Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-21
THE QUEST OF BEAUTY
Special Exercises for the
Woman With Uneven Hips.
A CORRECTIVE SYSTEM
THESE FAULTS NEED NOT EXIST
IF ONE CoRRECTs THEM.
Useful Hints for Toilet Preparations
That Will Do Much
Good.
A CORRECTIVE SYSTEM

Written for the Evening Star by Katherine Morton
Perhaps you are startled some day by
the measurements of your dressmaker. She
announces, Skirt forty inches left side
forty-one right"
You ask how that can be- Surely she
has used her tape line carelessly. You ar.
not deformed.
She measures again with the same result
THAT is nothing remarkable madam
nine ladies out of every ten have a differ
ence in their hips or their shoulders. l can
easily hide the fact
So. If she is skiIful, she goes to work
to make up for the missing inch. She
builds little pad, which you are to wear
in the skirt or tuck away under the cor
set. This raises the low left hip and gives
the appearance of a symmetrical figure.
But all the time the fact is just the same
you are not symmetrical. Do you know
the reason? Do not be shocked for The
word curvature is not so serious as 1t is
commonly supposed to be. But the fact is
any doctor will tell you SO, you have a
curvature of the spine.
Now it is a common thing to call a hump
back curvature and to suppose that this
is the real and only meaning of the word as
applied to backs. This is not true. Techni-
cally the word is applied to any crooked
ness of the spine, even the slightest devia-
ton from the straight line A large pro-
portion of the people in the world have this
defect and go through life and are never
not what 1t should be nor what it might be
made with proper gymnastic treatment.
What is the use Of being bothered with
pads and with skirts that hang badly and
with thinking up devices in dress trimming
to hide the fault of one-sidedness? Why
not undertake to correct the fault? Not
that slight curvature is anything to be
alarmed at; it will not cripple you short
flan 1nJr of hr,% H.
will be pleasanter without it. Your gait
cannot possibly be graceful if your hips are
uneven. Certain annoyances, such as neu-
ralgia in the side, intercostal neu-
ralgia, are said to arise from it. Your ap-
pearance is always handicapped and often
your comfort.
If you visit the most modern gymnasums
in our large cities you will find any number
of patients being treated for this very COM
mon defect. Each one is given special eX-
ercises according to her needs and strength.
The basis of all the lessons given to
straighten a spine is stretching. If the
spine is thoroughly stretched it straightens
of itself.
Learn How to Stand.
But before you begin gymnastic treatment
learn how to stand. Unless you remember
this every hour of the day you will not gain
benefit from all the exercise in the world
1t is probable that you brought about the
high hip and consequent high shoulder from
standing ION one leg" when you were a
schoolgirl. You formed habit of hump
ing up one hip, always the same hip, until
it came to be fixture in that raised posi-
ton. You must warn yourself constantly
that this habit is to be overcome.
A well-equipped Swedish gymnasium Of
fers a good idea of apparatus adapted to
the needs of its patients or pupils; but you
can help yourself, perhaps cure yourself,
by home treatments. You must be provid
ed, however, with pair of rings suspend
ed from the ceiling, a ladder and a horizon
ia! bar
Hanging by the hands is the best begin
ming for stretching Place the bar at such
height that, when you hang by your
hands your toes will not reach the floor.
You must have your bar adjustable, by the
way for there will be other heights re-
qured as you progress.
Give a light spring to reach it, then hang
while you count ten. Count it quickly and
drop, spring again, count 1t more slowly,
repeat until you feel the first signs Of ia
tigue. Never allow this stretching to bring
on pain In the small of the back
Vary the hanging from day to day, let
ting it be sometimes from the bar, some-
times from the rings. Run and swing in
the rings, all the while letting your body