Loose Feeling Joints
Posted by terrepruitt on November 11, 2010
Recently in my San Jose Nia Class we used elbows as our focus for the class. The intent was to sense the connection that our elbows have to our entire body. As we moved we connected them to our hips, our ribs, our thighs, our knees, even our toes. An easy and almost automatic connection is elbows to shoulders. Well, for me, this focus allowed me to move my joints to a state of complete and utter looseness. I felt very loose and relaxed all day long.
That same evening I went to an Ecstatic Dance class and I almost felt as if I could bend like a contortionists. Notice I said ALMOST. In reality I could not bend like that, but I was sensing a greater flexing in my joints than normal. Since I was actually aware of this and sensing it I decided to move with caution. When I get the opportunity to just Free Dance with others that are doing their own thing I really end up moving. I work up a sweat and get a really great workout. But this time since I felt my joints might be able to bend more than normal I kept reining myself in. I didn’t want to end up injuring myself.
I thought of my former dance teacher who used to do very deep stretches with her legs. Since she COULD stretch so deep she would do it all the time thinking she was doing her body good. But it turned out that all of that stretching ended up putting too much strain on her ligaments. She ended up having to have several surgeries on her knee. She was double jointed or had knee joints that hyperextended. If you are double jointed it is good to use caution when moving because just because you CAN move like that doesn’t mean it is good for you to do so repeatedly. The focus of this post is more about loose joints and not double-jointedness.
It is very important to stretch and be flexible, but there sometimes is a point when we are too loose or more accurately too loose to just let loose. We need to know when to rein it in and take it easy. Listening to our body and using body knowledge and awareness we can help from allowing ourselves to get injured. If you normally cannot do a particular move but today you sense that you can, stop and think can you really? Is your body ready? If you are sure then by all means do it because doing what we couldn’t do before but can do now, is how we grow and progress. But if you are not sure then maybe you want to wait until you are certain because you don’t want to end up having to start all over if you injure yourself. If your joints are not used to a deep stretches then work slowly into it. If you have done a juicy yoga class or Nia has all your joints open and saying “Ahhh!” but your joints are not always that loose – proceed with care doing any additional exercise. Be sure to enjoy the sensation of happy joints.
Have you ever sensed the sensation of loose joints?
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John Pruitt said
I have a loose knee. Normally no problem. Running, I can feel it moving around and don’t trust it to not do something horrible. So I bought a neoprene knee wrap that slides on like a sock with no toes and goes up around my knee. It really feels like it holds everything in place. With it, I comfortably ran the Santa Cruz, Capitola Warf to Warf a few years back.
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terrepruitt said
I remembered you had trouble with you knee for awhile, but I don’t think I remembered it being a “loose knee”. Interesting. I feel that your issue is a little different than what I was talking about, but can easily be related, if in fact your joint is loose.
Do you feel you need to be extra careful with it? I don’t ever see you be cautious with your knee. Does it only act up at certain times?
I do hope my readers aren’t shocked that I have no idea even though I live with you. You just never show any signs of it bothering you so I actually forgot about it until I read your comment. Does it bother you?
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John Pruitt said
It bothers me when I run two miles. In other words, it never bothers me now days. Through my normal day and through the couple of years of Jiu Jitsu I have no knee complaints and have to think to remember which one it is. If it was bothering me or if I was in love with it, you would know.
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terrepruitt said
Yeah, I forgot about it. Sorry.
XOXO
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