third pelvis

I knew I was born with one pelvis, but I have no idea how I have suddenly made the leap to three.  What happened to two?  Where am I going to put another one?  I don't have enough chairs!

This exercise with the mystifyng name also makes use of the most mystifying of equipment.  The first is a rectangular piece with two bits of wood attached to the back so it will hang on the ladder thingy.  Then there is a second piece of wood that is smaller and does the same thing, except it also has another piece of wood sticking out the top (or side, depending on how you are looking at it). 

These conversation-starting pieces of wood are placed on whichever bars will hit you at hip height, in my case on the left as my lumbar collapse is on the right.

The idea is that you stand in your corrected pose with the hip touching the sticky-outy bit of wood.  Then you shift your pelvis to the left without shifting the weight on your feet or moving anoy other part of your body.

But the kids here at Scoliosis SOS have an added bonus of hanging a piece of wood dowling at stretched arm height.When you shift your pelvis to the left you activate your lat muscles and pull the bar down to eye height.  Hold everything for 6 long seconds and relax.  Repeat for 12 reps, with a stretching break in between, for a total of 3 reps.

This one takes a bit of ingenuity while traveelling I found.  No ladder, no weird pieces of wood to press against and no dowl to hang on to and pull.

You can't really press against the edge of a wall very well because your upper torso gets in the way.  And it is hard to find a desk or bureau at just the right height.

However, when I am sitting on a bus or a train for any length of time, I can sit in my corrected pose and shift my pelvis to the left, trying not to shift anything else including the weight on my feet.  If I concentrate I can get it to work reasonably well.

And that's despite only having 1 pelvis.

Maybe he knows where I can get another?

What people are wearing in London these days

At the Scoiliosis SOS clinic our wardrobe was pretty well the same: leggings of some sort and bra top for women and bare skin on topfor men. On the surface, the wardrobe worn by most Londoners in the City was pretty well the same too: dark suit, plain coloured shirt or blouse, black shoes, with the only ornamentation a tie or earrings depending on the sex of the wearer.  But if you looked in the windows of the clothing stores, or spent time in the evenings or the weekend in the West End, you start to see trends and fads that make 2013 feel a bit different than, say 1983.

So for those of you who might be interested in knowing what people are wearing these days, here is my take on it based on what I have seen.

Women
Leggings and jeggings (leggings made to look like jeans, usually made of very stretchy denim) are still popluar, but there has been a large increase in the number of prints and patterns and in their scale.  I have seen lots of animal prints, plaids, florals and stripes.  They are not subtle attire at all!

These are worn mostly with ballet flats, as are long cotton tank dresses which are accompanied by short jackets.  Skirts are generally slim like the trousers, with jackets that are not suit jackets (i.e., not matching)  Dresses are quite retro, and pretty: sleeveless with a high waist and a full but quite short skirt.

There are lots of horizontal stries, especially black or navy on white or off-white.  Trench coats are very popular, but are very short, and often full skirted.  Lots of kinky boots and shoes with thick stacked heels.  Jewellery trends seem to be a huge ring on the index or second finger, and blingy chockers worn outside buttoned collars.

Everyone wears opaque black tights no matter what the season. Hair is generally long and straight, and a bit tousled.

Men
Slim trousers are the big trend for men too, and there is quite a lot of colour although (thankfully)  not much pattern. Maybe it's because it was spring, but I saw a lot of sun-washed blue, coral, green and yellow, particularly those hues that harken back to the 1960s. 

Shirts have different coloured collars and cuffs, and there are a lot of checkered shirts, with both long sleeves and short, again in crisp, cheerful colours.  Hair is generally either very short or quite floppy.

Everyone...
...walks around wired to the hilt - talking to unseen people through wires and clicking messages to friends or playing games. There's a glazed look to everyone's eyes as they walk not completely clued in to their surroundings, and zoned out to everything while on the tube or bus. It's like aliens have beamed down to act like humans but just miss doing it authentically.

Iliopsoas on a ball

Who was the creative (not) genius who came up with these names?   Well, as the name suggests, you like on a ball and exercise your iliopsoas muscle.

Preparation Pose

Action Pose

It looks a bit ridiculous I agree, but after only two weeks I could actually feel this one working. Or at least feel some muscle that I haven't felt before working pretty darn hard.

The purpose of this one (as with many others) is derotation of the lumbar.  So obviously those with thorasic curvatures are relieved of duty with this exercise, but I know they get another one. 

You must lie with your torso on a large yoga ball.  Holding on to the rungs of a ladder helps keep you in place as your knee bends in with as much pressure as it can for each attempt.  Arms need to be bent at 90 degrees and at shoulder height, with elbows also at shoulder height and with lats engaged, so the whole upper torso gets a bit of a work out too. No slacking off you lats!

In my case, my spine collapse is on the right, so I work my right knee.  My left foot must rest off the ground, on a small stool. 

To prepare, the right leg stretches back as far as possible, then the right knee bends and presses against the ball as hard as it can for 6 long seconds.  Repeat 12 times, with a stretch break in between the 3 sets of 12 in total.

Lying on a ball is good, not only because it forms agains your body and lets your head face down, but you can feel your breathing against the ball on each inhale.  It's also an unstable surface so some of the small stabilising muscles have to work. 

I couldn't see it of course, but I was told that it was very obvious to note that the pacqet, or hump caused by the rotation of the rib cage on my left side, gets soft when I perform each knee bend.  It is normally hard, as the ribs stretch around in a form not intended.  Someone said it was even noticable by just looking at it, which was preferable to everyone poking my back. 

But I didn't really mind the poking.  I promised myself I would open myself up to the entire experience in case it was of use to anyone else, mind, body and soul - and that means letting everyone poke me and telling me what they see and what they feel.  So just in case they were right and it is possible to see it working, I present two photos:


Before

During

 Can you see the difference?  My body shape is definitely better during the exercise.  And you can see all the lovely bruises the physios. make when they poke their fingers in my right side to try to open it up.  Don't be alarmed - I bruise very easily, and I know they do it with love.

This is surprisingly not that hard to duplicate on the road.  The best is if I am staying somewhere with a single bed, but is can work okay with a double bed too.  I drape myself over the bed and hang on to one side or one corner, while my right knee presses against the bed side. I can usually find a small stool or my suitcase to rest my left foot off the floor and at the right angle.

*note that this exercise was prescribed to me for my particular scoliosis, and it might not be appropriate for others. 

If you are flat, do a cat

Not only do I have flat feet (which I knew about) I also have a flat back (which I did not know about).  Apparently it is good to have a bit of "kyphosis", which means roundback. I thought having a rounded upper back was a result of slouching (which it can be) and I have always tried to keep decent posture given the fact that I am a writer, because I wanted to avoid the old age 'dowager's hump', yet another hideous name that references the female. 

This extreme rounding over is called hyperkyphosis and, just like hyperlordosis (or a swayback), is to be avoided.  But some kypohosis is good.

I wasn't alone.  There were three of us in the clinic with 'flatback', and we were all meant to build up the appropriate muscle, which, we were told, will take several months of work.  The exercise we were given was to take a fabric-covered foam wedge and place it between our shoulder blades, then use a very heavy-duty band to push out the wedge as hard as possible.

Wedge placed snugly between blades

Pulling on the band as tightly as possible

Side view - brought to you by the letter "S"
(only it's backwards on my body)

It didn't take me more than 4 seconds to realize that placing anything between your own shoulder blades is pretty well impossible, although I'm sure it was amusing to watch the three of us try.  So I had to work out a travel-friendly version.  Thankfully, there is a yoga pose that works the same muscle.  It's called the "Cat". 

To do the cat, one must go onto their hands and knees.  Knees are shoulder width apart, as are the hands with fingers spread wide.  The back should be as neutral as possible - not slumped at all.

Press up from the middle of your shoulder blades, as if there is a string pulling upwards, as high as possible and without moving any other part of the body escept the head, which bends down.  Hold for 6 full seconds, come back to the neutral position and repeat for 12 in all.  Take a break, then do 2 more sets for a total of 3 sets.

*note that this exercise was prescribed to me for my particular scoliosis, and it might not be appropriate for others.

A perfect cat poseur

Going off the Wagon

I had a 10 day break between my time in England and my trip to Turkey, so tried to cram in as many vistis as possible, and try out my exercise program on the road.

I can now report that it was a dismal failure.  The second part that is - the visiting part was a smashing success.

First was a lovely day in Egham with A&A, visiting Virginia Water and finding elephants and dragons

looks like an elephant in the tree

shh....don't scare the baby dragon resting in the tree

Then a quick overnight with my old singing teachers in Stirling Scotland with champagne and warm remembrances, then another quick ovrnight with Ln in and around Lock Lomond.

A teeny bit of stretching went on, but nothing very notweorthy as I was either visiting, eating, transporting or sleeping.

A teeny bit of stretching went on, but nothing very notweorthy as I was either visiting, eating, transporting or sleeping.

4 days in Morecambe, Lancashire with my third cousin.  Ah, surely here I would be able to relax and get some exercising done.  A day in Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales with more lovely cousins to explore the castle and walk the moat,

quite the nicest moat and canal walk

between the pub lunch and the tea



pretty castle courtyard and centuries old yew tree

the grounds of Skipton Castle

bracing walks along the seafront and Morecambe's outstanding beach,

visiting Heysham's St. Patrick's church and nearby ruined chapel, both originally built in the 8th century or so (although the church fared better with additions made in the 14th and 16th centuries) and its fascinating (and sometimes amusing) graves, particularly the ancient ones carved into stone and that are now open to the elements.





Result: Relax - 1  Exercise - 0

Not completely 0 but not 1 either.  Not enough to counteract the excellent pub lunches.


 Sigh. But then, after first seeing it 30 (!!!) years ago, one of my favourite English places has finally been taken over and updated to its well deserved place in art deco history and I could hardly pass up a full on afternoonn tea, English style could I?  Could I?







So, back to the south.  A lovely day in Richmond and a river-side pub with an inspirational couple about to celebrate their 60th wedding annivsersay (and they did not marry young!),
then another lovely day in Greenwich with Debs and a couple of photographers.

Two days in London got me at least thinking about it, but I had laundry to do, packing to do, paperwork to do, socialising to do and suddenly I am on a flight to Turkey with 2 bags that need carrying and my body is not best pleased!