Initial results from tower work

It has been a little over 5 weeks now since I have been doing the supine groin progressive stretch with my new tower. I have tried to do this stretch every day. I am pleased with the results I have seen so far. My limp is nearly gone; I only seem to limp now at the end of the day; I assume my hip muscles are tired at that point. It appears that my right foot is pointing more towards the front than before. I went through a 3 week period where my feet started bothering me; it felt like plantar fasciitis. I believe my gait was changing back to a more normal one and the muscles in my foot weren't used to the new gait. The foot pain has since gone away. I have had new aches and pains in my hip and knees that come and go, but I assume these are due to realignment of my bones. I find it easier to walk up and down stairs now, although I still hold the railing. The hip still feels weak and I have to continue to watch my balance and how I step.

So far so good!

Tower work

Usually when I am doing the supine groin progressive stretch, I don't feel much until I get to the 2 lowest leg positions. In these 2 positions I can feel the tightness my hip flexors. It is painful at times, but I try to relax and breathe through the pain. Yesterday, when I reached the middle height, I could actually feel the tower trying to rotate my femur back to a forward position. There was no pain or pressure in my knee; I could just sense the slight rotational pressure in my femur. I have never felt anything like that before.

As I understand it, tight hip flexors tend to rotate the femur out to the side, so the knee and foot are no longer pointed straight ahead. I can see this when I walk; my right foot points about 30 degrees out to my right side. The ball portion of my femur is not bearing on the proper surface of the joint. One of the effects of the supine groin progressive stretch is to realign the femur and the hip so the leg is pointing straight ahead.

I got my tower

I finally broke down and ordered a tower from Railyard Fitness. It arrived last Friday and I have used it 4 out the past 5 days. The tower is very well made and comes with two foot pedals.  My last menu included the supine groin progressive stretch. I had been stacking a bunch of cushions on top of each other to elevate my leg, taking away one cushion at a time every 5 minutes. At the higher leg elevations, I didn't feel as much of a stretch as I did at the lowest elevation i.e. leg on the floor.

Using the tower is a totally different feeling to it. The tower holds my foot in place as my leg and hip flexor muscles stretch out. It feels like someone is gently pulling my entire leg out, away from me for 30 minutes. I can tell it is maintaining the normal space in my hip socket, in addition to working on my tight hip flexors. My chiropractor had told me that one of the problems with an arthritic hip, is that the ball joint tends to get pushed too far into the socket. The supine groin progressive stretch in the tower, definitely alleviates this.

Deb had recommended that I purchase a tower to do this exercise. I wish I had listened to her earlier. Lesson learned: Do what your Egoscue Postural Alignment Specialist tells you to do!

There is a great description of how the tower and supine groin progressive stretch works on Pain Free Portland. It also explains how this stretch effects the entire body.

The Austin Egoscue Clinic provides an excellent explanation why the tower works better than using blocks to elevate the leg. In a nutshell, the tower prevents the body from cheating.

I'll report back in a few weeks about how my hip feels from using the tower.

New exercises

So it has been almost 4 months now since I have been doing my Egoscue exercises. My hip is much better now than when I started. I am finally ready for a new set of exercises so I sent new photos to Deborah Preachuk at Pain Free Posture MN. As usual, Deb responded immediately and sent me a new set of exercises the next day. I actually have 2 new sets of exercises which I am supposed to alternate each day for the next 2 weeks. I tried out the first set of exercises yesterday and the second set today. The exercises are easy to do, but I need to concentrate so I do them correctly; form is very important. One of my new exercises is the Supine groin progressive stretch. This involves resting one leg on a support at different heights, working your way down to the leg being on the ground. It does a great job of stretching out the groin muscles and the lower back. The only disadvantage is that it consumes a lot of time. But if I want results, just like in anything else in life, I need to put in the time.

11.5 weeks

So it has been 11.5 weeks now since I began doing my Egoscue Esizes. I have done them every day, except for a 5 day period in March when my mother was sick and passed away. I would say I am walking about 80% better now than before I started my Esizes. From time to time, I will move the wrong way and my hip acts up, but most of the time it doesn't hurt and my limp is minimal. I am planning to send in another set of photos to Deb, my postural alignment specialist, for a reassessment and a new exercise menu.

I have been taking a CVS brand of glucosimine / condroitin which I bought at a 2 for 1 sale. Today I started taking a different brand, Osteo Bi-Flex. We will see if I see any marked difference. To my way of thinking the jury is still out on whether this supplement is helping my hip or not. My next step is to try some chicken cartilage and see if that works better.

Week 6

I have been doing my Egoscue exercises every day for the past 6 weeks. Although it is subjective, I feel I am walking 75% better now than when I began the exercises. Most days, my limp is minimal, where before my limp would often slow me to a snail's pace. I notice that if I lift and carry heavy objects or move my right leg in certain directions, it bothers my hip and I start limping again. Each day after I finish my exercises, I walk normally with little or no limp. I believe the Egoscue method has been a success for me so far.

Last week I went to my chiropractor. I did have a vertebrae out of place in my lower back, which he adjusted back where it belongs. I can now do the 'Cats and Dogs' exercise, which bothered my lower back previously. I am still very careful when I do the 'Kneeling counter stretch' because I think that is how I threw out my back to begin with.

I'm continuing with my core integrated walking as well. This method of walking takes some time to integrate into everyday walking. I have been doing floor exercises to ingrain the method into my muscle memory, but it takes awhile. In some ways it is like learning how to walk all over again. If I am walking slowly, I can do the core integrated walking most of the time. When I try to walk at a normal speed, I start to lose the rhythm. I know I'll get it eventually.

Core Integrated Walking

I had ordered Josef Dellgrotte's walking DVD last Sunday and it arrived yesterday. I watched the 80 minute video last night and started doing some of the practice exercises both standing and on the floor. The basic idea is that when you push off on one leg, your opposite hip, ribs and shoulder move upwards and to the rear. This motion stretches out your body and lifts your spine, helping to maintain good posture. The instructional video is filled with exercises to teach your body and brain to move in this way. It does require practice to walk this way. But even the little walking I have done using his technique, has almost eliminated my limp from my bad right hip. A short introduction to this walking style can be viewed here.

My experiment with ACV is going well. I drink my glass of ACV in water late morning and I have been looking forward to it each day. I rinse my mouth out with fresh water afterwards, to remove any acid from my teeth. I haven't seen any effects yet.

Early next week it will be 4 weeks that I have been doing my Egoscue exercises and that I have been taking glucosamine/condroiton. I understand it takes a minimum of 4 weeks before this supplement kicks in, so hopefully I'll see some positive results soon. I have noticed that when I stand now, my weight is equal on both feet, so I think Egoscue is helping in that area too.

ACV and core walking

I've been doing my e-cises at least once every day.

I read about the benefits of apple cider vinegar for treating arthritis, so I bought some yesterday and started using it. I put 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a 8 ounce glass of water and chug it down. I'll work my way up to 2 tablespoons. It's a bit tart but not too bad. I read that some people add the vinegar to a bottle of water and sip it throughout the day, but I have also heard this can be bad for your teeth because the acidic vinegar softens the enamel. So I'll stick to chugging it!

My friend told me about Dr Josef Dellagrotte and his core walking technique. It is a natural method of walking where you spirally elongate your upper body as you walk. I've been trying this walking technique around the house today, and I seem to have less hip pain and limping by walking this way.

End of week two

Yesterday was the end of my 2nd week on the Egoscue method. I have been doing the exercises religiously every morning and sometimes repeating them at night. I went a little too hard on the kneeling counter stretch and tweaked my lower back slightly. The key is to get into position and let gravity do the work. I tried to help gravity and that was not good. My back is feeling better now. I am up to about 90 seconds on the air bench exercise; I am building up to 2 minutes. My hip has not gotten any worse so that is a good thing.

End of my first week

As of today, I have been doing my Egoscue exercises for one week. Most days I have done them both in the morning and at night, although I only need to do them in the morning. My legs are a little sore from some of the exercises, especially the air bench, which I have only been able to do for about a minute; I am supposed to work up to 2 minutes. I have noticed a definite improvement in my walking. Although this is highly subjective, I think I am limping 50% less than before and when I do limp, it is a much smaller limp than before. I don't have the time to ride the exercise bike in the morning, but I have been riding it for 5 minutes at night to loosen up my hip.

So at the end of week 1, I give the Egoscue method a 2 thumbs up.

Other things I am doing

I have been doing Scott Sonnon's joint lubrication exercises for my hip for a couple of weeks now. They are very simple exercises and the intent is to flush the joint with synovial fluid for nourishment and to remove inflammation.

I have also just started riding the exercise bike for 5 minutes morning and night to keep the hip joint moving. I understand that lack of movement is the worse thing for arthritis.

My E-cises

This is my 4th day of doing my exercises, which Egoscue calls E-cises. I was given a menu of E-cises, which described the exercise and time / number of repetitions to do. The E-cises are easy to do. Many use gravity to settle the body into the correct position; others involve gently squeezing a pillow with the legs or ankles. I am supposed to do my 12 E-cises first thing in the morning. I have been doing that and I have also been doing them at night. While they are easy to do, I need to concentrate on them to make sure my form is correct. I figure practice makes perfect.

The only downside to the Egoscue method, is that it is time consuming. It takes me about 45 minutes each morning for my E-cises. There is one E-cise which I am not currently doing called the Progressive Supine Groin Stretch. It can take up to an hour to do this one exercise. But if these exercises fix my posture, the time will be well spent.

My Postural Analysis

Using the photos I sent in, Deb provided an analysis of my current posture:

My feet point out.
My shoulder capsule is rounded forward.
My upper body is in a turned or twisted posture.
My pelvic girdle has tilted forward from the top causing excessive curvature in the lumbar spine.
One upper leg is twisted to the outside
One side of my pelvis is further forward than the other.
My ankles are bearing weight on the inner aspect of the foot and ankle.
My head from the side view is forward of the gravitational line.
My other upper leg is twisted to the inside.
One knee is further away from the mid line of the body in the front view compared to the hip or foot.
My upper body has shifted slightly sideways in the front view or back view.
One lower leg is experiencing an imbalance in its position lining up with the upper leg.
My upper body is bent forward more from the waist rather than in a slouched position. Rounding of the upper body (thoracic flexion) can accompany this postural position.

In short, I'm a mess! But that is ok, I am now on the road to recovery.

The Egoscue software creates a stick figure, illustrating the above postural misalignment. You can see how I am tilted this way and that.

Background

My right hip started hurting me in August 2011. At first I felt a pain at the top of my right glute and my right leg felt weak when getting into the car. A friend suggested I get Pete Egoscue's book "Pain Free". I picked up the book and started doing the hip exercises. I discovered my right hip flexor was very tight. The exercises in the book definitely helped to loosen the hip flexor. In the 4 months that I had been doing the exercises in "Pain Free", my lower back hasn't hurt at all. I used to occasionally get pain in my lower back if I was bending too much. I highly recommend this book to anyone in pain.

Since I had developed a slight limp, I went to see my doctor. He took x-rays which determined I have bad arthritis in my right hip. Short of surgery, he just recommended over the counter pain killers. I started taking Alleve and it seems to do a good job reducing the pain; I am hoping it will also reduce the inflammation. I also started taking glucosamine / condroitan to hopefully improve my joints.

I noticed that my posture was leaning to my right and I was putting more pressure on my right side. I decided to get a postural assessment from an Egoscue Postural Alignment Specialist. I contacted Deborah Preachuk at Pain Free Posture MN. I sent her 4 pictures of myself (front, back, right and left) and within 24 hours, Deb had analyzed my posture, given me a report of what my problem areas are and sent me a dozen exercises to do at home to correct the problems.