New Hip Pain

Hi Rowan,

I’m sorry to hear of your hip problem. It is unusual and perhaps the first time we’ve heard of this connection. How curious that it seems to be in both your hips, which is especially uncommon. It’s impossible for me to know what’s going on, since I can’t see your body for any insights into your structural problem. Yes, it’s good you have stopped the workout until you have more information.

As for external hip rotation, this is how we come into the world - with a flexion, external rotation contracture of the hip joints. Through crawling, walking and running, the thigh bones rotate inward toward a more medial position. However, we must maintain our ability to externally rotate, which keeps the largest and most powerful walking muscles, the psoas, stretched to their functional length.

We are generally forward and externally rotated beings. Say you are walking forward with your feet pointing straight and you suddenly change directions. You are now in external hip rotation. Exercising the body while in external hip rotation, and with full lumbar curvature, presses the femoral heads down and medially, or toward each other. This is the position of bony stability, where the joint is deeply congruent, or pressed together.

We as women spend a significant percentage of our lives in external hip rotation, as this is the most common female position for sexual intercourse. However, the femoral head may not be completely in the joint because lumbar curvature is somewhat flattened when we’re on our back. The femoral head may have moved slightly up and away from its socket. Powerful ligaments around the joint keep it from dislocating in the position.

The importance of women exercising their hips in external rotation cannot be overemphasized. Women have wider hips, which are more subject to the femoral head being held slightly out of the joint, a common condition referred to by the scary term, hip dysplasia. In a deep, second position plie in WW posture the femoral head is being pushed down and forward into the hip socket as far as it can go, creating bony stability in the joint.

Why you are experiencing hip pain suggests to me that the soft tissues surrounding your joint (where the pain receptors are located) are reacting to suddenly having to adjust to being lengthened in this way.

I hope you feel better soon.

Wishing you well,

Christine

Sounds like a good plan, Rowan. If my own experience is of any help (I’m 61), I have been doing this exercise for over a dozen years and feel I have “bomber” hip joints that will never be subject to pain as long as I keep exercising them in this way. You are right to take it very slowly though! Women our age are subject to a virulent type of hip inflammation that is very difficult to get under control. Arthroscopy surgeons describe it as the psoas tendon and capsular ligaments being highly inflamed and scarred together at the hip joint. I am working with a 70 year old who seems to demonstrate this condition and all we can do is work very slowly and carefully. Please stay away from Ibuprofen, which can set up a slow, smoldering type of inflammation in the joint.

Can you clarify, are you going about your day in good WW posture? Does this feel good and it is just the exercises themselves that bother you? A month is not a long time, and some soreness at the beginning of this work is not uncommon, especially if it is a big change for your body and you try to do too much too soon. - Surviving

Can I suggest Rowan before you resume the turn out pose when upright, that you try it gently (when all seems well of course) when you are lying in bed at night or in the morning. With the weight off your feet you will get some idea if you just move your feet in the turn out pose, and the turn in pose and pulling the toes up to your ankle pose and then pushing the toes down how the groin area reacts. I only get a sore feeling in the groin of the leg where I had a broken hip on occasion and it is usually after I have been sitting more on the said leg than the buttocks as can often happen in a car seat.

Also Rowan, you mention in your original post that you think this has to do with the position of the feet. Be sure they are not turned out more than your hips are. When you plié, you should see your knees directly over your toes. Don't try to get a better turnout by turning your feet out too much. The turnout has to come from the hips. That takes time, and at our age, it can only improve so much over where it is now, if we are just starting this work. So take it slow and gentle. - Surviving

I was just wondering if anyone knows if there is something out there for men? My husband is having a hip problem, and I don't want to see him become prey for the orthopedic vultures. Thank you, Coping

Christine has worked a lot with women as you know, but her book and DVD "Save your hips" was meant as far as I understand for men as well, that men are also prone to skeletal misalignment. Rather than call it WholeWoman posture, Christine referred to it as a "template for natural human bio-mechanical alignment" which is wonderful American speak for "working on and strengthening good posture, baby". It is certainly worthwhile your husband looking into it. If he rings Lanny, he will be able to help him out, or you could just buy him the book on-line, or at the very least pass on what you have learnt. Cheers.

Yes, that is my understanding as well. Start teaching him the posture now! - Surviving

Hello everyone, I came to the forum today to ask about the barley grass - do you just blitz the harvested grass and drink all or do you need to separate the solid part and drink the juice only?

However I saw the post by Rowan, I know its quite old now but it struck a cord with me and I have read and reread the post and replies.
I am 66 years old and also have hip pain in both hips. It started maybe around a year ago and has become progressively worse lately. I also have a bladder prolapse.
Because I just couldn't sit cross legged or with feet out on front and when i tried to "train" my body to do so my back and hips hurt, I chose the hip exercises. I did kind of start this a while ago but it was half hearted (I had a commitment I had no control over) however around Feb to early March this year i started the hip exercises in earnest. I do these exercises most days (at least 6 times a week). I began on a gradient (these too were hard) but have worked up to 13 repeats.
But the pain has kept worsening. It is really getting me down now and affecting and reducing my ability to walk. I walk less now, cannot go uphill and have trouble going up steps. I try to keep the posture both sitting and standing but when I stand from a sitting position my hips hurt a lot. I keep thinking just keep doing the exercises and you'll get there but after reading Christine's reply to Rowan on Dec 9 2013 I am worried I may have the virulent type of hip inflammation she describes.
I don't know what to do.

Hi Kiwi mum,

Hip pain and inflammation is rampant in women in their sixties and has a tendency to progress very rapidly. Western women lose the ability to externally rotate their hips while also maintaining lumbar curvature.

Flattened lumbar curvature means that the pelvis has rotated slightly backward and the center of mass of the body is directed at the front aspect of the hip joints. This is where virtually all hip disease is located.

Exercising with a tucked under pelvis and externally rotated hips places tremendous pressure on this area, as evidenced by the large proportion of ex-ballerinas with hip prostheses.

During the 19th century, traditional orthopedists understood that chronic hip pain must be treated as early as possible to prevent destruction of the joint. They called their practice “mechanics” and used braces, casts, etc. to keep weight off the joint, while at the same time providing full range of motion. In other words, a patient could walk in the brace while the joint did not bear any weight. It was brilliant, yet abandoned for surgical solutions.

I can only hope you are able to find a physician to treat your hips naturally.

Christine

P.S. Yes, you need a wheatgrass juicer, which separates the juice from the fibrous grass.

Thankyou so much for your reply Christine!
I am reluctant to see a physician when all they seem to recommend is surgery and I'm not going down that route.
How can I help myself?
Could I continue with the exercises if I cut back the gradient and stop the moment I feel any pain or discomfort (even a little). It's strange as I don't feel pain doing the exercises anywhere as much as I do other times.
Do you think I should stop all exercises for a while? - weeks? months?
I have tried to do the exercises in the correct posture but I probably need to be more vigilant (I've had 60 years of being told to tuck in my bottom and pull in my stomach). What exercises can I do that will assist me to externally rotate my hips while maintaining lumbar curvature?
The exercises I find the hardest are the ones on the stool, maybe I should stop these ones for a while?
Should I stop the exercises that call for turned out toes/hips for a while then if the pain improves start them again gradually?
I will start growing the barley tomorrow and see where I can buy a wheat grass juicer.
It may seem contrary but the exercises have helped despite the increasing pain. I hardly ever have lower back pain now and if I do it is easily fixed by the exercise lying face down on the floor with knees on a pillow, my flabby bottom has toned (its got a way to go but it's definitely improved), my (flat) arches are improving, I have a lot better range of movement in my neck, the posture is starting to feel more natural and my prolapse, which was definitely worsening, has remained the same. All this since Feb / March this year! I feel I have made progress in many ways. It's just this pain... but I still feel it would be a backward step to just stop.
Thankyou for listening.

Well, first of all I would not go to the effort to grow barley grass at such a stressful time. And yes, I would discontinue the exercises.

Perhaps what is needed most are anti-inflammatory tactics. Here are just a few ideas, I’m sure there are many more:

Hot baths with epsom salts and lavender.

Walking in WW posture with feet pointing straight ahead.

Fresh and dried turmeric.

White willow bark tea - a good anti-inflammatory.

Red clover tea - a phytoestrogen that improves bone health.

Lavender-chamomile tea - surprisingly calming and sedating.

Freshly ground flax seed - a good anti-inflammatory.

Clean DHA oil - a major anti-inflammatory.

Homemade fermented food. I’m not sure about this one, but I’ve been fascinated to learn that the hip joint may have its own microbiome, which I would not be surprised to find is dominated by lactobacillus.

Never sitting deeply into soft furniture.

Sitting with your knees lower than your hips (relieves stress on the soft tissues of the joint).

Cannabis tincture - a few drops in a small amount of water held under the tongue for several seconds before swallowing. This is becoming legal in the U.S. and while it has terrible effects when smoked, is one of nature’s more useful pain relievers.

All the best to you! The epidemic of adult onset hip pain is ubiquitously exemplified by loss of natural alignments - just as you describe.

Christine

Thankyou so much for your reply Christine.
I will stop the exercises now. If (when!) my hips start to improve would it be detrimental to do the sitting exercises on your hips DVD? I used to have such a poor range on movement in my neck and this has improved greatly from doing these.
I don't have a bath, just a shower. Would putting a couple of drops of the lavender essential oil on my hips help?
Definitely I will concentrate on the WW posture. My feet do point ahead, if anything I may walk with the right foot slightly inwards. When I stand I sometimes see myself doing this but I will concentrate better on standing how you say.
I will get the tumeric and teas today. Is it OK to blitz the flax seed or should I use a mortar and pestle?
Is DHA oil different to fish oil? Do I get a good fish oil that is high in DHA?
I will google how to make fermented foods. Would it be OK to buy sour dough bread from a bakery that makes their own?
Ah, sitting in soft furniture, I will try and be much more strict with myself! I have found that raising the back 2 legs of a kitchen chair (tilting the seat forward slightly) helps me to keep the posture, especially when on the computer and it will keep knees lower that hips - is this OK?
Cannabis is illegal in any form in New Zealand. I did read an article that said the type of cannabis oil used to relieve pain is not habit forming, gives no high and is very a effective pain relief. Before that I didn't realise there were different types of cannabis. Its a shame governments cant see past the misuse of it, well done the USA for looking at its good use.
I'll stop bothering you now but rest assured I will be working on your advice.
Thankyou for being there Christine, your work is amazing and I am grateful.

Eventually adding all the hips exercises back in would be ideal. Use your best judgment and take it slowly.

Lavender in any form is very soothing. But I think a good arnica salve might work better. I have used the combination of white willow bark tea and arnica salve for musculoskeletal injury and it has worked amazingly well to relieve pain.

We grind flax seed in a small electric grinder. The oils are so fragile that even if it has sat out for a couple of hours we toss it.

Fish don’t make DHA. Only algae do. The little fish eat algae, the big fish eat the little fish, and we squeeze the oil out of the big fishes livers. A good fish oil is very anti-inflammatory. Now they are making very clean DHA by super-feeding algae in large vats. The algae grow a big bubble filled with DHA oil and that is squeezed out - free of all the toxins that are now in our oceans. Check out florahealth.com.

The fermented foods question is complicated and I’m not ready to speak about it quite yet. Good bakery sourdough would be fine to start.

The chair idea sounds good. The first thing people with hip pain should do is stop sitting in soft furniture.

I am new to this forum. It nice to know other women have this buldge. My question is what can be done so my underwear stays in a comfortable place? It is so uncomfortable when it sits against the buldge.

This is a great post and really hits me where I live! I had started to do the fresh-ground flax thing a couple of weeks ago. The smell is so heavenly! I'm glad to know I should only grind what I'm using on the spot.

My daughter and I take algae-based DHA because, well, somehow the idea of fish oil never appealed to me. And, I was finding differences of opinion in my research. I suppose fish oil might have some other anti-inflammatory qualities of its own? I'm sticking with the algae and feel that we are getting plenty of other healthy fats in our diet. - Surviving

The thing I noticed with the fish oil is that you have to be very careful on what you buy. It is not suppose to smell or taste bad if you break open a capsule, and is suppose to be refrigerated. I never found one that didn't make me burp up a fishy taste. I never had a problem with the algae based DHA. Our health food store also has the flax oil in bottles for those who don't want to grind seeds, and I have used that too. I don't know though if there is a quality difference between them though.
Just some things I have experimented with throughout the years.

I posted my reply here:
https://wholewoman.com/forum/comment/52399#comment-52399

Hello,
I would like to know if the balance ball chair is good or bad for the hip joints please? I honestly cannot tell. I started to have hip pain, and I used to be so active. I have just ordered Christine's book and looking forward to it so much. Thanks.

Hi ciel - the important thing is how you sit. I'm not personally familiar with sitting on a ball, but I imagine it takes a bit of effort to keep the ball stationery. If you have ordered the Hips package, you'll get some good guidance from that. If you are learning correct posture, you are well on your way. Keep that belly relaxed, chest pulled up, shoulders down. WW posture correctly seats the torso over the hip joints, and restores/enhances lower lumbar curvature. This is the basic principle whether standing, moving, or sitting. - Surviving

Thank you Surviving60. I am just getting acquainted with the posture and waiting for my hip package. All the best.

Dear ciel,
re sitting. If you sit in a chair keep your knees lower than hips. Christine's post "what to do " above mentions that as well as not sitting deeply in soft furniture.

I have sat on a balance ball and not only are they dangerous if you start to fall off one as I have, you can't stop. You also have to be very careful not to have the knees higher than the hips, and I found mine deflated a bit putting my knees higher.

I know you are looking at a chair with a ball in it, however I think at this stage you are better learning the posture just making sure that the chairs you do sit on don't have your knees higher than your hips and learn to sit holding your torso up with your own strength.

I do like to research other approaches/props when they come up here, now that I know enough about WW to know what is useful or not, and more often they are not.

I originally began WW with pop and quickly realized that my hip instability where I would lose all support and was starting to have very painful crunching concussion had ceased immediately I had started the posture.
When Christine's Hip program came out I started it very slowly and have resolved all knee and hip pain and discomfort to the point where I can sleep on both sides with a pillow between knees pain and discomfort free...I couldn't last more than a few seconds before that.

There are many more benefits to Whole Woman Posture that I have posted about over the last 3 & 1/2 yrs.
I use the posture first 24/7, and the Hips program as a foundation for everything else, like other DVDs and progression to a little running, and Scottish Country Dancing which would have been impossible before now....

Start slowly, listen to your body and you will amaze yourself at the progress you will make over time.

All the best,

Aussie Soul Sister