Research: X-Ray Findings of Hip Degeneration could be a Red Herring

Bones, joints and muscles
1

I stumbled across this 2015 research study (can't post the link, but google for these words and you should find it): On the Arthritis Research website.

"Researchers assessed data from the Framingham Osteoarthritis and Osteoarthritis Initiative studies, which included nearly 4,500 participants. In the Framingham study, it was shown that only 16 per cent of the patients with hip pain had osteoarthritis that was detectable through radiographic scans, while only 21 per cent of hips with radiographic osteoarthritis were affected by hip pain."

In other words:

The vast majority of people with xray evidence of hip OA are symptom free.

The vast majority of people with hip pain have ZERO evidence of OA on film.

You have to ask yourself - if most with pain don't have anything wrong on x-ray, and most with things wrong on x-ray don't have pain.....is it possible that in fact the two things are never (or rarely) connected? Is it possible that something other than a degenerated joint is causing your pain - something treatable? And if so, why is no one bothering to try and figure out what is really wrong, and how to treat it?

The scary thing is the conclusions drawn by the researchers - all the evidence points to their being no correlation between the state of the joints and peoples' pain. It puts a big question mark over whether OA really is arthritis (definition of arthritis is 'painful inflammation of the joints&#39. If in most cases of hip OA there is nothing wrong with the joint, why are surgeons still considered the go-to experts, and why is surgery considered the treatment of choice in severe cases?

A sane person might ask "am I missing something?" "Is it possible that the pain is nothing to do with the hip joint - could it be the soft tissue?"

Instead, they conclude that everyone should be treated for OA regardless of whether there is anything to suggest they actually have it.

And what is the treatment? Toxic drugs, surgery....do a bit of random exercise and learn to live with it.

The thing is, there is another possible cause for hip pain - one that MUST be ruled out before you can make an honest diagnosis of OA. It is very common, has identical symptoms to those caused by 'hip OA' and is 100% treatable. A muscle imbalance.

Folks, you need to look into this possibility yourself as the doctors are simply not paying attention. I, and others have CURED so called incurable OA by addressing the muscle imbalances. It can only help, and as treating muscle imbalances is essentially just exercise then essentially all you're doing is a very targeted version of what research has proven to be the best possible treatment for hip OA. 

It gave me my life back after 10 years of living with a diagnosis of OA and being told by doctors that there was nothing that could be done but pill popping or surgery. It costs nothing - you can look into this yourself. 

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Consultant told me that my hip looks much worse on X-Rays than it is in real life. 

3

I think it was 2006 that I was diagnosed.

Back then, I had degenerative changes in both hips, with my non-symptomatic hip being the worse. I NEVER developed symptoms in the hip with the worst degeneration on x-ray. 

I also was found to have severe OA in my neck - at the time it was discovered I had only stiffness in my neck. I went on to develop severe pain years later.

It was assumed I also had OA in feet, shoulders, spine...

I'm now symptom free in all joints. The x-ray findings were a complete red herring. All of the joint pain was connected to a single imbalance in the muscles - the muscles on one side of my body were weak and that disrupted my gait. It probably CAUSED the wear to the joints, but the actual joint wear didn't result in any symptoms. I'm sure it's still there; I'm sure it's worse than 10 years ago, but it's simply not a problem. It causes no symptoms and doesn't stop me doing anything. 

Indecently, mine was said to be a 'classic case' of hip OA. So if they got it wrong with me, how many others have they got it wrong with? How many people have had muscle imbalance ruled out before being thrown in the OA bin? 

4

At one point my hip hurt so much I thought I should get into line for a hip replacement.  At the time I also developed overall pain and was eventually diagnosed with polymyalgia.  However while we were trying to figure out what was wrong I had a number of x-rays, including my hips (I already had an OA diagnosis from my hands, feet and spine), and the hips were completely OA free.  It turns out it must have been referred pain from my spine, sorted through physiotherapy, exercises plus "dry needling" to reset the electrical signals in my back muscles  which apparently were in spasm - I didn't even know.  I have had no hip pain since, now nearly three years.  

5

I think that is pretty much my problem. After being prescribed Fluoroquinolones I developed a type of neuropathy in my lower left leg that left me unable to walk unaided. That changed my gait and lower back pain developed making walking even more difficult. Now I have pain/stiffness in my weight bearing joints, hips, knees and feet. Neurologist said that I should see a neurosurgeon and after a three part spine MRI he said that there was nothing there for his knife and that I needed to see a specialist neurologist. He suggested that I had CMT although previous tests had not found that. Since then I have had four appointments with back specialist without any diagnosis. 

 

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Dear Susan, Oh wow. You have given me something to really think about. Thanks for posting this. Cheers.

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Are you on facebook?

First, I'll share a little more about myself. A few years back, when I figured out how to treat my own muscle imbalance and I eliminated all my symptoms I shared my story on these boards - to let others know that they should look into the muscle imbalance possibility. There was a huge response, and everyone wanted to know how I did it. The difficulty was, I wasn't entirely sure - I had a good idea what was wrong, but I had done so many things to try and fix it that I wasn't sure what had actually worked! I have to say now - it isn't an easy problem to fix!!!

Anyway, I did my best and I shared lots of info and some got a lot of help from that. I was urged to put the info into a book, and whilst thinking and researching in order to write that I figured out a lot more. The book 'cured' some people and helped many more, but it was still too complicated for most people and whilst it helped most it wasn't working as well as it could/should.

Recently, I refined my understanding a little bit more and came up with a much simpler approach that should help everyone. Rather than focusing on what is wrong (which requires accurate diagnosis) and using exercises to put it right (which is hard to explain), I found a way to teach people how to walk correctly - regardless of what is wrong, that will always massively improve symptoms and in many cases cure completely.

I've created some videos explaining the exercise - there are a few steps to learn. I've shared that in a little private facebook group where  20 or so people with hip OA (and some with multiple conditions) are trying it out. 

If you've been advised by your doc to exercise (most people with OA are) then this is completely in line with medical advice. It's just a safe exercise - the key is learning to do it 100% correctly.

If you want to give it a try, drop me a PM and I'll give you the link so you can add yourself to the facebook group. Anyone is welcome.

I'm re-writing the book - assuming this exercise works as well as I think then I'll probably publish that in 3 or 4 months. Whilst researching for that I've managed to convince myself that most cases of OA simply cannot be a RESULT of joint degeneration. When you fully understand gait mechanics you realise that the body simply couldn't / wouldn't adapt the way it does if it was responding to a painful joint. That adaptation (the twisting in the pelvis, the stiff hip) has to come BEFORE any pain/stiffness in the actual joint, It's possible (likely) that the joint wears as a result of a treatable muscle imbalance. It is of course also possible that the joint eventually gets so bad that the body can no longer function properly - HOWEVER, it's impossible to know if that's the case without first eliminating the muscle imbalance and seeing if any symptoms are left. 

Regardless, when you understand gait mechanics you realise that regardless of why the hip is painful, it is moving in the worst possible way. You really do need to fix the imbalance to get the strain of the joint, and in the worst cases where the joint is beyond all hope, fixing the imbalance will CONTAIN the problem to the damaged joint and prevent it rippling through the body and taking out all joints! 

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No, I'm not on facebook.

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I don't want to share the video publicly until it's been tested out in private, and fb is really the best place to do that. However, once I'm confident I've got it right I'll send you the link to the vid.

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Thank you. I will look forward to that.