Some of the effects of restorative exercise on my life have been quite unexpected. I had hoped that the Katy’s Whole Body Alignment course would help with my lower back pain, that dates back to my teenage years and I wasn’t disappointed, but I hadn’t bargained with a renewed Haute Couture wardrobe.
I stumbled across Restorative Exercise™ on Facebook. Having just recently qualified as an Ante-natal exercise instructor, I was on the look-out for new exercises to introduce to my class. The Best 50 min on the Exercise ball class looked like what I needed. I swiped quite a few exercises from this class but what most impressed me was, that my lower back pain had disappeared after one single hour with Katy. I was hooked. How did this work? What was so different to an exercise ball class at the gym? I signed up for the Whole body alignment course and found lots of answers and a million more questions (at least I am getting to a point where I can ask myself meaningful questions about my body and habits).
All my life, I have been told that my back pain is due to scoliosis of the spine, with a leg slightly shorter and a pelvis that isn’t level and twisted etc. So why does Katy’s alignment programme work, where orthopedic insoles, an orthopedic spinal corset and physiotherapy had not delivered over the previous 20 years?
For me it comes down to awareness, knowledge and taking control. I was ready to hear what Katy had to say (even if I am very slow at assimilating it all). At the beginning of the Wholebody alignment course, I went to see a Chiropracter about my scoliosis. The lady told me that I had a couple of twists in my spine (as if one wasn’t enough) but mainly my wonkiness comes from a very tight right hand-side of the torso, pulling the upper body to the right and the shoulder towards the floor. I asked her why this was. She just looked at me and said, “ I don’t know, why are you leaning to the right? “ I went away not impressed, since I had always believed, something made me do whatever I did with my spine and I wanted her to tell me. By this time, I had listened to some Katy and had started to take control over my body. It hit me. Why AM I leaning to the right? It’s my body, so I should be able to make those muscles relax and lengthen and level the shoulders.
This course has taught me to look at myself carefully (I had realised that I almost never do), ask myself why I hold myself in space the way I do and what causes my ailments. Katy has given my invaluable tools to look after myself. I looked at my legs and hips with the aid of a water level and tried to find out if they were uneven length. If they are, it’s only minimally. Then I got two scales, that read the same, to find out how much I lean to the right. I carry about 6 kg more on the right foot, when I think I stand evenly on both feet. I repeated the readings a few times to get a feel for the difference. In the picture, I can see the tension in the right forefoot, from carrying all the extra weight. And this is were my foot hurts after long walks or walks in barefoot shoes - SPOOKY - NOT!
Using the scales, I then tried to work out what it feels like to put my weight through both feet equally. My left side is pretty lazy and quite a bit weaker, so when I stand level, it is complaining of having to work harder.
Curbing rib thrusting, keeping the pelvis in neutral, the lots of walking and Restorative exercise™ while trying to keep my weight equally distributed, meant that my lower back pain has been pleasantly absent. Changing the way I move instead of adding exercise classes to my week to keep fit has been a revelation.
Now the other thing I noticed is, that my back pain is worse after wearing tight trousers or trousers with a belt. With my new Katy alignment investigative power, I thought about the mechanics and causes for this.
The belt is pulling the abdominal area backwards and down, causing tucking.
A tight waistline or belt, stops me from keeping the pelvis in neutral when sitting and probably when walking to a degree. It makes me tuck my pelvis and that is a big NONO - if you don’t know why read here and here. Not enough length at the backside of trousers between waist and crotch does the same. I concluded my basic biomechanical investigation, that I need clothes that are made for my body - HAUTE COUTURE - unique to me.
Dusting off my sewing machine and rusty sewing skills, I bought an easy pattern for a light pair of trousers. They are probably not fashionable anymore, as Restorative Exercise™ unfortunately has not improved my fashion sense, but they are fitted, light and give my behind the space it needs, without having to result in elastics.
