Targeting the pain
I became a runner in my 30’s (on the concrete streets and hills of Pittsburgh) and loved it. Somewhere in my late 40’s my hips started to hurt after the first mile, but I pushed on. By the time I moved to Columbia in my mid-fifties the pain in my right hip was very bothersome. Especially now that I had to fly on regional jets more frequently and walk-up steps with a heavy briefcase. My hip was screaming. My mom had had both hips replaced. Was this in my future?
I saw an orthopedist, had x-rays taken and learned there was nothing physically wrong with my hips. I was told I had arthritis in my knee and a cortisone shot was recommended. There was no discussion about the possibility that perhaps I was out of alignment.
Pain in my hips was one of the main complaints I brought to my first GYROTONIC® session. Miriam took one look at my body and pointed out that my right hip and shoulder were tilted up and forward. I had no idea what she was talking about. I hadn’t paid close enough attention to the way my body felt to have noticed it. Apparently, my body was out of alignment and had been for some time. A contributing factor was my frozen right shoulder. To a trained eye I was literally crooked.
Getting my body into alignment became the goal, not just trying to fix a shoulder or hip. I had tried that with massage and chiropractic adjustments. I got temporary relief but nothing that lasted. Learning the basic, spiraling motions that connected deep muscles supported by the expansion machine came first. I had to find muscles in my core and back body that I had never used – didn’t even know they existed. As I practiced, I got greater mobility in my shoulder, more strength in my side body, and began to break down facia that held my misalignment in place. I was learning to first find, and then have greater control of deep supporting muscles.
It took time and patience. The results, however, were lasting. As my body came into better alignment my hip pain became less and less. I was learning how to use my muscular body to support my skeletal body in an upright, aligned position. I knew that each session, with the sharp eyes and guiding hands of my teacher, I would find a little deeper stretch and a little greater strength.
I think it was at this point I began calling GYROTONIC® a practice of millimeters. I ended each session with a joyful exhilarating feeling!!
