My Posture, Multiple Sclerosis, and Tai Chi

Throughout my life I’ve had posture corrections. I guess I never really knew how to make postural changes so my carriage pretty much remained the same – poor but serviceable. I can now look back and recognize hips unevenly balanced, weight carried forward, lower back stiff as a board, no lumbar curve, chronic back problems, no spinal flexibility, no flexing of hip joint, chin jutting forward, shuffling gait with legs thrown forward. It was distinctive and very much part of how I presented myself.

MS informed by tai chi, makes improved posture crucial. The old habits of personal carriage amplify the new hazards resulting from MS: foot dragging, uncertainties regarding balance, uncertainty of where my feet are in space, heavy and often wobbly legs. If I was to use tai chi to offset deficits arising from MS, my posture had to change.

Postural change demands more understanding than I have. I know enough to use the tai chi form and what knowledge I do have of biomechanics to guide my experiments.

I use gravity danyus to reposition my femur so that it can lever the back of the pelvis. I practice toryus with the internal drop initiating the weight shift into the forward leg so as to make the IT band more pliable. I align myself so as to stretch the connective tissue on the front of my torso much as you would stretch a large piece of fabric. I often pause mid-movement to allow a gravity-assist. I am especially conscious of not letting my torso lean forward when I stand or move.

I use the tai chi form to integrate and consolidate the changes as they occur. The rate of progress appears to be controlled by the biology of tissue regeneration and the clarity of intention. In other words, change is gradual and not an extreme makeover.