The “Signs”

The First Sign appeared in a kundalini yoga workshop. For those of you unfamiliar with the practice, you spend a lot of time sitting in “Easy pose” (cross legged), on a cushion. Except it wasn’t easy, it hurt! My right hip did not like it, and my knee was a long way from hovering above the floor, no matter how much I pushed it.  I  fidgeted and wriggled until eventually, because I was disturbing everyone else’s chanting and rocking backwards and forwards in a meditative state, I was given a bigger cushion to sit on, and a second cushion to prop up my knee. “Namaste”

Gradually this discomfort grew, walking up stairs and hills gnawed away at my hip. As a keen walker and resident of Cumbria, this was most annoying. I’d always enjoyed walks in the mountains (as long as there was “pub grub” at the end) but gradually my gradients were eroded away - along with the cartilage in my right hip!

On a girly weekend away in London, where we were celebrating our 60th birthday year, one of our little gang, a physiotherapist asked me why I was limping? 

“Am I?” 

“Yes, do you have a problem with your hip? Because you’re walking like you do”

“Yes, a bit” I lied. It hurt a lot, and I was in denial. We had all been school-friends, but this was the first time I’d seen Libby in 40 years. I had planned to be funky, and trendy, as the rest of “The Golden Girls” were skinny, sporty and quite glam. I was never sporty at school, preferring the music rooms to the hockey pitch. Nobody chose me for their netball team; I couldn’t run or catch, and found the whole experience quite scary. 

My “thing” was music (Mainly singing and playing guitar) and yoga, I was very bendy and loved the stretching and meditation 🧘‍♂️.

As a singer, songwriter, performer, whatever, I was appearing in a choral recital for Christmas 2019. I was troubled by stepping up and down onto the raisers, but watching the video back, I was appalled at the “old lady” walk I seemed to have developed as I stepped to the front of the stage to perform my solos. 🧑🏻‍🦯

2020 - Covid and Lockdown

We retired to the east coast of Kintyre, overlooking the sea and Arran in January 2018. I’d joined a wild swimming group, where we swam from the gorgeous little bay just down the hill from our home; and my husband had bought me a kayak. This was the lifestyle I had dreamed of. 

We have a large garden, and when lockdown was announced, we spent a lot of time digging and creating raised beds. I hate waste, so recycled some pallets into seed trays, using a crowbar and my right leg to rip the pallets apart. My hip did not like this and protested by stopping me joining my husband and 2 dogs on our evening walk up the hill behind our house. 

Finally, I had to try and see the GP for the pain, except there were no appointments, only phone calls. I explained what was happening with my hip, and he prescribed co-codamol and organised an X-ray. 

“You have mild arthritis in your left hip, and moderate arthritis in your right hip, We can’t do much about it at the moment, because the consultants aren’t seeing anyone, but we will put you on the list and get an MRI scan done.”

“Will I need a hip replacement?”

“Most likely, but you can do strengthening exercises to help you, and painkillers will help you with the pain.”

My bendiness meant that my ligaments were pretty slack. 3 years earlier I had major surgery on my right foot, as it had pronated so far inwards that the heel had slid towards the arch of my foot. This was partly due to slack ligaments and partly due to an old fracture that hadn’t healed properly. I had the heel fused, and held together with an “A frame” of large titanium screws. Following this surgery, I noticed my leg rolled outwards and I couldn’t hold it straight. So really, my hip was bound to suffer due to the misalignment. What I hadn’t noticed was my “wonky donkey” gait, where I rocked from side to side like Popeye the sailor-man! 

Gradually I got to the point where every step was agony. For a few days in the Autumn, I had to hold onto the walls just to move from room to room. I couldn’t get up the stairs to my music studio, so resorted to crawling up on my hands and knees. I was desperate for some relief. I joined in online Pilates classes twice a week, one run by Cameron Angus from Coney Hill Studios in Bridge of Allan - Coneyhill Studios   And one run by my good friend,  Leone Shaw Tulloch of  LST Pilates

Both of them were excellent in understanding my hip problem, and guided me through strengthening exercises. Cameron gave me some online physio therapy advice, which was a great help, but as 2021 dawned, I realised that this hip was, to coin a phrase “knackered”  

I took to walking with 2 poles, I had piled weight on because I’d gone from my average of 12 to 15,000 steps to 4 or 5,000 very slow and painful ones. Another good friend, Pat Irving taught online yoga classes and gave me some gentle movements to try and help relieve the pressure. She is in Cumbria, and is also an excellent Acupuncturist. East to West yoga studio

I had so much generous advice from friends, I’d like to also thank another school friend who gave me a Zoom assessment and some exercises, Jacqui Tudor, who had worked for years in the NHS as a Physiotherapist.

I don’t know what I would have done without these wonderful people! 

  I had scoured the internet for advice, exercises, ANYTHING that would help. I’m 61, for God’s sake, that’s far too young to have hip surgery! Surely that is something that happens to frail old ladies? 

Conclusion

I was desperate for relief, sadly the NHS were overwhelmed by Covid 19. I spoke to my GP on the phone and asked him if there was any chance of seeing a consultant and having an MRI scan.

“I’m really sorry Judith, waiting lists are at an all time high, you probably wouldn’t be seen until the summer, and then if you need a hip replacement, the current waiting list is 2 years.”

What was I going to do?