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Glidewalking success with knee pain

jasonalan
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11/10/2020 - 8:10am
Glidewalking success with knee pain

Hello,

I suffered from knee pain for 17 years, from the ages of 23 until a month ago when I turned 40. It was usually mild, but if I ran or hiked a lot, it would get worse. Always in my right knee, I knew it was some sort of imbalance that was causing inflammation but could never figure it out. I got the best 40th birthday present ever when I discovered Esther's book. After a long day of hiking, the knee pain had gotten about as bad as ever, and I was excepting it to take a few weeks to subside; instead I started glidwalking the following few days and as soon as I got the technique down, the pain disappeared immediately. That was a month ago, and I’ve hiked several miles a day with a toddler on my shoulders, and it has felt fantastic every time.

I believe the technique immediately exposed the problem, both of my psoas feels tight, but my right psoas and hip flexors feel significantly tighter than my left. The difference now is every step gives it a gentle stretch. I’m just curious, can I expect the imbalance to eventually even out? I don’t mind the feeling at all, since it feels good to be stretching these muscles, but I’m wondering how long it typically takes for these muscles to get longer. It’s been a solid month now, but still feels about the same. Considering there’s no pain, I have all the time in the world to wait.

Thanks,
Jason

 

 

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11/09/2010 - 2:51pm

Hi Jason,

it's so good to hear that glidewalking has made your hiking experience pain free and pleasurable. I have also found glidewalking during hiking makes both uphill and downhill easier with much less pressure on your knees. I believe that you will, over time, feel more balance between your right and left hip flexors and psoas muscles because the glidewalking, as you can feel, is stretching those muscles and that stretch with each step is lengthening the muscles. One can't predict how long it will take to feel more balanced. It is different for every person and we all have some asymmetry in our bodies, so you might continue to feel a bit of a difference between right and left legs. But with all your hiking you are going in the right direction for decreasing the tightness in your

psoas and hip flexor muscles on the tighter side. Enjoy the journey!

best regards,

Roberta Cooks, MD

Gokhale teacher

jasonalan
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3 years 2 months ago
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11/10/2020 - 8:10am

Thanks for the response. I'm looking forward to the journey indeed. The method has been amazing for me so far and I'm just getting started.

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