improving Balance

[Guest guest]

I do yoga to improve my balance. It works on the core muscles, the same

muscle group helped by the balance board that Gretchen mentioned. My sister

uses a balance board and loves it. One of the side benefits of working on

core muscles is also a slight tightening and slimming effect around the

waist line.

Personally, yoga can be frustrating, but I have told my instructors and for

the standing poses (the ones where you stand on one leg and all that) I go

to the wall or use a chair. The yoga has worked on strengthening my legs

and hips too, which are pretty weak in me.

In addition, yoga is great for stretching. Since doing yoga, I have seen my

toes start to " uncurl " . I think this is due to all of the stretching - and

also yoga works on strengthening even the toe muscles. I am feel stretched

out from my feet, through my Achilles, and of course my hamstrings and back.

I have 8 of the 9 symptoms of benign hypermobility (double joints), and I

have found that yoga stretches while strengthening, which is great, but I do

need to work and be more aware than others about alignment, which is ok.

I do a couple of forms of yoga - I go two to three times a week. In

addition, I am an avid walker and am out walking 2 or 3 times a week too,

building up miles so that I can do a marathon again. And I also am supposed

to go to the gym to do physical therapy on my legs - quadriceps building.

This is to help with my knees, and some alignment issues that come from an

gait where I use my hamstrings rather than quads to propel myself when

walking (the doctors cannot say if this is due to CMT, or just from having

an injury at one stage and adjusting my walk to compensate - frankly I think

I could just about find CMT in everything, so I go for " one of those things "

rather than relying on my diagnosis for an explanation of this one).

The combo of strength, stretching, and activity is great for me - I feel

healthy and strong, and that is the most important thing for me. I am now

searching for a good nutritionist in London to help with diet, and am also

trying to make an appointment with an expert in CMT over here to find out a

few things about progression, and also about corrective surgery on my feet.

All the dialogue here really helps me with all the different perspectives -

thanks everyone! Will keep you posted on what I learn about diet, etc as I

go along this journey of discovery. Anyone interested in more info, mail me

off group.

From London,

Donna