My name is Una, 35 years old, living in Pretoria, South Africa. I only started running in September last year, mainly as a way to aid weight loss. I started 2012 as morbidly obese and to date I’ve managed to lose 40 odd kilos. I didn’t expect to enjoy running, nevermind absolutely loving it. (I’ve never been big on exercise). By February I was really into it and started pushing myself harder. And that is when my hip started acting out. At first I figured I just strained it, pushing too hard too soon. My GP agreed and I took a week off. But it was never quite the same, some runs I would have no pain, others I would be in agony from the get go. Other days the pain would only hit the next day. When every run started hurting, I decided to take a month off, give my hip proper time to heal. When the first run back hurt, my GP referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon. X-rays and an MRI later, the devastating news, I have early onset osteoarthritis in both hips and I will never run again. And that a hip replacement, or two, is in my future, probably sooner rather than later. I was absolutely shattered, to say the least. The first exercise I’ve found that I actually enjoy and now I’m not allowed to do it!?!?! I spent days bawling and I was ready to bash the next person’s face in who told me that I must remember, I can still ride a bicycle. Seriously! If I wanted to ride a bicycle, I would’ve, wouldn’t I? Yes, to say that I was throwing tantrums like a three year old, ranting at the universe, would be quite accurate.
And then I found this forum and realized there might be hope. Now the big decision, do I keep on running for now, push through the pain until it gets to a point that a hip replacement is unavoidable? Or do I got back to the surgeon and insist that he does the replacement asap. Any … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)