Hip hip hooray

DISLOCATED HIPS



I was born with dislocated hips. When i was little i used to have to have to see a specialist. He was old and called Dr. Catterell. I had to see him every Friday, then every year, then every 5 years, then i stopped when i was 18. I guess Dr. Catterell is probably dead now, and i was never really that troubled by my hip problems - partly because i never really did any sport, and partly because i thought it was part of me being 'special'. Seriously. I think part of me was like 'oooh Talita, you are special cause you're hips dont work so well'
My sister also had dislocated hips, when she was born they put her in plaster and her hips set, the end. When i was in utereo my mum could hear my hips clicking so she knew i too had dislocated hips although the docs poo-hoo'ed her sure enough when i popped out my little legs were all over the place. The docs put me in a frog splint, which my mum knew was wrong, and complained and they gave her a kind of 'shut up nervous mum' attitude, but she could still hear my hips clicking, so she knew it wasn't right. After 6 months my hips hadn't set so they then put me in plaster and after i was a year it was all ok.
Obviously i don't remember this myself - this is the story so it goes.

Apparently with congenital dislocated hips-
" Some studies suggest a hormonal link. Specifically the hormone relaxin has been indicated.
A genetic factor is indicated by the trait running in families and increased occurrence in some ethnic populations (e.g. native Americans, Lapps/ Sami people). A locus has been described on chromosome 13. Beukes familial dysplasia, on the other hand, was found to map to an 11-cM region on chromosome 4q35. With nonpenetrant carriers not affected."



I don't know what a nonpenetrant carrier is, but i'm not Native American, Lapp or Sami.

Anyway, now and again throughout my life i've come into difficulty. Now and again one hip or the other would completely give way. But mostly its no problem. Just clicky clicky clicky.

But then again i have never been a sporty person. Partly because of laziness, partly because of embarrassement, partly because sometimes you have a choice of sport of music and i chose music and partly because lacrosse sucks.

However i do LOVE rollerskating. I have always loved rollerskating. I had a big 10 year break in rollerskating after i ruined both my knees skating outdoors down primrose hill with no knee pads and getting a twig stuck between my wheels.

I joined London Rollergirls 2 years ago. I wanted to skate more. As you can see from the little photo of me at the rollerdisco though, my knees bend inwards and i look a bit odd. Apparently i have been compensating for my hips through my knees etc for a long time. Not suprisingly when it came to crossovers i found them really difficult. In my own way i paid no attention though and just thought i was 'special' cause of my hips and that i would find a way round it.

I left London Rollergirls before Christmas as i was having more and more pain in my hips and i didn't have the time. I put of going for physio, then i got on a waiting list. Then my hips got a whole lot worse after the 14hr flight from Buenos Aires and i had an x-ray. Then after swapping docs and another wait, i eventually had physio yesterday for the first time ever.

I'm not sure they did physio so much in the 80's when i was little, but i learnt alot in a short space of time yesterday and had a bit of a shock. I mean, i guess i never thought about it all too much, but the muscles around my hips are shockingly bad apparently and i have been compensating in different ways for a long time - making my knees go bendy inwards (hence my duck waddle walk), using my ribcage and arms to get up more than my pelvis muscles etc.

So no i have 2 exercises i have to do 20 times a day, and then i have to go back in 2 weeks. She says i'll be able to skate and run and swim breaststroke again in 6 months if i'm good, but that i need to improve my muscletone and that now's the time to do it before i end up with arthritis.

So hip hip hooray for physio. Although it hurts a bit. Another thing i'm gonna get done in 2009. Honest guv.