History of my hip pain
In 2019, my journey with hip pain began, a consequence of years of ignoring symptoms and trying (unsuccessfully) to bowl fast. What started as a minor inconvenience soon escalated into a daily struggle, impeding my mobility and disrupting my life. As I embarked on a quest for relief, I encountered a series of challenges and revelations that reshaped my approach to pain relief.
Upon seeking medical advice, I underwent consultations with various healthcare professionals, including student osteopaths, physiotherapists, sports doctors, and orthopaedic surgeons. The diagnosis of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), labral tear, subchondral cyst and articular cartilage damage prompted discussions of surgical intervention, alongside cortisone injections and rehabilitative measures.
However, due to constraints within the public healthcare system (COVID-19), access to timely surgical intervention was limited, relegating me to a waiting, and I quote the surgeon here, “from 2 weeks to 5 years”. Faced with this reality, I delved into research and advice, seeking alternative solutions to alleviate my hip pain and regain control over my health. I believed it was a waiting game until surgery, oh how I was wrong.
In my research, I stumbled upon a startling revelation: up to 60% of asymptomatic hips (pain free hips) exhibited findings similar to mine on diagnostic imaging (X-ray, MRI, Ultrasound, CT scan). This discovery challenged my beliefs and prompted a shift in my perspective, leading me to question the necessity of invasive procedures to address structural abnormalities and “findings”. This opened my mind to the idea that I didn’t have to fix the anatomy to get out of pain.
Armed with this newfound understanding, I embarked on a journey of self-discovery, guided by a commitment to holistic healing and self-care. The biggest shift in my perspective was the change from believing all pain signals were dangerous, to reminding myself that most pain signals are an alarm system going off too early. My nervous system, after months to years of pain, had begun misinterpreting normal, everyday signals from my body as dangerous signals, resulting in perpetual pain.
What turned my pain chronic?
Pain is very complex, but an important part in our safety. Acute pain is adaptive and positive, in that it will stop us from potentially further damaging an area of the body that is damaged. Chronic pain is maladaptive, where the nervous system becomes over protective of my hip. The normal sensations of walking, squatting, the pressure of a belt, laying on my side, stretching my thigh, etc., started being seen as a threat to my hip, so the nervous systems response is to perceive those normal sensations as painful. After a few months, nearly all sensations were painful for my hip.
The trial and error of “rehab”, and pacing
I went through the trial and error of my rehab journey, and I’m here to share it so you can fine tune your progress. I came across the term “Pacing”. I thought about it like this, doing nothing didn’t flare up my hip, but attempting to bowl fast did, but there would be a point between bowling and doing nothing where I could push myself without flaring up my hip pain. At this point I had given up cricket, football and the gym.
I started with running. I ran 4km and flared my pain up immensely. I waited a full week to try again, and let my hip pain settle. I ran 3km the next week, similar result. I waited another week, and ran 2km, and my hip pain didn’t spike. a huge win! I now knew that my threshold was between 2 and 3 km. I ran 2 km again a few days later, and then 3km two weeks later, no flare up. I spent the next 8-10 months slowly building up my runs, longer and longer, and taking my time. I ended up running a marathon!
As I traversed the path of recovery, setbacks became opportunities for growth, instilling within me a sense of resilience and adaptability. Gradually, I reclaimed aspects of my life that had once seemed out of reach, embracing newfound freedoms with a sense of gratitude and humility. I used setbacks/flare-ups as lessons or learning opportunities. I had decreased my hip pain before, I could do it again with this setback/flare-up.
What about now?
Today, while hip pain may linger every now and then. I stand equipped with a toolkit of coping mechanisms and a steadfast resolve to navigate life’s challenges with persistence and determination. My journey serves as a story to keep you motivated that although you have had pain for a long time, we can get better, without changing the findings on a scan.
I’m still waiting for the call from the surgeon, but I believe if I got that call today, I would decline the offer of surgery. I’m able to do all the things I want to in life. I’m playing football, I’m playing cricket, I’m running and I’m in the gym. Surgery would put me back, I would have to go through a whole rehab process again.
To those embarking on a similar path, I offer this guidance: approach your journey with curiosity, patience and resilience. Embrace the process of discovery, and know that with time and perseverance you can change the way your nervous system perceives the “normal” sensations it is perceiving as danger signals, back to just perceiving them as normal.. You will definitely have set backs and flare-ups of pain, but with the right guidance you can prevail.
If you are experiencing hip pain, or persistent/chronic pain anywhere and have been through the ringer with practitioners, treatment options, injections, imaging and anything else, come and have a chat with me, we can even set up a tele-health discovery session if you don’t live near Glen Iris.
