Arthritis

My friend Dean asked if he could see my hand form. So I took a video of it and sent it to him.  He lives in BC. Naturally I watched it first.  As much as I don't like seeing videos or pictures of myself, I did find it very helpful.

I noticed that with my double forearm block, I was not conscious about my elbows, and they were sticking out to the sides, instead of pointing down. I also noticed that my stances were not as low as they should have been.  The biggest thing that stuck out from watching my video, was that whenever I crouched down or lowered myself for a squated technique of sorts, my butt stuck way out. The next time I practiced my form, I tried to keep my butt in, and crouch properly, and lower. When I did that, my left hip was very uncomfortable.  This lead me to believe that I was sticking my butt out in order to compensate for the pain in my hip, caused from arthritis.

I was first told that I had arthritis about 12 or more years ago. First it was in my neck, but now it's all through my body, even in the bottom of my foot. I find that the more active I am, the better it is.  Before I had aaaaaaaaamoved away and cut back from doing Kung fu and teaching, I was able to bow in without any trouble.  I could also cross my legs and stand up without using my hands, without any problem at all. When I moved back and started Kung fu more, I couldn't bend my toes to bow in at the kids classes, and I couldn't cross my legs and stand up. Not at all. It was very painful in my hip, or my toes, to even try. Then slowly I worked at it, and started doing regular yoga practice again. Now, I can bow in without any troubles at all.  I still can't stand up from cross legged, but maybe in time. May have to be one of the skills I let go.

 With arthritis, I notice I don't have the strength I used to have. This is especially noticeable with rock climbing. I've lost a lot of strength in my fingers. I haven't stopped climbing, but instead, I climb routes that have bigger handholds. They are actually called jugs, and using the jugs, I am able to get a good hold with the lengths of my fingers instead of just the tips of them.  This way, I am still able to participate in rock climbing, which I enjoy. My pushups have had to be modified as well, but I haven't given up on them either. I still do as many full body as I can, which now is about 20, and then I modify by going to my knees. After I have done as many of those as I can without feeling like I am agrivating my shoulders, or swaying my back to compensate, I move to the pony wall at the school.  So pretty much everything, I can modify and it works for me.  I'm interested to see if I can work my way up to more than 20 full body push-ups.

My left hip is a growing concern though. Open X stances are painful, and I can't be sticking my but out in my form.  Not only that, but the more I am on my feet, the worse my hip gets.  Thursday's are my most challenging days, as I work 8 hours (on concrete floors), then do Kung fu for 4 1/2 hours.  By 9:30 that evening, I'm done. In turn, for some reason, when my hip gets really bad, my thigh starts to ache, and then eventually my knee. I'm sure they are all connected to my hip issue, but I'm just not sure yet, how. I thought about seeing my doctor, but he always tells me the same thing. " it's just arthritis, there's nothing we can do, you'll have to learn to live with it ".  Sometimes I take Motrin to get through, but I don't like to do that all the time, as it stops me from modifying, when my body tells me I need to.

For now, I'm going to keep up with my yoga, and work at keeping my butt tucked in and trying to crouch lower. I will keep the open X in my form and just grin and bare it. Perhaps doing a regular crouch type excersize will be beneficial as well. I know it won't improve overnight, but I'm hoping that it WILL eventually improve.  I think doing little bits at a time is the best way to approach it. I'll slowly crouch lower and lower, as my hip allows.

I'm not one to let something like arthritis slow me down. My 6th grandchild was born on Monday, and I want to be able to be a very active grandparent with all my grandchildren. In the past, being less active has proven to me, to worsen my case, and make my joints less accommodating to do what I want them to.