A Challenge and a Victory

First the challenge, since I want to end on a high note.

I haven't figured out how to tie my shoes.  I have three hip rules I must follow for the rest of my life.  Depending on who is talking, I can fudge a little bit more as time goes on, maybe breaking one at a time.  Breaking two at the same time, will cause dislocation.  No matter who is talking, at this point in time, don't break the rules.  They are:

1.  Do not bend the hip past 90 degrees.  This is the hardest one for me.  On a daily basis, I have reason to bend over and pick something up.  It is especially hard, when I am in a chair and want to get something from the floor, bending from this position is a huge no-no.  I must stand up to bend over.  

2.  Do not break the midline of your body with your leg.  This one isn't so hard.  I quit crossing my legs some time ago, when I learned it made varicose veins.  Sometimes, I want to cross my ankles when laying down but that is about it.

3.  Do not turn toes in - "pigeon toed." This one isn't so hard either.  I really only did that when shaving my legs to get to the back.  Since 65MD is doing that right now (see rule #1), I don't have to do that.

Now, on to shoe tying.  I haven't figured out how to get my hands to my feet without breaking rule #1 at a minimum.  No simply bending down and tying.  No putting my foot on my knee, which breaks #2.  I put my foot in a chair, being careful not to bend past 90 degrees, but I still couldn't get my hands to the laces.  I am totally open to suggestions.  If anyone has any ideas throw them out.  I'll gladly try them.

It seems, I must explore other footwear options.  Several people including 65MD have said that is probably the best thing to do at this time.  I'm just a tightwad, I guess because I don't want to buy new shoes when the ones I have are virtually unused.  As I was rehabbing my right hip and having issues walking, my therapist thought perhaps the wear patterns on my current shoes were contributing to the problem.  I bought these at that time, even though the shoes I had were still perfectly sound.  Now, I'll have two pairs of perfectly good lace up athletic shoes I can't use.  65MD says I should hang on to them and in time, I just might be able to tie them.  In the meantime, my options are velcro or drawstring.  I think the drawstrings are prettier, and I'll go with them if I give in and buy shoes.  Right now, I am experiementing with tying them first and them cramming my foot in!

I have a little time to practice since my schedule won't allow me to get to the gym until Wednesday -  which leads me to the victory.  I decided to watch the belly dance DVD today just to refresh my memory on the movements that were required and to see what I needed to do to work up to them.  Once I popped it in, I figured I could at least do the warm up.  It involved a lot of arm and upper body in addition to the hip movements.  I did those with no problem other than my arms getting tired.  Bouyed by that success, I kept going.  I did the hip movements very slow and easy but I did them and they didn't hurt!  I continued.  Again, I did the movements at my own pace but I did them.  I did the entire DVD!  Lest I leave a wrong impression, I was not fluid with my movements.   I did not look like the woman on the DVD.  I don't really know what I looked like and that's probably a good thing!  But I did it.  I did the belly dance DVD.  Looks like I had my activities backwards.  I'll keep doing the belly dance DVD on non gym days until I can actually do it with the fluid motions and then move up to Leslie Sansone!  Maybe I'll just skip ole Leslie and go to the gym more often.

Now, to ice my hips so I don't get sore.