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.