Advice needed...bad hip!

Hi all. I'm not asking for medical advice, just some practical tips. I have an appointment with my Doc at the end of the month but Will suggested that there might be some good ideas from the DU crowd.

Back in February my left hip began to bother me. It seems to be in the joint but I get pains in my knee and ankle and in my shin also. Seems like sciatica at times. I am definately noticing that it hurts when I walk. Last week I went to Boston for the day and walked for miles. I spent the next 2 days crippled and then it got better and now it seems a bit better than it was before all that exercise.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing. Are there any over the counter things that might help? Thanks in advance!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=317


good luck.

when I turned my right foot out to turn that way. I was framing art then and walking around and turning a lot doing different tasks at the frame shop, so only being able to turn to the left w/o experiencing pain was weird. I went to a physical therapist only once, and she manipulated my legs a bit, then gave me two or three excellent exercises. One was to squeeze a pillow between my knees while sitting in a chair, another was to get into a crawling position and "cross crawl" which involves lifting your leg and placing it down to the outside of your other leg as you crawl. I'm not saying these would good for what ails YOU, but I am suggesting that you try going to a physical therapist :) (or ask your doc if that might help).

I occasionally have sciatica. To ease it I like to lie face down or on my side and stretch the affected leg,'lengthening' it, then try to relax in that position, or hook my toes over the end of the mattress and flex the tops of my feet against it which applies some traction.
I take ibuprofen once in a while if some joint or another is a bit inflamed.