The Wonders of Human Anatomy…

It turns out I don’t need a new (artificial) hip yet *g* Just ice, more rest than activity and five sessions of ultrasound therapy.

Reason for all of this: Trochanteric bursitis. An inflamation of a bursa in the hip joint. Or in german: “Schleimbeutelentzündung im Hüftgelenk” I’m always surprised what kind of illness exist in this world. Or better in our body. Until now I never even paid much attention to the anatomy of my hip joint. The doc said these inflamations can happen for no reasons at all sometimes, the internet mentions overuse as a possible cause. Maybe watching hockey from the standing room on Saturday and Sunday were too much for my joints? I’m getting ooooold. Seriously, I have no idea what could have caused it. Maybe it really was for no reason after all.
It also doesn’t matter what caused it, because the course of treatment is the same either way. I could choose between electric muscle stimulation (“Reizstrom”), a shot of corticoid into the bursa (which seemed just as painful to me as it is right now anyway) or the forementioned ultrasound therapy. I choose the latter, had my first one after all tests this morning and have to return early in the morning tomorrow and next week. The ultrasound therapy is no big deal: I have to apply an icepack to the hip/thigh for a short while and when it’s sufficiently chilled *g* I have to move an ultrasound wand over the area for a few minutes. Sounds a bit like magic. Or nonsene, but ultrasound actually is a common treatment for that.

I was amazed how accurate the wikipedia article on trochanteric bursitis actually is. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, because wikipedia usually is quite accurate. It says “which may result in the inability to lie in comfort on the affected side.” Totally! On either side actually, when you’re used to pull up your legs and you can only pull up the left one with great pain. But lying on the left side is not possible at the moment, which sucks. Maybe the ibuprofen my GP subscribed will help, as it’s not just for pain relief but also for any kind of inflammation.

At least I’ve learned something from this, namely how much the hip joint is involved is in most of our movement. Walking, getting up from a chair, turning around, bending down… This joint is part of all of this and which I honestly never really realized. It worked flawlessly, so why I should I have noticed? But I do now because every one of these movments hurts and as a result I’m making sure I have to move this joint as little as possible. Which for examples leads to: not sitting down but staying upright when I just have use the computer for a minute. Because the pain of getting up from the chair again can not make up for the comfort of sitting down for a minute. And standing isn’t so uncomfortable after all :-) I also re-scheduled some things this afternoon / evening, so that I don’t have to climb the stairs in my building more than necessary.

After posting the entry I have to get up again though, because I’m getting hungry. And then I’ll have to carefully plan my indoor activities for the rest of the afternoon. I’m dreading the getting up moment though…