Hip

This is a shot by Kurt Hoy who was generous enough to invite me to Monarch Snowcat Tours with him. He was putting together a web story for a web site and I was his photo Guinea Pig. Not a bad exchange. He and his wife came out to hang in CB with their seven week-old daughter Nevada Rose. Very cool.

Changing subjects, I've had this nagging hip pain since september. At first it was only on walks with Katie. Shooting pain through my glutius rumpious. I could manage all the running, training exercises and shredding, but walking or standing would bring on a lot of these shooting pains. Things progressed steadily, but slowly, in the negative direction. Finally, while I was in Aspen things got really painful in a relatively short window of time. The long days on my feet were really setting things off. My Orthopedic doctor happens to live in the Roaring Fork Valley, so I snuck in for a visit. He suggested it might be bursitis, shot me up with cortisone and handed me a fistful of pain killers to no gain. After a total of twelve days on the road I was a mess. When I got home I went to see a chiropractor in Gunnison. He was thoughtful in his examination and went to work straightening me out. Katie worked on me daily using her massage therapist skills and I iced every day as well. On my third visit to the chiropractor it was clear that his treatment wasn't getting me anywhere. He suggested I might have a torn Labrum - this is tissue that sits in the hip socket and helps hold the ball of the femur in there. He suggested that it is not something that wil heal on its own and that I may just suffer through it until the nerves die.

Ice and stretching are the main forms of relief at this point. My Orthopedic doctor said that I should keep exploring the routes of alternative healing like massage, chiropractics, and acupuncture. So I went to the acupuncturist and got the needle treatment. I have to keep going to her in order to see any effect, so I will see her again tuesday night. I am going to get an MRI as well. It would be really nice to know, for sure, what I am trying to heal.

Anyhow, this has been the toughest injury I have had to deal with because it is not something really clear like a broken bone or even diagnosible like a torn muscle. I can be fine one minute and hobbling the next. It feels fine when I am engaged - like snowboarding, but definitely hurts when I am done. If I could sit still for two weeks I bet it would get a lot better. But I won't be sitting still for any extended periods in the near future.

My father always says "if you have your health you have everything." I agree wholeheartedly and hope that this is something I can work through before too long.