Physio Review

Old Man with altered posture because of his hypermobility - not an ideal picture, but it illustrates the change in posture when his legs are corrected - even if it is with splints.

I saw my physiotherapist today, who I think is pleased with my progress. We are now looking at ways to better-please my ballet teacher who is unhappy at present with my 'sterno-naval' connections; however physio K and I have worked out why this might actually be.

Now that my legs are a lot more stable, I can hold them upright and much less into the swayback than I was. This means that I have had to hold my centre in a particular way whilst this has been going on. I am aware that I have desperately been trying to hold my abdominal muscles, and this has led to making the thoracic area of my spine as immobile as possible, and hence leading to a very upright posture. K straight away gave me an exercise for my thoracic spine. I also have one to strengthen my psoas muscle and improve strength in a tiny section of my lumbar spine. Addressing this will give greater support to this area and hopefully give me greater freedom of the upper back - eventually!

I am going to also do exercises to support the hip flexors which will also improve my grand battements and make them look a little less hazardous. Gluteal exercises, the mermaid and foot exercises will remain ongoing. Another new exercise is 'Body circling on one leg' this will improve my proprioception and balance.

I am going to continue working on my foot exercises, and in addition trying jumping using the 'reformer' in the pilates studio. This will start to prepare me for jumping when I really start it again. K and I agreed I am still not ready for allegro and that to mess up the timing of this would be crucial since another accident at this stage would be very detrimental to the big progress I have made; not to mention psychologically damaging. I am happy to continue waiting. Since I still have occasional episodes of medial calf pain when I do a lot of demi-pointe work, it is just not worth pushing the jumping.

K and I talked about me writing a paper about hypermobility using my own story as a basis, which I am very interested to do. We also discussed the possibility of a support group for students who have hypermobility. I am extremely interested in this work also.

In conclusion, today's exercises are:

1) Standing stretch against the wall (for thoracic spine
2) Subtle pelvic-tilt in sitting
3) Table-top hip-flexor exercise, with support
4) Ongoing gluteal exercise from the last appointment
5) Ongoing foot exercises from the last appointment
6) Mermaid (from the last appointment)
7) Using the reformer machine in the pilates studio to practice jumping
8) Body circling in standing on one leg

My next review will be just before Christmas.