It was at age 34 when I first felt a significant pain in my hip. I often use the phrase ‘hip problem’ when explaining my condition, but I don’t like it. However, it is the only way to convey to others, in the shortest possible time, what I am dealing with. I suppose my ‘hip journey’ began when I was around 14. I would feel a mild ache in my inner thigh after exercise, but I didn’t really think much of it at the time. However, looking back, that was the first sign of my hip instability. Having always been able bodied, it never occurred to me that one day, I would simply have to stop running.
During my 20s and early 30s I regularly exercised without injury. Most activities I loved to do were high impact. I played netball once a week, I went to Zumba classes, I jumped up and down in clubs on Saturday nights. I stood for hours at gigs and festivals, I walked endlessly through foreign streets on holidays. I also enjoyed running and took part in several 10K runs in Manchester.
When training for my third 10K, I made it my mission to improve my speed. I wanted to beat my previous times so I started interval training in the local park. I sometimes wish I could go back in time and stop myself from doing this. I can still remember the first pain after a sprint when I knew something was wrong. I assumed, again, that it was some kind of muscle injury but at this point I didn’t want to stop running. I went to see a physio who suspected a labral tear, and suggested I book an appointment with the doctor. In the lead-up to the run, I slowed down the training and opted for biking to work. I had already raised over £400 for a local charity and didn’t want to let them down. When it came to the race day, I ran the whole way, but the latter part of the race was extremely painful. I knew that something was badly wrong and I worried afterwards that I had made the injury worse.
I had various appointments at the hospital: for an MRI scan and then eventually an X-Ray. It was after this that I first heard the words ‘hip dysplasia’. I was referred to Wrightington Hospital, which is the specialist hip centre in the UK, and thankfully just an hour from my house.
The first meeting I had with the doctor there, I told him that ‘I just want to get back to running’. When he said, ‘we’ll get to that’, I should have known that it wouldn’t be so straightforward. But I just couldn’t conceive of the idea that I would be mobile and unable to run, or advised against it. I was told that both of my hips were mildly dysplastic, the left hip more so, with degenerative changes. There was some cartilage loss and a cyst, which was causing the pain. Unfortunately, a PAO was out of the question, as the labrum was too badly damaged. But I was now in a situation where the damage wasn’t enough to go forward with a total hip replacement either. I was told to wait it out, stop running, and go to a physio for strengthening exercises.
I was devastated to be told I could no longer run, and I had no idea how my life was about to change. I religiously did the exercises prescribed by the physio, but after a year the pain was worse.
Eventually I went back to the hospital to push for more answers. I was so frustrated by what I couldn’t do. I cut my hours down at work so that I could spend more time on my physio and strengthening. As a teacher, I was on my feet for up to eight hours a day and I was becoming more and more fatigued. When I explained the pain to the doctor, I was told that many people experience back issues as they get older. But at 37 this didn’t seem like it was something that I should just accept.
Things started to change when, during the pandemic, the UK went into lockdown. I had lost my dad in 2019, and at the time I felt like things couldn’t get any worse. Despite this, I committed myself to exercise classes online and pushed myself to go for walks every day. But when I look back at that time, it is not the anxiety of covid that I remember most, but the constant irritation and pain in my hip.
I am not sure how exactly I found the Help for Hip Dysplasia website (probably while I was scrolling on Instagram or Facebook) but it came at the point when I needed it most. I signed up for Laura’s Patreon and started to work my way through some of the classes. Eventually I booked an online appointment with her and I can honestly say that I don’t know where I would be without her support, the platform she has created, and the ‘hippy’ community. Laura has guided me through the pain and fatigue, and has given me simple but effective exercises that have allowed me to continue to work and exercise.
Last year I also went back to see the hip consultant at Wrightington. This time I saw Mr Divecha, and I felt as if I was listened to for the first time. The tears were streaming down my face as I detailed my experience. The back pain was far worse, and I was so exhausted that I was considering a change in career. He agreed to more X-Rays, another steroid injection, and further discussions on the surgical options.
It has been a year since that appointment. On my return – after a failed steroid injection, a number of flare-ups, and despite my arthritis only being in the early stages – I was finally offered a hip replacement. In the meantime, I am doing everything I can to minimise the irritation and pain. I push heavy weights in the gym but I avoid carrying heavy loads anywhere else. I try to move and stretch but rest whenever I feel tired. I swim once a week and the Jacuzzi helps to ease my aching muscles. I take a walking aid on long walks. I often say my wife also acts as my walking aid; she carries all of our baggage on holiday and pushes me up steep hills (it makes such a difference!). She also requests seats at music venues for me whenever we go to a gig.
When I see people going for a jog on the street I still get a small tear in my eye, and that’s not an exaggeration. I haven’t given up hope that I might be able to run again one day, but if I can’t, I’m okay with that too. For the moment I will continue to strengthen my hip and glute muscles, as prehab for surgery. When I am feeling low, I have to remember that despite being in daily pain, I am currently not reliant on painkillers and I was lucky to get to my thirties without my current pain level. The dysplasia might be ‘mild’ but I wanted to share my story for anyone who has also been diagnosed later on in life. I will continue to advocate for disability rights as I really think we need to change the conversation around disability and accessibility in the UK and beyond.
Story Update: June, 2025
Hip Story Update: Hip Replacement
After around eight years of chronic pain due to hip dysplasia, on Wednesday 26th June 2024 I had my left hip replaced at Wrightington Hospital. This little place in the north-west of England is a hip specialist centre, and, as my wife found out during her long spells in the waiting room, actually the birthplace of the modern hip replacement. On the advice of my consultant, I opted for a ceramic hip, and the implant is a smaller one due to my age. If I ever need revision surgery, this is easier with a smaller implant. I was incredibly anxious before this surgery; I was originally booked in at the beginning of June, however my first operation was cancelled at the last minute. Despite the stress this caused, in the end I was glad of the later date: it gave me time to adjust my mindset, and I think I was (slightly) calmer going into the surgery than I had been at the beginning of the month.
I had done lots of prehab – I had been working on my strength for a long time – and I carried this on right up to the day before surgery. I was initially booked in as a day case: I was first on the list and was supposed to be home by the evening, once I had been seen by the physios. However – best laid plans and all that – I would not leave the hospital for another four days.
I had a local anaesthetic for the surgery (an epidural which makes you numb from the waist down) and I asked the anaesthetist to sedate me during the operation. However, I did wake before it was complete: I remember the Backstreet Boys playing on the radio, and the sound of the drill in the background. In the weeks leading up to the surgery, I was slightly freaking out about this happening, but when it actually did I was so calm that it didn’t bother me at all. When they wheeled me out, I was so emotional and just so grateful to have come through it without any issues, that I blubbed my way through conversations with medical staff for a while after. I was sent for an X-ray to check that everything was fine, and was then allowed back on the ward. So far, so good.
However, I didn’t respond well to losing blood during the op (I’ve had a problem with chronic anaemia for such a long time), so when it came to getting out of bed, I felt dizzy and sick. I was unable to walk to the toilet, and as a result, was told that I couldn’t go home that night. I was relieved, to be honest, as by that point I didn’t feel that I was in a fit enough state to go anywhere. They found me a bed in another ward (a private room!) and I slept on my back that night for the first time in my whole life.
The next few days in hospital were more challenging than I imagined. The pain was so bad that I didn’t manage to get out of bed until the Friday. But the first steps felt so good. I had been so worried about climbing stairs, but it turned out that was the easiest thing to do. Squatting, however, was a different matter altogether.
After another slightly alarming episode with my blood pressure, I was eventually allowed home on the Saturday and, by that point, I was desperate for my own bed. Armed with some crutches and the biggest bag of prescription drugs I’d ever seen, I hobbled out of the wheelchair and into the car for the drive home. The pain was much easier to manage after those first few days in hospital – the hardest thing was having to get up for the loo in the middle of the night. My wife was amazing during this time: helping me to the bathroom at all hours, cooking every meal, doing all the housework, all while I was learning to walk again.
It was great to have friends and family come to visit too, while I was mostly housebound. I don’t think I realised how tiring everything would be- just getting dressed in the morning required an afternoon nap! During my time off work, we did also manage to have a short holiday in the UK, and for this we borrowed a wheelchair. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking to get out of the house while still in recovery.
Overall, I have been so pleased with my journey. There have been a few times where I’ve overdone it and been in pain, but generally I’ve managed to pace the whole thing really well. I was able to have four full months off work on full pay, and I feel really lucky to have been given that time to rest and recuperate. I agonised over when to go back to work, but I think I went at the right time. I was given a phased return over a few weeks, so I was able to build up my teaching stamina gradually. However, it wasn’t until March that I actually felt like I could manage my job again without fatigue. Now, after almost a year with my ceramic hip, I can finally do a workout at the gym in the morning followed by a full day of teaching. Just a few months ago this felt impossible.
With the guidance of my physio, Laura, I have regained so much strength; she joined me for a hill walk recently (to the White Nancy in Bollington) that I was unable to do a few years ago (she will be posting about this soon @helpforhipdysplasia). I still get anxious about injuring myself and I’m unsure of my limits, but I wake up every day so grateful that I’m not in pain. There is still plenty of muscle rehabbing to do – my hip flexor and hamstring are weak – but I’m amazed at the difference in my quality of life. I still find it irritating to sit down for too long, I still can’t kneel, and touching my toes is a bit of an effort, but it’s all a work in progress. I am so glad that I had the surgery and I’m even starting to imagine a future where I can run again. The only thing stopping me at the moment is the thought that the arthritis in my right hip might get worse. But at least, if it does, I will know what to do!
To anyone thinking about hip surgery, my advice would be to do your research, get advice from a physio (hip specialist), and a second (or third!) opinion if needed. Once I was offered the surgery there was never a doubt in my mind that I would have it. I had done a lot of work in managing my symptoms conservatively, but it just got to the point where managing my hip and the chronic pain had taken over my life. I will be forever grateful for my hip replacement and our NHS here in the UK.