In other news

[featherynscale]

My hips are all jacked up again, which makes my legs feel a lot like toes or fingers that have been jammed, except, well, bigger and crankier. I need a tall, strong person to lift me up by my ankles and shake me. I totally think that would fix a lot.

Comments

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

I think that's why Costco has the inversion table... inversion/gravity boots require the strength and coordination to grab a bar and flip your feet up there while wearing those clunky boots. Even when I was young it was an awkward situation because the hooks were behind my heels.

I haven't even seen those boots around anymore, possibly due to risk... if the bar rips out of the ceiling or your feet slip out, it's not going to be fun.

Ok, I was wrong - http://store.yahoo.com/imaginefitness/grinbo.html

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

I love doing a back stretch over my ball, but I'm not sure it would help the hips. It's a wonder for making the back feel good though.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Gravity boots are more of a back stretch too, hips may need to be popped outwards. It's an odd area, as not even massage therapy can really pop them. Although if the affliction is caused via a tightening of muscles, it could offer some relief.

I was thinking hip traction works best if the legs are not pulled straight down (pulling the ball to the bottom of the socket and just crunching cartiledge) but at a 30 degree angle. Setting up posts and pulleys at the bottom corners of a bed might work, along with weights tied to ankle straps. Over the years I've dreamed up something like that, along with a "chin-up" bar at the head of the bed to help stretch compacted joints. It seemed better than the old-school full-foot boots which allowed your knees to lock which was uncomfortable.

I love stretching over a ball. I always start to fall asleep because it feels so good, then I fall over.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

It feels amazing. My back has improved so much since I started, now if I could figure out something for me knee, besides surgery.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

I had torn that ligament that goes THROUGH the knee, between the knobby bits. I did NOT want surgery THERE. 8-)

I stopped heavy running and hiking, and eventually it healed without the surgery. It depends on your affliction and activity level though... that solution won't work as well for rhuematoid arthritis.