Since 2007, I have had problems with my hips. First, it was the left hip. I was a runner - not a very good runner, by any account, but a runner. I loved running. Running is a bang-for-your-buck form of exercise. You run 30 minutes, 3 times a week, and your body changes. I was on my way to having a great body, for once in my life. I'm not bitter, but I do digress.
Anyway. Bang. Buck. Right. Running was a very economical way to stay in great shape physically and mentally. Ask any runner. Then, in April of 2007, my left hip started hurting. Within a month and a half, I couldn't sleep except on my back and stuffed to the gills with Advil. I have many, many posts that deal with this, so the short version is that I was diagnosed with a femeroacetabular impingement and labral tear (they often go together, like cherries, only less delicious). On top of it, I also had hip bursitis. Yes, it was HUGE fun.
Blah blah blah, surgery (involving removing bits of loose labrum and shaving of extra femur, and learning that (a) bones bleed, and (b) that I'm not a bleeder), long-ass recovery (including some sacroiliac joint funny business), and voila, left hip good as new. Steady, strong, no pain. Huzzah!
Finally, in the summer of 2010, I noticed that my left hip no longer hurt, my SI joint was doing fine, and I thought, Ooh, maybe I'll try a tiny bit of running. And literally that week, my right hip started huring. Oh joy. Why has it taken so much longer down this road than the other hip? In part because it hasn't hurt very much, and the pain was intermittent. But a few months ago, things got worse, so finally I had to do something. I tried some PT, which made it worse still, so I stopped. I went back to my ortho, who gave me a tentative diagnosis of a labral tear. Greeaaat!
Why do I go into all this detail of what has gone before, you say? You, dear reader, probably know everything there is to know about my hip(s). But, I never assume that you remember it all, nor should you. It's my hip, you should not be required to remember my medical history. Besides, why would you, I repeat it in EVERY DAMN POST like my life depends on it.
There has been, however, a major difference between the pain in the left hip and the pain in the right: any weight bearing exercise would cause excruciating pain in my left hip, even a few minutes of walking was unbearable. The right hip does generally better with exercise. BIG DIFFERENCE, PEOPLE. BIG!
However, the PT guy told me labral tear/impingement, the ortho told me probably same thing, so who am I to say? What I forget is that I'm with my body 24/7, the doctor only sees me for a very short time out of my whole life. Which makes me a lot more responsible for my health than I like to admit.
So, panic panic panic, and my mom is leafing through the December issue of Yoga Journal, where they list practitioners, therapists etc. She spots several that might be useful to me, and I narrow it down to one, a physical therapist with a lot of letters after her name, who specializes in yoga asanas. OHMYGOD HOW PERFECT IS THAT?
Today I had my evaluation. Not cheap, by the way, and not covered by my insurance. But, if you make it through this whole post you will see that it would be a bargain at 10 times the price. The short(ish) version (oh, now I decide to be brief(ish)!) is as follows:
- My right leg is longer than my left [not news], but it does not appear that it's the leg itself, it appears that my pelvis is inverted [news!]. Or something. It tilts forward, and sits higher than the left. This also hitches up the back of my pelvis/hip, which then pokes my hamstrings at the top of my thigh, irritating said hamstrings/sciatic nerve. [As an aside, over a decade ago I had PT on my right hip because I was experiencing pain in the front of the hip. They figured out that either my quad or psoas or sartoris (they weren't sure which) was too tight, while my skeletal alignment/proportions were perfect. So, maybe this is the chickens coming home to roost with the muscle tightness - keep reading, you'll see what I mean.]
- Grinding my femur into the socket causes no discomfort or pain, it actually feels quite nice.
- My psoas muscle is the tightest she's ever felt. I repeat: my psoas muscle is super duper tight. I WIN!
- So, one possible source of the hip inbalance is this muscle yanking my pelvis right out of alignment. Maybe the pelvis went out, and the muscle tightened as a result, but it can't go back now the the muscle is tight. Point is, muscle is super tight, not good.
- The bad hip alignment, if left untreated, could over time cause spinal damage, like scoliosis. Did anyone say spinal damage?? [That actually sounds waaay worse than root canal, the classic metaphor for very unpleasant things. Avoiding spinal damage makes this whole thing a bargain at 10 times the price. I think spinal damage would be really, truly unpleasant. I don't want that. Nah-uh.]
- My muscle muscles are very strong, but my stabilizing muscles (small little muscles) are not really firing, most likely, so the hip is not sitting neutrally in the socket. Hence, problem.
- And, last but not least, it may not be a labral tear. Apparently, none of the major symptoms are present. [This would mean no nasty surgery.]
So, that's that. We are going to try a mix of PT and yoga adjustments so that yoga doesn't make the problem worse instead of better, and see what happens. If it turns out that it is not a labral tear, and I do not need to worry about having surgery, then you can just call me Dr. House. The less arrogant version of that is that I'm aware of my body. I will keep you posted, whether you like it or not, it seems.
Keep your fingers crossed.
