curled seiza question

Hi,

In my curled seiza, the "stretch" is predominately in the 2nd knuckle of my foot (where the toe joins the foot) and it doesn't really feel like a stretch but more like bone pain. Is this correct? The stretch is still tolerable but doesn't seem to target anywhere else other than this specific joint.

Any suggestions would be great!

Chris

Is it in just one toe or all of them?  You may need to scale it back for a while.  Clearly this is an area of great need for your feet.  That is common for people's toes to have very poor ROM initially d/t many years in stiff shoes.  You should not feel any pain in this stretch, though it may be mildly uncomfortable, especially towards the end of the time.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. The pain is predominately in my big toes on both feet. It feels like a physically limit, like if you were trying to push your wrist past 90 degrees. The pain is completely bearable and quite scalable by shifting my body weight but very much localised in the joint. It seems alot of weight is going through the one joint. 

Any further thoughts would be welcome and thanks once again Douglas.

Chris

I had the same problem. I solved it by doing it gradually, instead of reaching the floor with the knees I use a pair of mats under the knees to that I can focus more on the plantar part of the feet. this should take off some stress from the bone.

it is a combination of tight plantar muscles and Achilles tendon. 

I do what Alessandro describes and it works great.  I use a small aerobics step to put my knees on.  It reduces the joint stress on the big toe.  Lets you get more toes into the stretch, feel more stretch through the bottom of the foot.

OK great, will give that a try. Is it my achilles that limits the depth of my seiza also? i.e. how much my buttocks are able to sit on my heels?

Chris

Hey Christopher, 

Tight Achilles, arches, and even quads are all limiting your ROM.

i'm going to tack onto this thread as i also have difficulty with the curled seiza (all of the seiza poses actually). the bones of my second toe on my left foot fused together while i was a teen and curled seize causes me a fairly significant amount of pain in that joint.  do i have an option other than not doing it on the left? no amount of padding helps as a 90* bend is already producing some level of pain...

Hi Laura, 

Have you tried to ease off the stretch a bit by leaning forward? If the pain remains I would strongly suggest to have an assessment from a physio or other medical  professional. They will be able to tell you whether you need to back off this exercise and can provide you with alternative exercises.