Arthritis in hips

FMUP

I suffer from terrible pain in my hips when I move from sitting to standing and when I move from laying down to sitting up. I stopped exercising almost 2 years ago due to a lot of reasons... but now I want to go back to exercising. Anyone have suggestions for exercising with hip pain? Thanks.

VintageFeline

Do you have a diagnosis of arthritis? If not then definitely actually get it checked, if yes then I would be seeing a physiotherapist for appropriate advice. Hips and arthritis are not to be messed with (I recently had my hips screened, thankfully I'm all clear and it's a soft tissue problem).

N6314P

Have battled hip arthritis for years and I know how painful and debilitating it can become. It's best to seek professional advice before beginning an exercise program because this issue can't be cured (unless you're getting replacement) and performing the wrong routines can make things worse very quickly. I am not exaggerating that I can spend upwards of an hour most mornings with hip strengthening and stretching. In return I don't take any meds and can jog and bike ride with minimal discomfort. Also follow an anti inflammatory diet and keep my weight in a healthy range. I am 56, diagnosed with an X-ray 5 or so years ago. Good luck.

STEVE142142

I'll give you my perspective but first let me give you my history. Years ago playing golf felt a slight tinge in my hip no big deal. Pain got worse over time make a long story short two years ago had a double hip replacement.

All I could tell you is please don't take any advice from anybody on this website. Their intentions may be good but without knowing your condition you could be doing some really bad damage and based on what you're saying you have issues I know what you're going through.

Please go see an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hips. He needs to diagnose you and you need to follow his prescribed treatment.
To give you the worst case scenario you may need a double hip replacement but just to let you know within 2 weeks of My Double hip replacement they had me walking up and down stairs. I was off the Walker within 3 to 4 weeks and I was driving a month after the surgery.

Just to give you another idea of how bad my hips were if there was an extension cord on the floor I couldn't walk over it. Now I could do 360 spin jumps.

Skipjack66

I'd say have your hips checked out first. First your doctor, who will probably order an X-ray etc. If you need a referral to a specialist then they will do it. Then a physiotherapist to help you with a program to get your problems sorted out and get you on a program that is safe for you without causing further damage. If you have great trouble from sitting to standing and standing to lying, and this has been going on for some time, then there is definitely something going on. It may not necessarily be your actual hip joints though, don't assume unless you've had them checked. It could be soft tissue or other things too.

I feel for you. I've been suffering from terrible pain for five months now. I had had symptoms for months but I chalked it up to my age. I am also used to pain, so I just kept on going. I wish I had known what was wrong with me and I would have done things a lot differently.

I have pain when I sit to stand and vice versa, pain when I rest, pain at night, pain with activity and I can't walk far or fast anymore. Turns out I have a femoracetabular pincer-type impingement with a labral tear and associated arthritis of the joint where the two bones have been smashing into each other. It's congenital (my hip joints are shaped differently). Then suddenly in March I got hit with severe pain and it totally stopped me in my tracks. I could barely move for months. I am only slowly getting going now. I have been told I can no longer participate in any of the former land based exercises I used to do for years on end, including ellipticals, arc trainers, treadmill, stationary bike, rowing machine or stairs master things. I also can't do squats or anything with force with my hips anymore, or leg lifts. Eventually I will be getting a hip replacement. It's been very difficult to deal with, to say the least.

Because I don't feel normal unless I exercise, I've had to get creative. The only exercise that doesn't bother me and won't hurt me is swimming. So because I can't swim more than three days a week without shoulder pain (I have a labral tear in my shoulder too ) I have taken to water jogging on the other days. I can get a great workout that way and incorporate kicking drills that I'd use for swimming too. I also sometimes use fins, and I bought a front face swimming snorkel to do a lot of face down kicking lengths in the pool without always having to use a kick board. Because I find aqua jogging (like any stationary exercise) boring, I've bought myself a waterproof iPod shuffle so that I have some music to exercise too - just like the old days on my cardio machines. You may want to try an aquafit class if you've never done any aqua jogging. I do everything in the deep end because it's non-weight bearing. The shallow aquafit does a lot of bouncing off the bottom and that might not be so great (it isn't for me!).

So get it checked out OP, because it's important to know how to avoid further damage if the pain is coming from your hip joints. If it's soft tissue then there are also lots of options for therapy.

Alidecker

I agree with everyone else, if you haven't already been do a doctor, go. I dealt with hip pain for a long time, when I finally went, it was bone on bone, with lots of arthritis because of it. I ended up having a full hip replacement. I did wait a little while before doing the surgery and at that point, he told me to do whatever I could, nothing was going to damage it anymore that it was. Depending on what is wrong with your hips, there could be many exercises that help the problem and make the pain go away.

Like STEVE142142 I have had great success after having my replacement. The only thing the doctor and the physical therapist told me not to do was run. Luckily I was never a runner (although them telling me not to run made me want to run, but I controlled myself).