Monday, March 6, 2017

Gratitude Monday - The Pot-Bellied Slump Edition

The pain in my leg is almost gone and I have social media to thank for it.
An ad for a video course or somesuch and free ebook appeared in my FaceBook news feed. Normally I'd ignore it, but "leg pain" caught my eye so I read a bit.
After clicking around I learned about the psoas muscles and how they need to be engaged to walk properly without assorted pains.
In short we need to stand the way we were told to when we were young, shoulders back, chest out, tummy tucked. The latter should actually read the pelvis needs to be flat, but you get the idea.

 A few years ago I pulled hamstring, or so I thought. It never really did heal and I'd limp a bit after sitting awhile.
I've made an effort to stand properly and sit properly, something I never did. I slump. When one slumps one gets a pot belly.
Surprisingly, standing and sitting properly with the psoas muscles engaged feels really good.
The leg pain is reduced considerably, and best of all the stomach and abdomen muscles that were hurting me when I stood too long is all but cured.
I am grateful I found this ad, happy I was intrigued enough to look around, and beside myself that merely changing my posture has led to all this improvement.

I'm not sure engaged is the right word to use, but it gets my point across.
I must note this is anecdotal to me. In no way am I dispensing advice, medical or otherwise.
There's still a far way to go. The stance does not come naturally and it only hides the belly a bit.
But hey, it's a start, and that's good enough for now.




5 comments:

messymimi said...

It's always nice to find something that can help with pain that isn't a pill, literally or figuratively.

the Bag Lady said...

I am glad you found something that helps. Strengthening your core muscles help to stabilize your spine, which in turn helps with everything else.

Anonymous said...

Score!!!

crabby said...

The psoas is such a weird muscle, buried in there where things are dark and mysterious, and most people have never heard of it let alone worked on engaging it properly. Good for you!

Leah J. Utas said...

You said it, Messymimi!

The difference is hard to believe, but I do believe it, Terry.

Kimberley, aye.

Crabby, thanks. They can be feisty, I've found.