It sounds like the origin got moved somehow. You know, that green x that shows up when you tick "display origin"? If you move it, you get a different center of rotation, which is how you get door props to rotate at the hinges, rather than swivel at the center. And what you describe sounds exactly like an origin that is a long way off from where it should be.

But how it would have changed in a character figure, I don't know. Still, if that's what's wrong, if you're using a Pro version of Poser, you should be able to fix it by going into the joint editor. However, since I've never done it with a complicated figure, I can't explain how.

However, in the properties tab in figures (or body parts, more precisely) and props, there's an option to "display origin" which, when you tick it, it appears. Untick it and it disappears. The other option is "animatable origin". If that's ticked, then it allows the green x to move, wreaking all kinds of havoc. Whereas, if it's unchecked, it won't. Unchecking it sometimes causes it to revert back to center. So perhaps that's all you need to look for.

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PoserPro 2014, PS CS5.5 Ext, Nikon D300. Win 8, i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz, AMD Radeon 8570, 12 GB RAM.