Hip Arthritis

[enif]

I am 59 years old and suffer from osteoarthritis of the hip. When I first noticed the chronic pain two years ago, I decided to get serious about my weight and over the last year and a half have gone from 240 pounds to 170 pounds (I am 5' 7" tall). As part of this program I bough an erg. When I was formally diagnosed with arthritis about a year ago, my therapist was concerned about the affect rowing would have on my condition. At the time I was rowing 30 minutes every other day. Being somewhat pigheaded, I increased my activity and am now rowing about an hour a day. I did this because rowing made my hip feel better. I am adverse to the idea of ever having my hip replaced. My doctor says that I have calcified cartilage. When I asked him if this could be reversed, he said that was a controversial issue and would not elaborate. My current condition is bad enough that, if I wanted it, my insurance would pay for a hip replacement. My doctor is fully aware of my exercise program and encourages me in continuing with it as I monitor my aches and pains.

When I look for information about osteoarthritis on-line, all the credible sources I find indicate that it is irreversible. However, common medical thought has frequently been wrong. I suspect that those of us who frequent this board, are not average people. We are more committed to maintaining an active life style than most. I also suspect that the current views on arthritis is based on clinical studies involving largely sedentary people. In my case, I currently limp less. Rowing generates non-chronic aches and pains, as it would to anyone with sound legs involved in an exercise program, but does not seem to aggravate my hip. Am I drunk on endorphins, or could my arthritis be getting better?

I would appreciate hearing about anyone else's experience about rowing with hip arthritis....

[jamesg]

Reckon you're doing very well, and right attitude. Resting is what kills us.

I'm 71 and have just had a hip replaced (Oct 25). Before the op I could pull a half M (21k) at around 130W, but couldn't walk even 2k. Don't yet know how it'll go, but I'm already walking easily with crutches; the muscles take some time to stitch themselves back together.

No doubt it will be possible to reverse coxarthrosis one day. Not yet, save by having it out, like teeth. Beware quacks. Deep injections in hips can be very dangerous.

[Montanaandy]

I had my right hip resurfaced over 5 years ago. I was able to row regularly after that but recently my left hip (which is also on the decline) has forced me to take a hiatus from the erg. It is just a matter of time before I have to have the left hip replaced but I will try to defer that for as long as possible. My hip problems began as lower back pain but xrays revealed that the cartlidge in both my hips (the right in particular) was degenerative.

My personal experience with what you have termed hip arthritis is that it is unfortunately a steady, slow decline that will suddenly and rapidly progress to the point that you need to get it taken care of. It sounds like you have bone spurs in your hip which is/are pretty common with those of us who have had a replacement. There is no reversing the condition. You can try Synvic which can lubricate the joint but the results from using it in the hip have been poor (much better results in the knee).

You won't hurt anything rowing 60 minutes vs. 30 minutes per day - you might hasten the decline of the hip a bit faster but that is not a certainty by any means. You will know when it is time to have the hip replaced - the pain is quite intense and not the nagging aches and pains of arthritis.

Make certain to look into hip resurfacing (HR) as opposed to total hip replacement (THR). I had my right hip resurfaced at age 45 some 6 years ago after I was scheduled to have a THR done locally. I ended up going out East to have a Dr. who is considered one of the best in the world. There has been a great deal of controversy about the HR in the news recently which stems from some manufacturers putting out a defective product. The key is to find an experienced surgeon who has performed 1000+ of the HR surgeries.




Another option is a short stemmed THR which will allow you to continue with higher impact activities as the HR does.

[enif]

Thank you jamesg and montanaandy for reporting your personal experiences and for the helpful advice. Based on your information, rowing is not a panacea and I may need to resign myself to surgery sometime in the future. For now, when I walk any distance, I use a cane and this seems to keep me pain-free. Rowing seems to help keep me limber, and it doesn't seem to be associated with any hip pain. I am perplexed that the body can't heal a bad hip given the proper diet and exercise. Even so, diet and exercise can help in other ways, so, I suppose, I will stay the course.

[jamesg]

Twenty days after my op (Oct 25) and I'm out of rehab tomorrow, tho' nowhere near 100% rehabilitated; walking anyway, including stairs, but 2-3 years limp take some sorting. They say 4-6 months.

Side effect: lost 8 kg (19 lb) thanks to Italian national health diet. Two small meals a day, a coffee in the morning and plenty of water. No bets how long it'll take to put it back on.

[enif]

Jamesg,

I hope you experience a smooth recovery. My dad certainly benefited from his hip replacement in his seventies.

[jamesg]

Thanks, so do I, must say.

This a.m. I put a 4" block under the bows of my erg, to increase the leg-trunk angle, and pulled average 80W @40 for 5 minutes. First time on for almost a month, but it went well, no pain, and I'm looking forward to more of same. Much better than hobbling around on crutches, almost got a sweat up. I forgot to use the HR monitor but clearly was nowhere near any training band so wgad.

The minimum thigh-trunk angle for a new hip is 90° on pain of dislocation, so seat travel was about 1 inch.

[Chet664506]

enif:
I am a 58 year old guy from Pennsylvania who over the past summer was diagnosed as having a severly arthritis in my right hip. I am at the point on the HRT path that I walk with a limp, and the faster I walk, the more aches and pains. But just standing or sitting or erging...no pain. I will someday have to get a new hip, of this I am sure, but through weight control and erging, I hope to postpone this for a few more years if I can.
Amazing that when I am erging...I feel great...no hip pain despite my surgeon's opinion that this will hurt. However, he did say that if I love this activity, I should continue to row...guess he feels that he will have me on the table faster!
Regards,
Chet

[gregsmith01748]

James, the block sounds like a good idea. it must be like rowing uphill. I hope you recovery progresses well. Is the leg trunk angle restriction just in the beginning of rehab, or will it get better with time?

[enif]

Chet,

you seem to be where I am with your hip. I have been walking with a limp for about two years, but rowing actually seems to help. Also, I have found that if I use a cane when walking, I don't aggravate my hip. I walk about a third of a mile every day from my parking lot to my office over a steep incline with lots of steps and back again. While at work, I don't use my cane at all. This summer I went hiking with my cane in the Smokies over some very steep and rough terrain (Ramsey's Cascades, and the Chimney Tops) and did not suffer any adverse consequences. Since I started using a cane, my limping is greatly reduced, and sometimes I have to make myself use the cane for walks because I don't feel I need it. However, when I do go on longer walks without my cane, I can feel aches and pains afterwards.

The coordination of walking with a cane is a bit different. However, when you get used to it, you can keep up a fast pace. I work at a university and I pass students on my way to my office every day. Using a cane has come into disfavor, but, like you, I want to postpone surgery as long as possible. At our age, we are looking at having a hip replacement replaced in our lifetime.

Good luck!

[Bob S.]

Chet,

The coordination of walking with a cane is a bit different. However, when you get used to it, you can keep up a fast pace. I work at a university and I pass students on my way to my office every day. Using a cane has come into disfavor, but, like you, I want to postpone surgery as long as possible. At our age, we are looking at having a hip replacement replaced in our lifetime.

Good luck!

Re: Canes. My own problem is mainly age. At 87, there is almost no cartilage left in my right knee and there is pain in my hips from arthritis, visible in x-rays of my left hip and of my spine as well. I use two canes, timed alternatively with my foot paces, i.e. left foot with right hand cane and vice versa. This provides an even rhythm. I don't need them for every day use, but I bring them if I intend to walk more than a few hundred yards. A couple of years ago I used them for a backpack in Europe where I was walking every day with about a 12 mile per day average. I also use them here at home, hiking on the local trails in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. I feel that the canes provide two special advantages. First, they allow me to use my upper body to take some of the load off my knees and hips. Regular trekking poles are not as good for this because the hand positions are not ideal for supporting my weight on the canes. The other item is balance. I have reached the point where I no longer have any trust in my balance. I forgot to bring my canes on a couple of recent mountain hikes and ran into difficulties with stream crossings on each one. On one of them, there were a few loose logs across the stream. A few years ago I would have thought nothing about going right on across, but I didn't have the confidence to do it on the recent trip, so we had to turn back the way we had come instead of making a loop. I wouldn't have really needed both canes. A stout walking stick would have probably been enough, but there wasn't anything lying around handy that would have done the job. On the other trail, the stream had a good set of stepping stones, well above the surface of the water. They were probably solidly placed enough, but with some uncertainty about that, plus my lack of trust in my balance, I didn't try them. Instead I walked directly on the bottom of the stream, which was rounded gravel, but flat and smooth. The water was barely ankle deep so there was no problem with the crossing.

I haven't tried using just one cane. I much prefer the symmetry of using two. Formerly I often carried a walking stick and even then I found that two worked out better than one.

Bob S.

[enif]

Re: Canes.

I haven't tried using just one cane. I much prefer the symmetry of using two. Formerly I often carried a walking stick and even then I found that two worked out better than one.

Bob S.

Without a cane, my stride is asymmetrical due to my arthritic right hip. With a cane, my symmetry is restored in the way a tricycle is symmetrical. In this analogy, my good left leg is the center wheel. My right leg and the cane are the outer two wheels. The result is that the weight on my right leg is reduced even as it goes through the entire motion of walking. As I walk it is as if I weighed 50 pounds less.

[jamesg]

Three months after a new hip, I'm erging at up to 120W rating 25-28, with very short strokes due to thigh-trunk angle limitation, for 20 minutes.
Also walking 2-3 miles in our small local hills with two ski poles; around the house still need the occasional crutch, but mostly without.
Keeping moving is essential, but we know that.

[kayakr]

I'd recommend checking out books "arthritis cure", "painfree" and google "mcdougall arthritis only hope". switching to "whole foods plant based diet" has been way better than high dose NSAIDs for me.

[enif]

I'd recommend checking out books "arthritis cure", "painfree" and google "mcdougall arthritis only hope". switching to "whole foods plant based diet" has been way better than high dose NSAIDs for me.

Thank you for the references!

I have been working about a year with diet and exercise to correct both my problems with arthritis and high blood pressure. I am making some good progress, but the issue is still in doubt about whether I can avoid surgery and stay off medications. I agree that diet is at the heart of many of our American health problems.