Am I being delusional?

[todd4e]

I had my left hip resurfaced by Dr. Su in 2007. The result was fantastic. I've never given the hip a second thought, although I decided to give up running, mainly because I personally think it will shorten the lifespan of the BHR.

Until recently, my right (good) hip felt and looked fine (via xray). I had hoped it would never be a problem. I was doing 100 mile bike rides. Lots of elliptical trainer time. But, as they say, man plans, god laughs. Lately it's been hurting. An MRI shows deterioration of the labrum and cartilage. (And just to add insult to injury, I've also had the great fortune of being diagnosed with "severe" cervical arthritis and stenosis, (which isn't ideal for cycling).

Anyway, being an admittedly frustrated doctor and obviously curious about arthritis in general, I've been seeking out all sorts of alternative theories and treatments. A number of months ago, I went to a rather interesting physical therapist for my neck. He subscribes to the theory that arthritis is caused by misalignment, the result of muscle imbalances and bad posture which lead to abnormal wear of the joints. He also believes that if you correct the misalignment, you can relieve much of the arthritic pain.

After following his plan, I have to say that my neck, while not 100% better, has shown a significant amount of improvement. And so lately, I've been experimenting with some exercises (most of which I've cobbled together through various sources and my own common sense) which, I hope, can do the same for my hip. I've always been insanely inflexible and have a strange feeling that the neck and hip problems are related.

Now I honestly can't say that it's not purely a placebo effect, but it feels as though I've experienced some improvement. I plan on continuing (and experimenting) for a while to see what happens. Surgery is not something I look forward to, even with the admittedly amazing expertise of Dr. Su.

Just hope I'm not being completely delusional. I just hate the thought of inevitability.

Todd

[obxpelican]

In the end it's not whether you are delusional it's whether or not your pain is gone.

Even if your hip pain becomes really bad it's not a death sentence, hip resurfacing when performed by an experienced doctor yields really good results.

Try out the alternative techniques, what can it hurt?


Chuck

[Woodstock Hippy]

Before my hips went totally bad, I was seeing an acupuncturist.  He said that he could open  up the gap in my hips and that the arthritis would heal.  I always felt good when I left his office but my hips were killing me by the time I got back to him.  My hips finally gave up at a mountain bike race in Kingston, NY and I had bilateral surgery.  I don't think you have anything to loose by trying alternatives.  It might buy you time and if it doesn't work, you know that the surgery will.

[hernanu]

Todd, you know in the end you do have a great alternative. Nothing is lost by trying different things, I know I certainly did so - massage, deep tissue, several rounds of PT, 'toughing it out', shocking my system by going into a fitness boot camp (fun doing jumping jacks with OA).

Do what you think is right, the only thing to remember, as you know, is that when the diagnosis is made, waiting makes the surgery more difficult. Until then, I'd go for it - Woody, I never tried acupuncture, even though my martial arts teacher swore by it.

[Woodstock Hippy]

I still swear by accuncture, even though it didn't help with the hips.  They were too far gone.  Accupenture has it's place and has helped me with other problems.  My hips were just too far gone for it to help. 

[Tin Soldier]

Readjusting a joint so that you don't have excessive wear in one spot, I guess could be similar to simply decreasing your ROM.  That's sort of what I did for awhile and the pain wasn't as bad.  I think alternatives are great, but I think they still may be short lived.  When the OA roads begins, I think its pretty hard to get off that road, with the endpoint being surgery, and in our cases, specifically HR.  Also, I'm not sure there is really much that can be done with excessive bone growth along the acetabular rim or a malshaped femoral head, other than re-shaping or resurfacing or THR.  I like the idea of gaining more spacing, but again it seems like if the cartilage is gone or nearly gone, there will still be pain especially when the joint is over-worked. 

[imgetinold]

I have wondered the same thing.....if my chronic inflexibility is somewhat of a cause.  I imagine it plays a part, as does stress, diet, activity, etc.  I wish I knew.