'The thigh bone's connected to the knee bone'

So it turns out that the anatomy lessons in primary school were right. Who would have thought! And with the lyrics of that song which is "Dem Bones" (in case you, like I didn't know) ends my vast knowledge of human anatomy. On the bright side I have promised to me the loan of one anatomy textbook for my reading pleasure which I will no doubt serve to enlighten (with somewhat more accuracy) future blog posts. Anyhow, the point is that I have no clue as to the intricate workings of the human body, movement or exercise - apart from being the proud owner of an 80's model that is! But it doesn't stop me from wanting to learn all the intricate details, especially when stuff goes wrong.

Conveniently (for my learning) stuff has gone wrong. I have a pain in the butt and it does not involve any leather today. Rather when I stop cycling and put my leg down on the ground I get a very bad cramp in my hip. After cycling one day and then doing a balance class, the cramp was excruciating in some of the yoga standing strength poses. What a wonderful opportunity then to grill (I mean politely ask just one or two questions) of the instructor. And guess what, I learnt that primary school anatomy was right; the thigh bone is indeed connected to the knee bone, which in turn is connected to the shin bone. And because of a tiny bit of inferior muscle strength in my gluteus medius (yup apparently there's more to the butt than the gluteus maximus) my whole leg is out. That's the technical term. When I stand my left foot is typically placed at a 45 degree angle and whilst walking my left knee falls towards the outside of my foot which I noticed after it started hurting a few weeks back.

OK, so my exact bone alignment isn't interesting to anyone else but me and perhaps the physio that I may need to see if the Jane Fonda type exercises found at Summer Fitness that I shall be doing to help strengthen that medius muscle don't solve the problem. But what I would like to leave you pondering is the incredible body that we all have. The fact that it is an amazing system where everything is linked and when one thing falls out of whack or isn't as strong as it should be, then all the other parts of us suffer as well. And that's not just applicable to the body or even health, but to all of life.