This is one of the most important messages I get from my hip.

To recap: listening to my hip joint means optimising my bodyweight and keeping active.

Bodyweight, TO THE KILOGRAM, needs to be in the right place, and

Activity keeps my joint inflammation settled and my joint cartilage healthy.

That's my self-management plan. But to confuse things, the activity must be the right kind of activity. For me, running and cycling work.


A rowing machine, however, is not my friend.

I was never a rower, so the rowing machine was never particularly my friend. But flexing my hip up into that ‘catch’ position of the rowing stroke hurt my hip.

Not there and then, but my hip ached for a few days afterwards. A delayed insult to my hip that was difficult to spot.

That 'a-ha' moment made me think about what I else I was doing wrong. What other mistakes I was making...

I found I had to watch out for any exercise, particularly repeated exercise that bent my hip right up. Squats and lunges are out. High intensity Joe Wickes workouts are a no, no. The broad lesson turned into...


Avoid deep hip flexion

Justin Welsh recently wrote 'Mistakes are Lessons in Disguise'.

So, I took those mistakes or 'lessons in disguise' out beyond the gym. Life generally takes place outside of the gym!

I cut out any movement in my everyday life that bends my hip right up. I avoid deep hip flexion at all costs.

Examples - that means leaving my 'bad' leg behind me when I bend, keeping my knees well apart when squatting down and dropping my right knee to the ground first when kneeling.

Indeed, if I’m down on both knees with our kids, I have to think about how I stand up.

That's something I never thought I’d write: 'think about how I stand up'… I feel like an old man! But, it's these everyday, repeated movements, done properly, while listening to my hip, that keep me healthy and pain free.

So... if go to get up using my right leg, I’m strict with myself.

DON'T!

Each and every time, I force myself back to kneeling on both knees, change legs and stand up using my other left leg. It's a simple thing, that I don't let myself get away with.


If I stand up from kneeling using my right leg, I put too much force through my bad hip in the same ‘catch’ position as the rowing stroke.

If I plough on and stand using my right leg, my right hip will let me know about it over the coming days.

 
The overall pattern is clear

Any niggle of pain prompts me to think about mistakes or 'lessons in disguise' that I've been making.

A niggle of pain begs the question: ‘What am I eating, am I moving enough and what have I been doing?’

A niggle of pain is a warning sign. A big red flag.

A flag to ditch the chocolate croissants. Scale back up my activity to run or bike, every day. And what do I need to cut out?

Did I need to dig the garden in one go over the weekend? Did I lift too many heavy boxes when we moved house? Both have become big ‘don’t’s' on my list.

I won’t go out and run a half marathon straight away or my hip will shout at me. But maybe it's a gentle 8-mile cycle to work, with the seat nice and high. My hip then starts to feel better.

I’m getting on a bit, so everything aches a bit the next day, but the bike helps me get back to my normal.

If I'm listening, my hip tells me to keep my bodyweight in the right place, to keep cycling or running, and to avoid deep hip flexion.

The evidence from the tiny cellular level right up to studies of thousands of people backs this plan up. Cellular and population size adds weight to a plan that's really helped me. More on that evidence to come...

For me, it's that deep understanding of the evidence that keeps me on track. Keeps me on track doing more with less pain.

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