Hip pain ????

[frayne]

I realize seeking advice about health issues on internet boards is not the best way to get good medical advice but I am interested in others experiences as it pertains to hip pain.

About two months ago I was running bases playing whiffle ball with the grandkids. Later on that evening my left hip started to hurt. The next day I could hardly get out of bed due to the pain that hurt not only in the hip but also radiated down my thigh and to my knee. Fast forward, two chiropractor visits and two GP visits later I am still hobbling around with hip pain. I am fine sitting or laying down but when I walk or stand still, it hurts. My chiropractor thinks it is some soft tissue damage and recommended alternating ice and heat, which I have done, which hasn't really helped. My GP is thinking a possible sciatica issue and prescribed some prednisone which did nothing.

I'm a fairly active 65 year old, play a lot of golf and walk regularly 5-7 miles per day. This past week I have decided to give up walking and stay away from golf for at least two weeks to see if this helps. If it doesn't my GP suggested an MRI to se what is going on.

Just curious if any others have experienced this type of problem and what they have done.

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

 

[braumeister]

Good chance it's arthritis.
An MRI will tell for sure.

 

[Nemo2]

Just curious if any others have experienced this type of problem and what they have done.

I find that limping around, and periodically gasping, is quite effective.

 

[splitwdw]

...About two months ago I was running bases playing whiffle ball with the grandkids...
I'm a fairly active 65 year old, play a lot of golf and walk regularly 5-7 miles per day. This past week I have decided to give up walking and stay away from golf for at least two weeks to see if this helps. If it doesn't my GP suggested an MRI to se what is going on.
Just curious if any others have experienced this type of problem and what they have done.
Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

So you have been playing golf and walking 5-7 miles since the pain started 2 months ago and you only just stopped? If that's the case, why wouldn't you stop and rest your hip? Wonder why your doctors didn't tell you to rest it.


edit: I don't see anything wrong with asking advice online. Someone else might have similar experience and point you in the right direction.

 

[eytonxav]

Have you tried using a foam roller? It might hurt a lot rolling out between the IT bands and your knee, but may help. Also, I went through a similar problem and saw a muscle activation specialist and it resolved everything in ~ 3-4 weeks time.

 

[frayne]

So you have been playing golf and walking 5-7 miles since the pain started 2 months ago and you only just stopped? If that's the case, why wouldn't you stop and rest your hip? Wonder why your doctors didn't tell you to rest it.

My chiropractor told me to keep active, which I did even though the pain was sometimes quite awful. I usually played golf once or twice a week and hit the range on days I didn't play. I found that after awhile there was no way I could swing and transfer my weight onto my left side without experiencing pain.

 

[Bamaman]

You really need to go visit an orthopaedic surgeon that specializes in hips. You may be an injection away from being normal. Or, it could be something else.

Pain comes for a reason. It's up to us to pay attention and to have it checked out relatively fast. I know people with a "square" ball in a round socket to have suffered for years walking when they didn't have to suffer.

 

[RunningBum]

Rest seems like a good idea, and so does that foam roller or some massage. So does seeing an orthopaedist or sports doc who would know more about these injuries than a GP would.


How old are you shoes? If they are old that may not be helping recovery at all. The cushioning may be worn down without showing too much external wear. 500 miles is the recommended replacement for runners. You may be able to get more miles out of walking because you don't pound on them as hard, but I sure wouldn't exceed 1000, and if they are over 500 with your problems I'd look at replacing them.

 

[target2019]

Had similar bouts with hips and then knees. Hip problem was caused by chair at work. Knees problem caused by excessive kneeling doing some work out back.

Walking made it worse, not better. I went easy for a few weeks, and had no problems walking 5-10 miles for 10 days straight.

 

[Chuckanut]

While being active is a good things, I can't help but suspect that continually stressing the joint while it is injured and probably inflamed is not going to result in a quick cure. Pain is there for a reason. Listen to it. As I grow older I find that I heal slower. I could bore you with the details, but let's just say I have have several 'mechanical' injuries over the last two years that healed in months not weeks. But, they did heal.

 

[SteveNU]

Sounds like what I am dealing with right now. Lower back pain quickly escalating into excruciating right hip and right leg pain. I had excruciating pain in my right hip and right thigh to my knee that eventually prevented me from being able to move. Before it got that bad they tried PT, drugs, and an injection into my L3-L4 disk area.

Before I got to see the surgeon I ended up in an ambulance going to the ER and being admitted to the hospital with intractable pain. They did surgery a few days later to fix it and I am now two and a half weeks post op with very little pain but looking at months of taking it very easy while i recover.

My problem was the L3 nerve being impinged by an extruded disk at the L3-L4 level. The two vertebra had slipped and the disk had extruded into the area where the nerve exited. They had to go in and fuse the two vertebra and clean out the disk that had extruded as well as a laminectomy to open things up.

If you don't get it corrected the nerves can be permanently damaged so that even after surgery the leg muscle may never recover. I still have some pain but it can take years for the nerves to recover.

Push to get an x-ray and an MRI so you can see what is going on in there. I spent months goofing around with the conservative treatments and when I finally got an x-ray it was pretty clear that I was headed for surgery because no amount of drugs or PT was going to undo the damage that I had. A lot of a suffering needlessly. The insurance company wants to do the conservative treatment path because the majority of back issues do resolve with time however it seems foolish not to at least get an x-ray and see what things look like.

Good luck, I know what you are going through and I never want to go back there.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[serie1926]

I have terrible arthritis in both hips and my left hip needs to be replaced.

I started working with a trainer in January a couple of days a week. At the end of each session we do some very aggressive stretching. I am now back up to jogging 3 miles every other day and walk 18 holes carrying my bag 3-4 days a week.

Prior to working with the trainer, hadn't been able to jog for several years, because of left hip pain. And had to eat Advil at the turn and after the round.

Have lost 33lbs as of this mornings weigh in since January and feeling better than I have in many years. All the weight came on when my jogging stopped and the eating and drinking stayed the same.

 

[Mulligan]

While being active is a good things, I can't help but suspect that continually stressing the joint while it is injured and probably inflamed is not going to result in a quick cure. Pain is there for a reason. Listen to it. As I grow older I find that I heal slower. I could bore you with the details, but let's just say I have have several 'mechanical' injuries over the last two years that healed in months not weeks. But, they did heal.

I agree Chuck. When I was younger, I fought through the pain and healed. The past 5 years or so, I found not only does this not work, its counterproductive. Whenever I injure myself now with my joints such as back, knee, or hip I shut it down until the pain is gone even though it may take several weeks up to a month.


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[Nemo2]

II shut it down until the pain is gone even though it may take several weeks up to a month.

It's been ~ 4 months with my latest hip/sciatica....still have it.

 

[splitwdw]

My chiropractor told me to keep active, which I did even though the pain was sometimes quite awful. I usually played golf once or twice a week and hit the range on days I didn't play. I found that after awhile there was no way I could swing and transfer my weight onto my left side without experiencing pain.

It's one thing to keep active but does your chiropractor know how active you are. My aunt walked 5 to 6 miles a day. She had knee surgery and doctor told her she could start walking a mile a day on a flat surface after a week if she was up to it but not to push. She thought more or the old mileage would help with healing so she pushed. She's in pain again, worse than before the surgery and doesn't think the doctor did a good job. Please give it a rest and see if it helps. You can "push" to regain what you've lost after you recover.

 

[W2R]

Good chance it's arthritis.
An MRI will tell for sure.

+1
F and I are in our 60's and often experience hip pain. In our case, I am sure it is just the aches and pains of aging, which is usually associated with minor arthritis.

It seems to get worse when there is a storm coming on. Also I wonder if humidity makes it worse because when the humidity is high, so is my hip pain. But then the humidity is usually high just before it rains. And then, this is New Orleans, a very humid location. Hmm.

I find that limping around, and periodically gasping, is quite effective.

+1
Getting older isn't for sissies, as they say. But gosh, it sure beats the alternative! And really, although we complain a lot to each other about our hip pain (that helps too!), we can deal with it. It's just a fact of life for some of us as we grow older. Neither of us has enough pain to make us feel disabled, or we would look into a hip replacement. It's just not that bad. Most of our friends of the same age have similar pain.

I sure hope that your hip pain is nothing more than ours. Good idea to get it checked out.

 

[frayne]

Thanks everyone for the advice. As I mentioned I am going to take it easy the next couple of weeks, no golf and only moderate walking and hope the hip pain improves. Yes, getting old isn't for sissies but I sure hate the thought of giving up activities that I really enjoy due to physical issues but I guess sooner or later the piper has to be paid. Much like any mechanical device, body parts eventually wear out too.

 

[braumeister]

FWIW, my story:
Another very physically active person here. No problems ever until last summer. I was doing a lot of walking during a European trip (10-15 miles a day) and suddenly started getting very painful twinges in my right hip. Standing still for a few minutes eased the pain, but these episodes kept recurring with increasing frequency.

Within a month, it had progressed to the point that I was using a cane all the time and popping ibuprofen like candy. Orthopedic surgeon took X-rays which only gave him part of the story, so he ordered an MRI. That gave him the full story and he shocked me to my roots when he said it was osteoarthritis and I was "definitely on track for a hip replacement."

I thought I was through and became practically a couch potato. But that enforced rest was exactly the ticket. Gradually over the next six months the pain lessened until it was practically nonexistent. I started walking around the neighborhood again, and now I walk/run 3-4 miles most mornings, less than a year after the trouble started.

 

[Nemo2]

Rather than cut & paste my situation I'll relink it:

http://www.early-retirement.org/for...y-and-looking-for-tips-82625.html#post1755616 Post #19.

Reading this thread I'm now in the position of wondering whether I should be encouraged or discouraged; the specter of permanently enforced inactivity has been quite, (often 'very'), depressing - although I'm not bad at adjusting my sights, the prospect of being pretty much inactive for the rest of my days is a real downer.

But.....if there's a possibility of a 'time frame', ("I'll be able to do something in six months or a year.."), I can work towards that, (impatiently [-]perhaps[/-] but I can do it).

Good luck to all of us!

 

[splitwdw]

Nemo2, I don't understand why you or anyone wouldn't give your body a chance to heal vs. permanently damaging it by overdoing too soon. A couple of months of patience is nothing if you can get your mobility back and no pain.
Frayne, Give it all a break for a couple of weeks then start walking but no more than a mile. It doesn't take that long to recover to 5-6 miles if you're not in pain.
Good luck and heal!

 

[wolf]

Interesting topic. 69 years old, active. Just started experiencing similar
pain 2 weeks ago.

Mine only occurs in the AM, when I wake up. When I stand, pain right rear,
radiates down right leg. After I walk around and make breakfast. (about 15
minutes) Pain is gone.

Sitting or lying down, no pain. Like OP, wonder what it is? and Solution?.

 

[aja8888]

A couple of us here have total hip implants. Usually, the cartilage wears out and it's bone against bone (like mine was) of some other damage occurs. Not a bad operation if you choose the right doctor and procedure. HaHa and I had it done using the "anterior procedure" - going in from the front with a 4" incision. Home in two days and walking around.

Frayne: Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[serie1926]

Stumbled onto this article about utilizing your own stem cells to avoid hip replacement in some cases. Very interesting.

Novel stem cell technique helps patients avoid total hip replacement | Fox News

 

[Nemo2]

Nemo2, I don't understand why you or anyone wouldn't give your body a chance to heal vs. permanently damaging it by overdoing too soon. A couple of months of patience is nothing if you can get your mobility back and no pain.

I'm working on it, but.......there are a few factors involved:

- I don't like being inactive.

- Although I don't overeat, (lots of salads/vegetables, little (red) meat, and rarely a dessert), because I'm not expending the calories exercising, I'm putting on a couple pounds...not too many, but enough to piss me off.

- And...the villain of the piece....in the mind/body relationship, the mind, (such as it is), is always saying "I'm the one giving the orders here...so get moving!"

 

[splitwdw]

I'm working on it, but.......there are a few factors involved:

- I don't like being inactive.

- Although I don't overeat, (lots of salads/vegetables, little (red) meat, and rarely a dessert), because I'm not expending the calories exercising, I'm putting on a couple pounds...not too many, but enough to piss me off.

- And...the villain of the piece....in the mind/body relationship, the mind, (such as it is), is always saying "I'm the one giving the orders here...so get moving!"

But who wants to be on the permanent disabled list. Go slow and recover healthy!