for a while, I am 72 now and still working selling real estate. My love to you all.

That is great news!! More doctors figuring out that surgery is not the best thing for prolapse the better!
Thanks so much for sharing this.

Yes, congrats are definitely in order. To you, and to your new doctor! Still a long way to go in getting this message out, but every little bit helps. Thanks for posting. - Surviving