What was particularly interesting about Louise’s case was the way Dr. Bonner got to the source of her problem. Louise, an attractive woman in her fifties, had pulled a hamstring in her left leg in a fall. Now she complained of an immobilizing pain in her left hip. So she and Dr. Bonner went through the Stance together and saw that she had hammertoes, bunions and knock-knees (all of them more severe on the left side). She also had a little potbelly.

 

         As Dr. Bonner worked with her on releasing and strengthening the hamstring, she began to experience the sensation of the connection between her foot and her knee, and her knee to her hip. But when she began to work on strengthening her buttocks so that she could hold her left leg in correct alignment, she discovered that she had next to no strength or control on the entire outer side of her left leg. It had taken the impact of the fall, and she had almost lost feeling there because of a pinched nerve.

 

         She would never have found the real trouble if Dr. Bonner hadn’t methodically released her enough to reach that vulnerable spot. Even her potbelly yielded when she corrected her alignment. With both legs straight and facing directly ahead, she could hold her pelvis more easily upright, allowing her abdominal and back muscles to work in tandem and her stomach to flatten dramatically.

 

         “My parents both became decrepit at a pretty young age,” said Louise, “and I just thought it was my turn. I certainly never imagined that working on the pain in my hip would help to straighten my crooked toes and knees - they’d been that way ever since I could remember. All those old aches and pains are gone now, too. It really is all connected, isn’t it? I’d never have believed it - I feel good now for another fifty thousand miles!