My little brother

[Em_R]

hi all, I'm posting to try and get a little help for my brother.

He's six (name is freeman) and is starting Karate with me(I'm a sankyu) We adopted him and his older sister (who is also starting up) from Liberia Africa last year.
We noticed right away that freeman has a hip....problem. the best way to describe it is: where our feet normally and comfortably face forwards without problems, his feet face out to the sides....comfortably. It pains him (some, not a lot though he says) and is difficult for him to point his toes forward, this making all of the stances very difficult for him. He's been working every day on just his stances and making his feet face forward and holding the stance for upwards of two minutes (including a kibadachi) stance that I would kill for, he sits really really deep)
He won't be put down by this, and has already told me he's not going to let it beat him (he's got more determination than anyone I know) so I told him I would try to figure something out to help him. For his Zenkutsu he isn't able to bend his knee forward as much as he should because it twists his hip funny, and has to twist his back foot out to the side a little, or at least for now. He can do it correctly for a little while, but really starts to sweat if he holds it for very long.
We're not exactly sure what's wrong with his hips as no doctors have been able to give us a clear diagnosis...

so I was curious if anyone has any tips and suggestions for strengthening his hips and any exercises he could do to help him.

[Omicron]

Sounds like he should have x-rays done to find out if it's a bone issue, or something else. If he has a problem with his hip bones, then there's probably not a lot (short of surgery) that he can do. If it's just a muscle or tendon issue though, then he can probably eventually be "corrected" with enough exercise and physical therapy. Getting a straight answer out of your doctors is probably a good thing to focus on, so you can in turn help him focus his admirable determination on a productive course of action.

[Em_R]

due to some descriptions of their punishments they received in their orphanage we are 99% sure it's not a bone thing. for instance, one of the ones he received a lot was having to bend over at the waist, stand on one leg with hi other leg horizontal to the ground and touch his pointer finger to the floor...and hold it for a few minutes.
So it's most like muscular.

He's incredibly flexible and never complains about any pains in his hips, it's very normal to him (and he won't admit it, but he loves it because he can run and do things in more ways than we "whities" can)

[DragonPrawn]

I would suggest talking to your instructor if he's any good he should be able to help him with exercises but you should also check with a doctor before attempting said exercises.

[MatsunoCj]

yea even if ur 99% sure its not a bone issue i would still talk to a doctor before he starts trying to force things that hurt or are unfomtable just to make sure that he doesnt do any damage to his hips. Aside from that like Dragonprawn said if u talk to the instructor he should be able to either adapt things so that he can do them or give advice or how to stretch or whatever so that he can learn the stances, etc.

[Em_R]

yeah, we're already working on that, but he's (freeman) not content with it. We've adjusted all of his stances but he goes off and corrects them while we have our back turned.