Leg Pain

A member asked me today about leg pain. When in bed the outside of the top of the leg hurts. I sometimes get this, but mine is more of a tingle. I’ve simplified this, as I’ve looked on Youtube and the internet and it gets very technical.

The pain is usually to halfway down the Ilotibial Band hereon known as the IT band. If you press in, halfway down it may hurt at one particular spot. There may be a tendancy to massage this spot. I have known it to work, but the problem is with the Tensor Fasciae Latae being tight. Or TFL from hereon in. What you are getting is ‘reffered pain’.

The answer to this is simple, The Lion Stance. Have a go and you will feel it. Your feet MUST be parallel otherwise it doesn’t work. Also if you are in bed, which is where mine used to start playing up, you can put your hand in the cupped Tai Chi Hand and give the TFL a massage up and down in line with the arrows.

I went on a 9 week one day course at the Pain Clinic and I asked what was the stretch for the TFL. “There isn’t one” came the reply from one of the physios. “I know one” “Show us” the physio said.

So I started in Bear Stance, sunk down, streched out my leg to Leopard Stance then turned to the straigt leg. I.E. The Lion Stance. Everyone clapped me including the 2 physios that were taking the class and 2 doctors who came in for a while.

If you look on the internet you will get bogged down with all sorts of ‘industry jargon’. So you see, Qi Gung is not just for Wednesday and Friday afternoons, it should be part of your daily routine. How can I find the time? You may ask. In the queue at the supermarket, at the bus stop, in the Chip Shop. Even at Gatwick Airport, when one passer by asked if that was Tai Chi. Not many people know this!

Best Wishes, Doctor Alan.