Yoga and Hip Replacement
Are you having a painful time with your hips and avoiding seeking medical treatment? It’s a good idea to get an x-ray to see what’s going on. The problem may be muscular, structural misalignment, or, as in my case, osteoarthritis of both hips. When I saw an orthopaedic surgeon a few years back, I discovered I needed to have hip replacements, and it was scary news. But ultimately, it was better to face the diagnosis than hang out in denial. The good news was that it was 18 years between the original diagnosis and the surgery, so I was able to use yoga and other healing modalities to delay the inevitable.
Finally on February 1st, 2010, I underwent double hip surgery. I’ve had a remarkable recovery, and out of my experience I’ve been able to write and talk to people who are nervous about the procedure.
Back in 1992 I was suffering from a very sore hip. When I had an X-ray done, it showed that I had osteoarthritis. I was only 47! The prognosis was that I would have to undergo hip surgery, ultimately on both hips. The good news was that with therapeutic yoga, physiotherapy, acupuncture and some lifestyle changes, I was able to forego the operation for 18 years.
Here are some of my posts about my journey, the eventual double-hip replacements and my rehabilitation.
Yoga And Hip Replacement Surgery
Hip replacement surgery is a daunting prospect for anyone. Fortunately, the first suggestion of the surgical option usually comes well in advance of the need for the actual operation. You have time to get used to the idea. Nevertheless, a visit to the orthopaedic surgeon starts to shape your thinking towards the inevitable. This is especially true when levels of pain and physical limitations are increasing.
If, like me, you try to find more natural ways, of dealing with health issues, then surgical intervention can seem scary in the extreme. Now that I’m five years on the other side of double hip surgery, I can say that your hip replacement surgery may give you your life back. I’m thankful to modern technology performed by a highly skilled surgeon.
Yoga and Surgery: Good Companions
The All-Clear
Five years ago today, I was a patient at Hunters Hill Private Hospital in rehabilitation after double hip replacement surgery.
I’ll give a little time to let that sink in. Yes, two hips at the same time. I had bi-lateral surgery, a 3.5 hour procedure, whereby I received titanium protheses. I had to learn to walk all over again, and I did. Then, within 3 months, I resumed yoga practice and teaching.
Last week my orthopaedic surgeon viewed my recent x-rays and gave my new hips a good report. […]
Two Stories – One Message: There's Life After Hip Surgery
(Eve – 3 yrs, 5 months post-op)
Are you having a painful time with your hips and avoiding seeking medical treatment? It’s a good idea to get an x-ray to see what’s going on. The problem may be muscular, structural misalignment, or, as in my case, osteoarthritis of both hips. When I saw an orthopaedic surgeon a few years back, I discovered I needed to have hip replacements, and it was scary news. But ultimately, it was better to face the diagnosis than hang out in denial. […]
Cah-razy: The Hard-to-Imagine-But-Somehow-You-Did-It Thing
via pinterest
My husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last week. For many people this milestone could be considered an improbable achievement, given that the median duration of marriage was 12.2 years in 2012.
Twenty years of marriage is almost time enough to experience three seven year itches. It’s time enough to fall into dull routines and think that you’ve said everything there is to say to each other. […]
Advanced Postures: What’s the Big Deal?
I watched a video today featuring Richard Freeman talking about yoga while his students were doing Ashtanga Vinyasa – Mysore style – in the background. Some of the poses they were performing were ones I used to do. Others I’ve never been able to do, and, at this stage in my life, am unlikely to achieve.
(If you can’t see the video below, try refreshing your screen….)
Do I feel sad about not being able to do these sorts of advanced poses? Not at all. […]
Persistent, Pushy or Plucky?
Why do people try to keep it together? And, sometimes they have to work very hard at it, too.
I do it myself. I was reminiscing tonight about how I took up bicycle riding again eight months after I’d had hip replacement surgery. I hadn’t ridden a bike for 20 years. I was using the bike at the Burning Man Festival, covering miles of desert on and off over several days. […]
Yoga: When the Phone is Ringing, It Helps You Connect
Judy is in a rehabilitation centre at the moment ‘finding her legs’, as she is 15 days out from double hip replacement surgery. She is a veteran yogi and also trained as a yoga teacher, and probably has about 35 years of Iyengar yoga under her belt.
Judy’s doing another kind of training now with the physiotherapists at Hunters Hill Private Hospital. […]
Hips Are All the Rage
Is there an epidemic of hip replacements going on? I know of three yoginis who will have the surgery done within a month time frame – mid-March to mid-April. To be fair, I also know women who haven’t done yoga who, for various reasons, had to have replacements.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know my story of bi-lateral surgery, performed more than 3 years ago. […]
A Hassle to Age, But Yoga Helps
Grief happens when facing the results of ageing. This is not news to anyone over 40 who finds out they will soon need to buy their first pair of reading glasses. Or when you have to visit your dentist and hear him refer you to a peridontist (gum doctor). […]
Physical Freedom
Tomorrow is a 2 year anniversary of my release from Hunters Hill Private Hospital where I did 12 days of rehabilitation after my double hip replacement surgery.
On my return home, my husband Daniel made a great video clip of my walking up the stairway without needing to use a stick. He put some backing music to it – Patsy Kline’s Walking After Midnight – and stuck it up on the Internet as a YouTube video.
I tell people now that if anyone is having qualms about the surgery, they needn’t. […]