Hip Arthritis...

[Catrin]

The worst of my hip pain was when I was sitting or sleeping. Interestingly, riding my bike didn't really hurt.

I don't begin to understand it all. I just know that our bodies compensate for weakness, injury and the like in some really intersting ways, some of which lead to pain. That's what made me think that your saddle being too low (if I remember your last mention of the subject, it was still an inch too low--which is a lot) might be a contributing factor as you're limiting your leg and hip's natural range of motion. Something within you might be overcompensating for that.

With that, I totally and otherwise defer to whatever Knotted may have to say!

This certainly could be contributing, though I've been able to ride so rarely since early October that I wonder how much of a factor this could be currently. My PT thinks it may well have contributed to the original hamstring injury in September, but not the quad injury. It has been almost 3 weeks since my last ride Now that I feel well enough to ride, the weather is conspiring against me - or at least it feels that way sometimes. I can't remember how low my saddle still is, but I do think that it is less than an inch now.

When I stop doing my 3-5 mile brisk fitness walk once or twice a week, I slowly begin to get achiness in my hip joints back again, regardless of whether I'm biking a lot or not. I start to feel creaky and achy in the mornings, especially in my hip joints. (I'm 56)
When you are biking, your leg never really gets flexed back behind you, like it does when you walk vigorously. Biking just doesn't do for my hips what regular brisk walking (with long strides) does. Once I start regular fitness walks again, my hip joint aches go away again.
Just something to consider.

Hmmm, good point. I have no stiffness, and while my right leg is less flexible than the other, my flexibility is pretty good. I just get these strange pains, some of which is quite obviously in my hip. It isn't very bad though. just enough for me to notice. Your point about the range of motion involved in brisk walking is a good one.

Back when I was not allowed to do any cardio work at all - all I COULD do was walking, so have developed the habit of a 20-30 minute walk around the track prior to all training sessions or spinning class to help my legs warm up. I will keep this in mind and expand it to see how a good fitness walk once or twice a week might help me. Running is out of the question, so this might be a good alternative.

I do hope that Knotted reads this and gives her perspective I think it is a good sign that my physical therapist thinks that I've improved enough to stop seeing him - outside of a couple of sessions in January in case we want to try a couple of medication applications to the sole quad tendon that hasn't yet healed - I forget what it is called but the medication is applied directly to the skin via a patch ... iontophoresis? Something like that.