osteoarthritis of the hip

Dear Astronaut,
I started with the hips DVD, & do it regularly - I mostly do it daily, and after mastering it I have added the first wheel DVD which I do after it.

After a few months of this my whole body including my hip stability is better than it has ever been. Those exercises have helped lengthen and strengthen the muscles around my hip and bottom and now there is no more muscle tightness on my right side of the hip.

My upper body and torso strength is much improved, along with even weight distribution/ weight bearing on my feet. Indeed my whole body is stronger, more even, and aligned.

I took time to learn and do the exercises properly and never rushed or pushed progress, I just did them consistently - these problems don't happen overnight so it does take time to fix them, however my strength and flexibility is now at a stage where the benefits are compounding.

These DVDs are indeed testament to the Whole Body benefits of Christine's exercise programs.
A consultation with Christine to address your particular questions, especially regarding golf, and back pain will help in your healing.
Wishing you all the best,
Aussie Soul Sister

I hurt my back lifting a lot of books. It is painful and I am having a hard time holding the WW posture. Holding the WW posture has not been a problem before. The doctor is sending me for x-rays of my spine and back. The doctor told me that he does not like to predict but he feels the x-rays will show I have osteoporosis. He talked to me about injections that would help reverse Osteoporosis and strengthen my bones. Does anyone know of any natural remedies for the treatment of Osteoporosis? I have taken calcium and vitamin D and glucosamine for years and walk 30 minutes daily. I would rather not take injections.

NFP, the WW posture is natural posture that we re-learn, and it becomes second nature. After 3 years it would not be something that requires effort to hold. Does this new back pain cause you to need to collapse your spine and tighten your abs? Not sure I understand what you mean. - Surviving

Since this accident 5 days ago I can't straighten up and keep my chest high wiithout moving forward. This prevents me forming my lumbar curve. I am on pain medication and heat according to Dr instructions. He feels the x-rays will show that I have osteoporosis. He wants to give me injections to reverse ostroporosis. Then there is surgery if one of the disk slipped. I am looking for a way to handle this without surgery or medicine with side effects. Thanks Surviving for responding. NFP

Doctors always seem to be bent on surgery when some thing happens to your back. When I was working in the factory and hurt my back, that is the first thing they suggested. I saw too many people with loss of movement after surgery to go that route, so I went to a chiropractor, and he fixed me right up. My hubby also stepped wrong one day going up hill, a slipped a disc. Couldn't even move, same thing, chiro fixed him up. My lower back/hip went out on me at least once a year when I was still doing the hard labor in the nursing homes and hospice, but going to the chiro really helped get me back to almost normal. This was all before I found whole woman. That is another reason I like the posture so much and the exercises, because of how much better my back feels.
But, an acute injury as you describe needs time to heal. My chiro always had me on ice packs to reduce the swelling, and of course, adjustments. Are you sure it's osteoporosis? Could just be sore muscles or a slipped disc. Personally, I'd have a chiropractor check me out first, before I went any further with this doctor's suggestions.

I agree with Aging, NFP. Over the past 20 years or so, it has been recognized that the lion's share of lower back pain comes from the sacroiliac joints in between the pelvis and lower spine, rather than disc herniation. If you have been holding WW posture for this long, it would be very protective of your lumbar discs, making injury there less likely. SIJ pain is completely debilitating (I had it twice many years ago) and takes a while to recover from. In addition to Aging's suggestions, I would add hot baths and lying flat on the floor while WW breathing several times a day.

Lanny heard a statistic recently that only 1% of people ever go back to work following their 2nd back surgery. The fine, highly tuned workings of the spine cannot be improved with surgery. If you have a bonfire injury, perhaps that is another matter, but I think more time would be needed to make that determination.

Wishing you well,

Christine

Love Christine's suggestion. I am blessed not to have back or hip issues, but have been working on the neck and shoulder area for awhile now, having a bit of pain and loss of range of motion on the right side. Nothing feels better than lying flat on the floor with a bit of support under the lumbar spine, and doing a series of "elevator breaths" into the belly. I just feel like everything is getting realigned; gravity is gently pulling my shoulders to the floor, and the lumbar support and belly breathing feel wonderful (I'm doing various other things with my arms during this, with or without baton). Please see if you can do this without discomfort, it might really help. - Surviving

I had x-rays done today at the doctor's insistence. He called me with the results, the upper back is good, the problem is the lower spine it is scattered with arthritis, the disks are out of place and causing impingement on the nerves and it is a mess. He wants me in physical therapy asap. He suggested an MRI if the pain is still significant to explore more what is going on. I thanked him and reminded him that I had an injury and need rest. My husband and I have just gone through 3 months of selling our home in VT and moving to FL. I have done a tremendous amount of physical work and we are presently working to get our home organized and have some order. I will be 76 in October and not exactly a spring chicken. (No pun to your chicks.) The doctor prescribed pain medicine, which I am taking. I told him I want to continue using hot compresses and have several days of real rest before considering physical therapy. He also wants me to have bone tests to determine my T score because he feels I am a perfect candidate for osteoporosis. I told him I am OK with the test but for now I want to rest and heal.
Meanwhile, during the day I found time to view your DVD "Saving Your Hips." I had not viewed it before even though I have had it long before we moved. I also checked the text for some information and then I tried some of the chair exercises watching very closely how they were done. I did it very slowly and had no pain. I did not get to the other exercises but felt good that I was able to do the chair exercises. I will try the others. If they help and I feel better and can maintain the WW posture I might avoid PT and stick with your exercises. Going on my experience with prolapse and WW Posture I can testify it works. So it makes all the sense to continue with "Saving Your Hips" and putting your research to work. There is no contest between your work and surgery. You excel and you have given me hope, "this too, will pass." I Love you, Christine

I just want to thank you all for responding to my back dilemma with your words of wisdom. I so appreciate all of you. NFP

Christine discusses this on pages 70 and 71 of the hips book. You can get pain control for up to 3 months, while the potential risks include infectious arthritis, osteonecrosis of the femoral head, and necrotizing fasciitis, a serious infection of the connective tissue surrounding the hip joint. Repeated cortisone injections into the joint can irreversibly damage the surfaces of the cartilage. - Surviving

Thanks so much, dear Surviving, for looking that up.

Astronaut, as I tried to thoroughly outline in my hips book, the entire paradigm of what causes hip pain changed when x-rays became available. Not only did it change, but the century of faulty imaging studies that followed have fortified a theory of osteoarthritis of the hip that is very debatable.

The hips and lower spine work together to provide a range of motion of the hip joint. It is loss of this range of motion that causes some ligaments and tendons to become shorter and some to become longer. The chronically tightened soft tissue - usually the iliopsoas tendon at the front of the joint - becomes inflamed and painful. Fluid moves into the joint, which increases the pain tremendously. Joint space narrowing may or may not be a sign of joint deterioration, as bone naturally replaces cartilage from the non-articulating side as we age. It is very possible your joint surfaces are just fine. How amazing your PT gave you WW hip exercises, most of which are completely original. It is greatly satisfying when WW paradigms are validated by conventional therapy.

All I can hope for you is that you will be very careful in how you treat your hip. I have put everything I know on the subject into the book. I can emphasize that changing something as fundamental as posture is very difficult in older persons, simply because chronic habits are hard to change. You are the only one who can do this however, and all we can do is encourage you. The reflection in an x-ray of one hip higher than the other can be interpreted as a twisting or rotation of the hemipelvis. This is hugely common in hip OA, and from my perspective stems from dysfunction in the sacroiliac joints and lumbar spine. All the cortisone in the world is not going to help misalignment of your spine and pelvis. It is just treating the symptom.

OA is talked about as an irreversible condition, but I believe the body is much more dynamic than that. Stretching exercises are great, but not as critical as being properly aligned over your joints as you sit, stand and move throughout your day.

One piece of the puzzle we do not have is the ability to take the weight completely off the hip in the case of advanced disease, which is how orthopedists successfully treated hip pain in the 19th century. No brace any longer exists to accomplish this mechanically easy task. Knowing this, if I developed severe hip pain that did not respond to alignment and range of motion work, I would invest in a pair of crutches to walk, while also exercising my hip throughout its full range in a non-weightbearing way. Hot baths and other anti-inflammatory measures are also indicated.

Wishing you well,

Christine