From hip pain to epic hikes
R came to me looking for help figuring out why his right hip was always in pain and it was preventing him from going on the hikes he so loves to do. As he says ‘a long hike would have me in pain like I was hit by a truck for 2 weeks afterwards’. He wanted to go on much longer day hikes than he was capable of and not have pain or weeks of recovery.
He wanted a natural, holistic approach to getting better and felt that all the practitioners he’d seen so far didn’t address the body as a whole.
When I met R he was stiff in so many places. In his first assessment we both agreed that his pelvis couldn’t tilt in any direction and his ribs were very stuck. His legs were also extremely tight.
I started off teaching his ribs and pelvis to move together while getting him to breathe during the movements. Once I got his pelvis and ribs unstuck I set about to start turning off the muscles that were overworking and getting the right muscles to work. R diligently stuck to his homework and made great progress.
Right away he had relief in his hip and could start hiking. He started with shorter hikes and used the exercises I gave him to reset his body if he got some hip pain.
Once I got his body moving properly and competent in all kinds of movements, I gave him a gym-based program that got him stronger while keeping in mind how his body wants to default into old patterns.
Over time the pain never returned and he could go on longer and more challenging hikes. R went on a very long hike and was very pleased with no pain at all and recovery was only a few days. He was able to sleep in the car before his biggest hike and had no issues in the morning.
Towards the end of working together R had a big change in his sleep schedule and yet no issues cropped up with his body.
R told me he can’t believe how much better his whole body moves. On our last visit he told me ‘my ribs aren’t completely stuck, my pelvis actually moves, it’s miraculous. This never would have been possible with what I was trying before.’