Welcome to my third newsletter in this series…


If like me, you get hip pain, then hearing advice like ‘listen to your hip joint’ can sound a little woolly to say to least.

Yet, I’m a hip surgeon who gets hip pain and ‘listening to my hip joint’ is the thing that makes the biggest difference. ‘Listening to my hip joint’, or more precisely to my hip joint cartilage, does take some explaining.

The quick explanation is that my hip needs to move with the right amount of force through it. And first up, that means keeping my bodyweight, to the kilogram, in the right place.

Normal bodyweight keeps the inflammation in my hip settled. This is Part 1 of my self-management plan…


Optimise bodyweight.


That realisation, simple as it is, took me the best part of my senior surgical career to work out. The best part of 20 years sifting through published research papers, working with thousands of patients, going through the various ups and downs of my own hip pain.

Joining the dots between the evidence of what works, what works for my patients and what works for me has been one thing. Actually sticking to what works in real life is quite another.

I’m pretty good at eating well for a few weeks or months at a time.

Like most people, it’s the sticking to it that I‘m not so good at. Not least of all because eating well is often the exact opposite of what I feel like doing. Especially when I’ve got pain.

When I’ve got pain, I reach for the carbohydrate rich food that soothes my brain; the same carb-rich food that my hip really doesn’t like.

And why's that important?

Well, when I write ' keeping my bodyweight, to the kilogram',  I mean 'TO THE KILOGRAM...

If my bodyweight drifts 2kg higher, I'm way more prone to getting pain. Keep my weight bang in the right place and my hip pain generally stays settled.


What keeps me on track is a deep understanding of the evidence. It's that understanding that motivates me to measure,  track and optimise my bodyweight, most days. It's that understanding that holds my croissant-loving brain to account.

It's that deep understanding that means I can do more with less pain.


So in these newsletters I’ll cover the evidence for optimising bodyweight from the cellular level right up to the population studies that take in 1000s of people.

I can now do more with less pain by paying attention to what matters, and by listening to what my hip joint needs.

People in my clinic room do listen to that evidence. And then start to listen to what their own hip joint needs. Listening builds the tools that they need to do more with less hip inflammation and pain.

The question I'm setting myself in this newsletter is can I help many more people beyond my clinic room to do the same?

If you know anyone (or anyone who knows anyone) who gets hip or knee pain, please forward this email and recommend they hit the Subscribe button below.

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Thank you :)