Hi All!

Just yesterday I popped in a new exercise video, one of Leslie Sansone's in-home-walking videos. I mostly like it, but the standing in one place walking (sort of an easy march really) made my hip joints ache like crazy. I kept changing positions and side-stepping and such, but boy it hurt. Does this make sense?? Afterwards I went grocery shopping and hit every single aisle, then shopped in some other stores, with no discomfort at all, so it's not walking in general that causes the pain.

Any one else had this experience? Or have an opinion of the in-home-walking videos?

I plan to continue using the video, assuming that my hips will adjust, but should I? Could I be damaging the joints?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Deborah

Hi, Deborah! A few things came to mind when I read your post...

(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I do not play one on the Internet!) I was a certified personal trainer for more than a decade, though. When I was training marathoners and they came to me with a sudden onset of pain like you mentioned, I first always asked them: have you changed your terrain, shoes, or distance?

What kind of floor were you on when you were watching the video? For example, I cannot do exercise videos in my home because we have linoleum over concrete with very little padding in between, and it kills my hips, knees, and back.

Were you on carpeting? How thick? Were there any uneven places where you exercising? One client came to me with hip pain. He used to run up and back along a beach (slightly angled) which means he got some balance going in both directions. Then he changed his running route so he only ran one direction on the (slightly angled) beach and came back along a paved (even) bike path - and suddenly his hips were bothering him (we changed his route so he either ran it all along the path or along the beach and he was fine). Even a small imbalance in your flooring might have played out into more than your hips were used to handling repetitively for an extended length of time.

Were you wearing shoes? Were your shoes new, or broken in? How high were you raising your knees when you marched in place? Was there additional choreography, for your arms, maybe, that might have shifted your balance in ways you weren't accustomed to, and you tried to compensate in some way that aggravated your hips? Did you use weights, bands, or other resistance equipment? Did you do some stretches that were new to you?

Do other activities that involve continuous walking also bother you? Moving through a supermarket involves stop and go, with occasional bending and reaching and lateral movement, moreso (I'm guessing) than a walking video does, but I'm not familiar with that particular video.

Aside from DOMS, exercise generally shouldn't hurt you (unless it's physical therapy, that can hurt a lot, lol). I think if that video hurts and you really can't find a definitive cause for it, put it up on eBay and find a different exercise video.

HTH

Tracey

Hi, Deborah!! I am a very advanced exerciser, BUT, I really like Leslie's tapes. I can modify them to be as difficult as I want! I'm not sure I've ever experienced hip discomfort. The one thing I can think of right now is if you have the room, try actually walking forward, backward, in a circle in your home while keeping the same steps per minute. Even thought you're walking in place, it's true your legs are going in an up and down motion moreso than if you were actually taking strides. If that doesn't help much, perhaps you can go to her website -- maybe there is a discussion board, or maybe there's a way to contact someone on her site for some info. Good luck, and I'd like to hear how it goes for you!! :D

Thanks Tracie and Hollie! :)

It sounds like both of you are experts!

I was exercising in my living room, on low pile carpet, wearing appropriate walking shoes both days.

My feet were lifting mostly just two or three inches off the ground, and I certainly was not pounding or anything. The pain was sort of on the outside of each hip joint, not all the way around I don't think. My husband and I walk frequently for a mile or two, and sometime we hike out in the wilds for three to six miles. I don't have this pain on those occasions, just when I'm 'walking' (I'd call it marching in place) at home.

This sure doesn't make sense to me, but I don't want to hurt myself, or damage those joints.

The tape I'm using has her one-mile and her two-mile sessions, but as it's brand new, I just started with the one-miler. It's not difficult or complicated, but in just a couple of minutes my hips both hurt, and by about five minutes they hurt a LOT.

Do you think I'll adjust if I just go at it lightly, and maybe walk around the downstairs more than staying in a small spot like she is doing? I did try that some, but it takes me too far from the TV to see her. Does hurting mean damage? This is not tiredness (I'm not even sweating), this is pain.

Maybe I should dump the tape and get a treadmill or one of those Gazelle Glider machines - you know, Tony Little's walking machine. As either of those are probably more like walking than marching I doubt that they would hurt me.

But what's wrong with me??? This makes me feel pretty abnormal! I'm 50, but I'm far from being a fragile old lady (Heck, maybe I'm a fragile middle-aged woman; that sounds even worse!) :(

Oh well, now I'm just whining, I guess because I'm a little worried about those joints.

Any further input or advice would be quite welcome!

OUCH! :no ,
Deborah

Deborah, it sounds like you are quite fit already with the amount of walking you do, plus the HIKING! :shock: Perhaps it's just the motion -- it's obviously different enough to bother your hips. Perhaps it'd be wise to consult a sports med doctor. It might be worth a shot. I wish I could help more....sorry. :(

Hi Hollie,

You are very kind, but I don't consider myself fit at all. I just like to walk a lot. If you can be "fat and fit" I might be somewhere in the low stages of that sort of fitness. :rolleyes: But, thanks for your nice attitude!

Deborah

If you can be "fat and fit"....

Yep, that's me!!!!!! :shock: :D Or is it fit and fat?? hehehe. I'm off to bed...too late for me. Shame on me! :D

If you can be "fat and fit"....

Yep, that's me!!!!!! :shock: :D Or is it fit and fat?? hehehe. I'm off to bed...too late for me. Shame on me! :D

Hollie, you don't look fat. Or at least the back of your head doesn't look fat. I was thinking you were tall and slim from your picture.

If you can be "fat and fit"....

Yep, that's me!!!!!! :shock: :D Or is it fit and fat?? hehehe. I'm off to bed...too late for me. Shame on me! :D

Hollie, you don't look fat. Or at least the back of your head doesn't look fat. I was thinking you were tall and slim from your picture.

I'm a short, fat toad. :DD

Deborah, being a "woman of fine age", could it be bursitis in your hip? I am a bit younger than you, but not a lot and I have developed bursitis in my left hip, kind of high up on the outside. IF I do a lot of unusual activity it will hurt and not really relieved by tylenol or advil. My doc says due to age (thanks doc) :? and stress placed on the joints by repeated pregnancies that is showing up now. However it does adjust to changes in routine after a while. Just a thought. HTH.
(Mine initially started hurting after a week of travelling add beaching, then got better, then REALLY flared up after returning to work where I walk a lot and get up and down from a chair frequently, just normal stuff).

Karrinne,

Thanks for your response. I have to admit that I don't actually know what bursitis is. :oops: Guess I'll have to research that. Does it affect the bone or the ligaments or muscles? You don't have to tell me, I can look it up, I'm just musing. It sounds like such an old-fashioned ailment, doesn't it?

Well, guess I'll mosey on over to one a' them thar medicine sites, and see if I can get me some book learnin' on miseries and such.

Deborah

PS - Are you saying that a hip with bursitis will eventually stop hurting once it becomes used to an unfamiliar motion? If so, maybe I could do in home walking, I'd just have to begin slowly and work up.