I am actually looking into this for a friend. She has had hip pain for awhile now, she was diagnosed with a labral tear after having an MRI done on the right hip. She was also told that she had bony growths and she had an osteotomy performed on her to smooth them out but she says that it still “catches” occasionally. She says that it aches most of the time but there are periods where it doesn’t, changing directions while walking hurts, internal and external rotation causes pain, she can move it out to the side if she “sets up” for it, lunging in any direction is also problematic. Moving her leg forward causes more pain than backwards but it’s not too bad. She says that when it gets aggravated, she gets a really sharp pain, her joint “freezes and tightens” and she has to wait for it to relax before moving again. She also says that it feels as if the joint can’t support the weight of her leg. She says that raising her leg very far in front of her is difficult unless she is in the water. Adduction and abduction against a bit of resistance isn’t terrible but adduction hurts a little more than abduction. Bending at the waist to pick something up also causes pain.
The recommendations she was given was basically to swim and rest it, and she has been swimming 3 to 5 days per week. She is no longer going to physio since she can’t afford it so I thought I would do some digging for her. She doesn’t do resistance training but I think she is open to it, she can do a squat with no weight (not sure of depth) which I find promising… She wants to return to playing soccer and broomball but this is making that difficult. Anyway, I’ve been a big fan of you guys for a few years now and I would appreciate any advice that you could give.
Also, I’m finishing up the powerlifting program Friday, I really enjoyed this one.
Thank you for responding! It was actually that podcast episode that made me ask her about it, though she was never told that it was an impingement. She had her surgery in March of 2018. Her physiotherapist’s treatments consisted of electrotherapy and helping her with some stretching. After a few months, she was allowed to start swimming. Her surgeon told her that she was ok to play soccer and that he expected that to “break up” what build-up was left on her bone, but it made things worse. Her physiotherapist and her surgeon have both been encouraging her to bike but she can’t go for more than a few minutes without having to stop because of the pain. I think she gave up on her post-rehab when she hadn’t made any progress.
As for other activity, she has been swimming consistently. In addition to that, she has been walking and doing leg raises in the pool, doing bridges and planks, I suggested that she try to squat if it doesn’t cause pain, so she has been doing that and says that it helps a little. What I was considering is to give her movements that might strengthen the musculature around her hips, as long as those movements don’t cause pain, then to slowly add resistance over time. I just want to make sure that this is appropriate before I tell her and to see if you guys have any other advice that I can pass on. Besides that, I will try to get her to contact you. Thanks again for responding!
Yeah - it’s going to be difficult to relay information in this manner via the forum to your friend. I would advise a consult with us so we can help guide this path or a local trusted source to help address beliefs about pain and how best to return to activity. Exercise selection should be based on what she wants to accomplish with future activity.