[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[pct-l] Tai Chi & the PCT



Chance wrote:

<I did not examine anyone else???s hiking as related
to
knee problems but there is never a shortage of knee
problems and now I wonder how much of that can be
eliminated by becoming more conscious of the mechanics
of walking.>

Not only that, but I strongly recommend a couple of
stretches which Jeff Olson on this list recommended a
while back which I feel has reduced knee pain for me. 



Here is Jeff explaining them:


<1.  The first exercise is to lie flat on the floor
and put your lets up
against a wall.  The legs should be straight.  When I
first started 
this, I
couldn't get my butt closer than six inches to the
wall.  The point of 
the
exercise is to just hold the position.  There might be
a little pain, 
but
shouldn't be much.  As the butt and back of the legs
relax, you can 
scoot in
toward the wall.  Avoid the temptation of bending the
knees to get 
closer to
the wall.  Do this four or five times a day for five
minutes or so.  I 
did
them for two weeks and my knee pain went away.

2.  The second exercise involves sitting on the floor,
pulling one 
ankle
underneath your opposite thigh up against the butt. 
Bend the other leg 
and
and put your foot on the outside of the underneath
leg.  You'll really 
feel
it in the muscles across the hip.  Hold the knee to as
much a vertical
position as possible.  Keep the back straight and butt
cheeks flat on 
the
floor.  If this is practically impossible sit on a
pillow and raise 
yourself
up a couple three inches.  Hold the position for 30
seconds or longer, 
and
then do the other leg.  I think he told me to do a set
of three for 
each
leg, four or five times a day.

This cured my knee pain in two weeks.  I went back to
him a year later
complaining of foot pain - I thought it was plantar
fascitis.  He asked 
how
long I'd done the exercises he'd given me and I said
two weeks.  He 
said
another week or two and the foot pain would have been
cleared.

Apparently my knees were doing a lot of the work the
gluteus and 
hamstrings
were supposed to do, and weren't built for it.>



Good Luck,
Squatch
www.walkpct.com